The Gross Item You've Got To Stop Leaving In Your Living Room

There are probably a million blunders that you can make as a homeowner, but some are a little more egregious than others. If you want your home to be a welcoming space, ensuring that it is clean and fresh is one of the foundational elements you should care about. It should come as no surprise, then, that one basic mistake is keeping you from having a clean and healthy home and making everything feel gross: leaving your unwashed dishes in your living room. 

While it may have begun as an innocent mistake, that dirty bowl you left on the side table after last night's cereal snack is seriously interfering with the appearance of your living room. More than just the look of the space, though, it is guaranteeing that your home is not living up to its full potential. Dirty dishes can also be a health hazard, depending on what residue they have inside and how long they are left out. Bugs are readily attracted to sugary crumbs as well as leftover puddles of your favorite ketchup. If you fail to promptly wash your dishes and instead leave them in your living room, you might be fighting an uphill battle against household pests. Fortunately, stopping this habit isn't too hard, and in most cases, you can help your living room regain its welcoming ambiance in a short period of time.

It is no surprise that bugs like food and leaving your dirty dishes in the living room could be attracting all sorts of insects. Fruit flies, gnats, and cockroaches are among some of the common offenders that will flock to your dirty dishes. Not only are bugs in the home repulsive, but they also bring bacteria with them. Cockroaches, for example, are guilty of spreading bacteria that cause food poisoning — they can also trigger allergies and asthma for sensitive individuals — creating a multi-faceted health concern. Perhaps you only occasionally leave dishes in the living room and think your situation is an exception to this rule. Think again. Certain bugs like flies are attracted to chemical signals that are given off by foods, allowing them to rapidly locate leftover food residue. 

The best approach is to get into a new habit of never leaving dirty dishes out after you've finished eating. One of the best ways to achieve a new healthy habit is to connect it with another habit you already have. Since you are used to straightening the pillows on the couch every evening, for example, you can create a new routine where you pick up your dishes afterwards and take them to the kitchen. After a period of time, your brain will automatically associate the former task with the latter, leaving you with an easy habit for a clutter-free living room.

You know now why you should stop using your living room as a dish station, but you still have to contend with getting your space back to square one. This begins with a basic reset of the space: Move every dirty dish you see to the kitchen. This includes not only dirty plates and bowls, but also half-drunk glasses of water, dirty coffee mugs, and sippy cups. If there are a lot of dishes to move, load up a plastic bin to reduce the number of trips back and forth. You'll want to soak any dishes with caked-on food, then load them into the dishwasher to run a wash cycle (this will prevent your sink from becoming the new drop zone and give you a fresh, blank canvas).

Next, you'll need to head back to the living room to freshen things up. Use a multi-purpose cleaner to spray down every surface where dishes may have been left, then wipe thoroughly with some paper towels. Now is a natural time to brush off your couch's cushions, shake out blankets, and vacuum the floors to remove any crumbs. Once you are confident that all food residue has been eradicated from the space, you can use an air freshener like an essential oil diffuser to brighten up the room. Lastly, if bugs have inundated your living room, set an apple cider vinegar trap to get rid of fruit flies once and for all.