Dishwasher loading /unloading - not same person?

[russetred]

In our house, we generally agree that family members should share household chores. Some are permanently assigned (I do all the laundry, DH does all the food shopping, for example) and some are more flexible.

So, the dishwasher! I generally think that the person who rinses the dishes, loads the dishwasher and sets it running shouldn't then also have to be the person who unloads it and puts it away, and I thought this was a fairly common viewpoint but DH disagrees. He said he wanted evidence of this being a commonly held idea. So I thought I'd check what the good folks of Mumsnet think!

I would define 'the dishwasher' as two jobs (load & empty). Same as washing up (wash & dry/put away).

Interestingly, however, I'd say the person that loads the washing machine is responsible for unloading etc. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because laundry is less of a daily routine than dishes? Hmm.

Kids load the table stuff after tea. Adults do any cooking bits when they wipe down the surfaces. I switch it on at night after my last drink (or ask DH to). DH is up first, usually he's unloaded it when I get downstairs. If he hasn't, I'll get a child to do the cutlery and get the breakfast stuff out, and I'll do the rest.
Unloading is the nice part, it is all clean! But, we have a lot of high storage and I don't want the kids messing with the pan cupboard. Maybe when they get a little older and taller.

We don't rinse.
We all put our dishes etc in when they are ready for cleaning
Whoever notices it is full turns it on.
DD (12) hasn't yet mastered the art of recognising that the filter needs cleaning or rinse aid/salt needs adding. But me and DH each do those as and when.
Whoever is around when the cycle finishes empties it. Unless no one is around at that point in which case whoever is cooking dinner does it while they are pottering/preparing etc.

Oh, and 2 year old will put the children's plates and cups away!

Laundry is a daily routine here, one load a day same as the dishwasher. The differences are that the dishwasher is put on after dinner, but not unloaded till the next morning. The laundry needs to be taken out and hung up straight away, rather than left till the next day and in our house anyway it's usually done first thing. It is quite often a different person that hangs it out and brings it back in for us though, I tend to put most of ours on but the DCs do a lot of the hanging out and bringing in.

I once read a great suggestion on a similar thread, where a MNer said they had a method whereby everyone loaded their own plates in to the dishwasher as they used them so nothing stood out on the side. If you put the last plate in making it full you put it on. If you arrived at the dishwasher to put a plate/cup into it, and found it full of clean dishes, then you HAD to empty it so that you didn't leave your item on the counter top.

In practice, I have to rearrange everything my DH puts in because I'm a stupid dishwasher perfectionist, so we let it pile up so I can stack it. Whoever is not dealing with the kids and has a moment of peace unloads, but it's not an allocated 'job' in our house.

We argue over decide whose turn it is to load/unload depending on who last loaded or unloaded the dishwasher.
We both hate doing it.
Another one we try is, 'I've done it the last 2 times, I'm not doing it again'
Then I see how long I can leave the mess in the kitchen before I crack.

Actually, I do it 80% of the time.

Bollocks.

Well, ours always seems to be full or near enough after dinner (we do all load our own stuff from the table as we go but DH puts in pans etc from the kitchen and any mugs or glasses that have been left out for re-use during the day so it just goes on then. It can't usually go on after breakfast or lunch as that would mean leaving it on when we go out which is too much of a fire risk.

In our house I do all the loading as we go through the day and whoever gets up first empties it .

Now there's just the 2 of us most of the time, then I agree with the first post - you put things in as you go along, and whoever puts the things in to make it full, sets it off. I don't see "loading the dishwasher" as a separate job really, you just sort of do it as you finish with something. Sometimes you might have some things to go in tat were used whilst it was washing the last cycle.

Then it is emptied by whoever happens to notice it is finished, when they are in the kitchen waiting for kettle to boil, or if they go to put something in but it needs emptying.

When we had dc at home though, it was the job done by the person that hadn't cooked and hadn't laid the table / got everyone a drink.

Thanks, everyone - some useful thoughts here. I guess in our house it tends to go on at night after dinner; the person who cooks doesn't have to wash up, and it's the person who washes up and tidies the kitchen after dinner who puts all the last bits in the dishwasher and sets it going. We just rinse the stuff that has any food bits on it, like wee bits of spaghetti, broccoli, cereal etc. that are too small to scrape into food compost bin.

There's definitely some dishes and things getting left by the side of the sink during the day, so when you combine that with the end of the evening kitchen tidy, that's maybe why loading it feels like a definite 'job' for someone. Perhaps we need to make sure everyone puts their own stuff in during the day more! Cheers folks.

We load our dishwasher throughout the day as I am at home and dh comes for lunch. The older two dds are responsible to emptying the dishwasher every morning, before they go to school and I do it on the weekends as they have a lie-in. It seems fair as I do all the cooking, laundry and cleaning whilst they are at school. I suppose it’s whatever works in your house.