If you are 50 or over...

[TheStudioWasFilled]

(light hearted!)

do you own (and use) a dishwasher? DP and I were looking at self-catering properties and he's happy to pick one without a dishwasher. For me there's no way I'll be washing the dishes by hand. We've both over 50 and there's no way I'll do any 'manual work' unless it's absolutely necessary! Especially while on holiday. I love our dishwasher and I put pretty much any kitchen item in it unless it's electrical or wooden (although wooden spoons and spatulas do go in).

If you're 50 or over, how keen are you on your dishwasher? Would you be happy to live in a home without one? Or go on holiday where you have to do the washing up?

More context needed. Is it just you and your DH on the holiday, in which case it wouldn’t bother me.

Personally though, any holiday that involves any kind of self cooking is no longer a pure holiday - regardless of whether or not there is a dishwasher

Over 50 year old here and I only stay in 4 star hotels. I’m not doing any kind of household chores whilst on holiday. Who wants to be cleaning and taking out rubbish whilst on vacation.

I don't have a dishwasher and wouldn't want one. No need for only 2 of us.
I inherited one with previous house but never used it. I'd rather have extra cupboard space.

It certainly wouldn't be a priority in a holiday property.

Not sure what being 50 has to do with anything? But yes a dishwasher would be a must for me on a self catering holiday.

I am 50 and wouldn’t be without a dishwasher because we have a large family still living at home. On holiday if it was just dh and me then it wouldn’t bother me as there wouldn’t be that many dishes, although we don’t do self catering holidays as nether of us wants to cook and wash dishes on holiday might as well stay at home if I’m going to do that

Why is being over 50 relevant? I’m not over 50 and love my dishwasher but I wouldn’t go so far as to not book a holiday home cos it didn’t have a dishwasher! There’s still a lot of “manual work” involved in stacking/emptying the thing, putting all the dishes away etc

I wouldn’t go on a self catering holiday to start with unless we planned to eat out. And there’s no way I’d be without a dishwasher at home.

I don’t have a dishwasher.
Not that bothered- as I like washing pots.
51

I don’t have a dishwasher and don’t want one. I’ve had them in the past and never been bothered. I always ended up having to wash up some stuff by hand anyway and I don’t mind washing up. If I could get a bathroom washer though….

edited to say that I am over 50 (though not sure of the relevance)

I suppose size of family is relevant, there are 6 of us and 2 pets, I wouldn't be without my dishwasher. Dd stays quite frequently too, so another adult and another 2 pets.

I am older and don't agree with you!

I have gone from a house of 2 or 3 adults plus pets to just me and still don't want to do washing up!

An easy one for me to answer as we don't use one at home. More trouble than it's worth for two people. There is one in our kitchen that was there when we moved in, we've just never used it.

Love mine at home - not bothered on holiday

I’m well over 60 but probably had one for over forty years now. Just the two of us but still had too much stuff for the dishwasher last night- a Pyrex tray and two frying pans and DH forgot to put his beer mug in when he turns it on going to bed. He does his own breakfast and lunch and does use a lot of stuff.

I used a lot of hypothetical verbs there, "may not have" and "I suppose" - I don't actually know what the OP was thinking. Nonetheless, I think fewer households had dishwashers when I was growing up I the '70s and '80s than you'd expect now.

For a holiday I would live without a dishwasher. We do when we go away with our motorhome.

Wouldn’t be without one at home, but even with one, I still wash some things by hand, especially if I won’t have enough to make it worth putting the dishwasher on before I need that utensil again.

I have a dishwasher at home, and we normally look for one in a self catering property - but if we’re only stopping somewhere for a few days it doesn’t worry me if there isn’t one. DH is more likely to be bothered than me - although that does mean I’ll end up being the one washing up if I chose a property without. We don’t do full cooking when we’re away anyway.

I’m not too sure of the relevance of the age thing here, as the dishwasher on holiday would have been more use to me when I was younger as we were more likely to cook a proper meal in our holiday accommodation then (less money).

At age 50, I divorced. I then stopped booking self-catering holidays. It's a holiday and I am cooking for nobody!

I didn't have a DW for years. Current house has one & it was great until it broke 18 months ago. I can't be bothered to replace it.

58, 2 teens

I would not book a holiday cottage that didnt have a dw though

DP is happy to do his share; it's me who's NOT happy to do mine. Even thought it's just us plus pets.

I also like the fact that I don't need to worry about washing up after each meal because I can just keep on filling up the dishwasher until it's time to put it on. I do however rinse it once a day so it doesn't smell between we start loading it and we actually get it going.

Never had one. We're both 61. Never will have one. I (M) do all the cooking and washing up.
It's no drama and wasn't when our lad was at home.

Eye-opening! I'm in my early 50s and have never had a dishwasher. I enjoy washing dishes by hand -it's when nobody is allowed to ask me anything or disturb me.
DC would love one and I've contemplated it in recent years as they've become teens and do more independent cooking (hence more dishes) but I don't think I've got room for one.

I think self-catering is often a bit of a misnomer anyway. For me it means plenty of space to relax rather than being squished up in one room for a week . I prefer to get up at a time of my choosing, and putting together a bowl of cereal or some toast and yogurt isn’t exactly a major effort. A proper sized fridge to keep your drinks and milk cold and somewhere to store your evening snacks. Main meals always eaten out. And I think a lot of people treat ‘self catering’ the same way.

I'm 66 and I've never owned a DW. And now my kitchen is too small to accomodate one. I've ued one when I did an extended house/pet sit for someone in the States and it was great, as were all the other mod cons in the house !. But I'm used too not having one so not having one on holiday ouldnt be a deal breaker for me, I don't think I'd even think about it enough to note if there was one or not.

However, washing up is very dull, and not a job I enjoy, so I can understand if you are used to a DW that it might be a deal breaker for you. Tell your DH that you aren;t going to do any of the dish washing, if he's happy to do it all then let him crack on, otherwise look for somewhere else to stay. (My BIL loves doing dishes and refuses to let anyone else do them. and gets a bit flappy when I or DSIS offer, so we let him get on with it, put our feet up and have a cup of tea)