Never Let A Dirty Dish Sit
My mother was showing my grandparent’s house to potential buyers, and there was one family that was really interested. Supposedly, they had been eyeing the place for quite some time even.
My mom was sharing with me how the house tour went. She mentioned to the couple that there is no dishwasher in the kitchen. The lady said she didn’t even notice. (Is she crazy?!) I guess they didn’t have a dishwasher in their current home either. She has gotten used to not letting dirty dishes sit in her sink.
Doesn’t let dirty dishes sit in the sink?
Now there’s a new concept to me. My first thought was, “Doesn’t that waste more water and soap?” When it comes to the dishwasher and washing machine, a full load equals less waste. I would think the same applies to the sink. But the more I thought about it, it sounds like an ingenious idea!
How nice would it be to end the day with little to no dishes in the sink? How easy would it be to keep up with just a few dishes at a time? But again...wouldn’t that waste more water? And soap?
Side note: I forgot to fill you in last week about our water bill. We went down 400 gallons from the previous month. So that’s better, but still not great. Maybe we just use more water? Maybe it’s these little things adding up. Running the water till it gets hot, watering the chickens every day, giving kids a bath. (Although, I’d expect that last one to actually save us water.)
For sanity’s sake and to make things a little easier, I think I’m going to give this “don’t let dirty dishes sit” principle a try and see how it turns out.
Is this a rule you live by in your house? Let me know how it works for you!
I hand wash dishes and use the dishwasher to store all my tupperware (nothing better for keeping the lids organized!!) My husband has tried to argue (with studies he found online) that dishwashers use less water, but I pointed out that I bet those studies didn't take into account all the water you use to rinse the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.
I mean...if you're going to have to pre-rinse them anyway, then why not throw another gallon of water in the sink with soap, just wash them right then, and be done with it? Besides, I really dislike unloading a full dishwasher or dealing with the discovery of baked-on cheese. I'd much rather deal with small batches of dishes.
@mtnmeadowmomma how’s it been?!
Haha that is too funny, not to mention one fancy Tupperware organizer!
I made the mistake of buying a dishwasher without a built-in garbage disposal. So I make sure to rinse all my dishes before they go in. My mom has asked more than once if the dishes were clean, when they are almost always dirty. Haha!
Putting it like that, it probably does save water to just do it that way.
How?!! As is, it feels like I spend half the day washing dishes. And I have piles of it on the sink. How do you not leave a dirty dish or two.....
I know, that’s what I thought at first too! Does she stand by the sink all day? I mean, in combo with a dishwasher, it’s not that bad. The dishes I normally put in the dishwasher, I still put in the dishwasher. Then I’m trying to wash the hand wash dishes whenever I have just a couple minutes.
She’s a working mom though, so maybe she would wash dishes right after breakfast and again right after supper? Not sure..
I fill the dishwasher up...when full...run it! Where I get into trouble is not emptying it in time before the dishes start stacking up!
Lol! I can’t say have that issue, but I will wait until the dishwasher is completely full before I run it. Which means, I will let the sink pile up until I get that last plate to finish the load.
Hum....ok I can admit that I have done that before too!
Even with a dishwasher, I like to load it as we have dirty dishes, and then run it once it is full. (Doesn’t always happen that way, lol, but I try.)
Easier said than done, right?!
Ain’t that the truth!
My 18 month old tries to help me load the dishwasher by unloading the clean dishes.... back into the sink.... 🤣
We have a dishwasher and use it, we try to run it as soon as it is full and empty promptly so dishes do not sit in the sink. However, we lived one summer in an rv, and it worked just fine washing the dishes as we used them. We also had fewer dishes total so that helped.
I think having fewer dishes would make a big difference! Can’t eat unless, the dishes are clean. Or eat with your fingers :)
Yep, I follow that most of the time. As a child one of my chores was to unload the dishwasher, and I loathed it for some reason, still do. We handwash it all. Also, I seem to remember an occasional soapy film on dishwasher dishes, which I didn't like. I'm sure the machines are made better now days. But anyway, yes, the idea of going through the dirty dishes after every meal is genius.
I notice a film on my dark dishes sometimes. (So that makes me wonder about the light colored dishes..)
Does it feel like it takes up a lot of your time to hand wash all your dishes? It’s interesting to see all the mixed opinions!
No, doesnt take much time at all, just five minutes here, five minutes there for maintenance. You get really fast at it :)
I'm glad you got your number down! It's a balancing act between sanity and money and resources spent, right?!
We have a dishwasher now and I'm not a fan but my husband loves it.
Can you water the chickens with 'waste' water? The kind you let run when waiting for it to get hot? or maybe with rainwater if you can collect it?
Exactly! Where is the balance??
It’s fun to see everyone’s opinions. Who likes the dishwasher, who doesn’t.
Hey, that is a great idea! I think I’ll collect that cold water and use it for the chickens. I’d love to catch rainwater. My husband thinks it would look tacky though (or something like that), sigh.
howdy there hebrewhousewife! this was three days ago that you wrote this, how's it going? I mean with not letting dishes sit in the sink.
we do both, depending on how busy we are but we don't have a dishwasher but then it's just the two of us.
Well and Jack but he doesn't care about clean dishes.
Well..it works fine as long as one keeps up. But then a day of rest comes and now I haven’t caught up yet! Sigh.
You don’t let Jack help clean dishes do you?
ahaha! somehow I missed this comment and already asked about how the dishwashing was going. Jack is good about licking them clean! lol. it's like a pre-cleaning I guess. lol.