I wash as I go too, but there are still the after dinner dishes, and like the main pot/pan left over, the forks, the endless cups the just accumulate everywhere with having a whole family with adhd..

I tend to make everything by scratch, so I've only myself to blame (it's cheaper tho). Washing as you go helps, but it's not a full cure.

I posted cookies I made last night, and the only reason I didnt melt the butter with the lemon zest was to save pulling out and dirting my sauce pan I just cleaned from dinner.

I do that, but the more complicated the meal, the less down time there is, and the more stuff there is you can't clean up until the end.

Also, if you use serving dishes, rather than just serve out of the pot / pan, that's another thing to clean. It's true that cleaning a pot or pan is normally a bit harder than a serving dish. But, IMO the extra bit to clean means it's not worth it.

It is a bit of a triumph when the only thing to clean after dinner is a single pot or pan though. And, pro-tip, you can make the pans easier to clean after dinner if you dump a bit of water in them as you're sitting down to eat. Even 30 minutes is enough to turn the remains of a delicious sauce into sludge at the bottom of the pan. But, soaking while you eat makes it super quick to scrape it out afterwards.

I’m trying to not do that, because I always forget that I’ll need the things I’ve just washed again.

This is what I do, so nice to have just a few dishes at the end