to be pretty sure this is the wrong way around?! Washing-up scuzziness/cleanliness

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Disclaimer: Yes, I have a full and exciting life, but I don't want to make you feel jealous, so instead of telling you all about it, I shall instead make up a totally banal and boring problem so that you may feel patronizing towards me instead. Or, alternatively, so you may judge me and my extended family as scuzzy dirtbags.

Anyway:

My parents wash up by running a bowl of hot soapy water and washing everything in there. DH and I wash up by putting soap on a cloth and washing each item under hot running water, then rising the soap off. When mum say me do it my way (out of habit) she wrinkled her nose and commented 'I don't know how you think you get things clean like that!'. Mate came over today and commented the same thing, although she runs a bowl of hot soapy water and rinses each item in hot water after it has been washed in the bowl.

Which of us is right, O wise and slightly bored ones? Is there some kind of lurgy you can get by never fully immersing your crockery in hot water, as my mum obviously believes? Or is everything she washes going to taste of fairy (not that I've actually noticed this, but I want moral high ground, please)?

Regardless, I hate putting my hands in dirty water.
I definitely prefer running water, but I have a dishwasher, which I fill up and use on economy setting, so I only hand wash occasional items.

You must either have a swanky dishwasher or a pack of wolves licking the plates clean, Lue. Round here, dirty dishes laugh in the face of the Economy setting.

Wash up in a bowl of hot soapy water and rinse.

Soak in a bowl of hot soapy water. (Only ever run hot water into bowl.)

Squirt washing up liquid onto washer upper sponge, wash dishes with washer upper sponge, then rinse under hot running tap before putting on drainer.

Don't have mixer taps, and the water gets bloody very very hot!!

For that reason, and because I have ripped my hands open on glasses in the past I wear washing up gloves, but as you might imagine, they don't last very long, and if they get a small tear in them, it is pure torture!!

I have friends who wash up with a limp bubbly soapy rag in lukewarm water, never rinse their dishes and drape the grey limp soapy rag over the dishes afterwards. And I have tasted a foul taste in my mug at friends who use the same washer upper sponge for months and months and it''s gone all grey and they don't rinse their dishes at all. It's not nice.

I think dishwashers are more time consuming than washing up. Most dishes will wash themselves if you leave them in hot soapy water for a bit. Come back to them when they're done. It is much more effort to load and unload a dishwasher properly than to dump the whole lot in the sink.

LRDTheFeministDragon Hot water from the boiler will be 50-60 degrees, most systems some where in the middle.

e-coli and Salmonella needs to be held at over 70 degrees for some time to be killed off.
Listeria and Campylobacter will be killed by the 50degree.

So it depends what. The scrubbing has actually be shown to be more important (particularly in hand washing where it's been extensively studied for hospital infections) and the water temp is more for comfort and help the soap work.

We got taught at school how to wash up. There was a flow chart and everything of the correct order etc etc. That was using a bowl of hot soapy water. I like to rinse the items quickly after their soapy bath.

our dishwasher uses 7l for a cycle, which is way less than I would use washing up by hand. all dishes come out clean. what's not to love?

People who advocate dishwashers: Please buy me one and have it delivered and plumbed in. And please buy me a few years supply of detergent etc for it. Thank you :)

I leave it all piled haphazardly in the sink then take it out and resort it because I was too slutty to wash up sooner, but then I do it the same way as Zelda and Scatter. And I always rinse off DD's bowls - then put her bottles in just boiled water for a good 5 mins.
Everything else just drains off and then gets put away. Or stays sat on draining board until it's needed

FredFred - It appears I've been eating e-coli and salmonella most of my life then. It's a wonder I'm still alive.

Oh God, you have to wash under running water! How could anyone use crockery that have been all shoved into the same water, and then not rinsed . Why wash it at all?

Oh, and air dried. Tea towels are rank.

Im 47 and I wash up your mums way, as did my mother and every body else I have ever known.

Surely you running water washers have one of these ?

You people don't rinse the suds off?! And surely the water gets grim after the firstfew items are washed? Ugh I feel queasy.

I have a dishwasher but it always leaves a white film. I leave the tap running or you're washing in mucky water.

Chez Butter, the dishwasher does most things, but wine glasses, best china, and some pans are still washed up by hand. Sink is filled with hot soapy water, rubber gloves applied to hands, items gently washed using w-up brush starting with glasses, then cutlery, any plates, then cooking pots/pans so from clean to dirty. All items are rinsed - sometimes what i do is boil a kettle then pour this over the items stacked on the draining board. Otherwise they are rinsed in very hot water. This removes taste of w-up liquid. Items are left to air dry and may need a quick polish with a tea towel before replacing on shelf or in cupboard. Tea towels are washed at 60, ironed and a fresh clean one is used at least every day or when they are crumpled/damp. A crisply ironed tea towel is a signal that it is clean and dry. There is also a separate hand towel for drying hands on. J cloth (disposable) is used for wiping down worktops/sink. I am v fussy about sink - bleach or boiling water after cleaning it used most days. I blame Flylady..

Great thread.

Running water, and LRD is correct

cant understand people that don't rinse after washing dishes in hot soapy water.do u like the taste of fairy?

Agree amirah

Personally, I feel a bit sick at the sight of sudsy gloopy bubbles running down the dishes on the drainer....moreso if I am there while someone washes up...eurrgghhhh!!

Also, I hope everyone replaces their washing up scrubby things regularly. I hate seeing month old grey soapy cloths washing dishes which are then stuck in the drainer with the suds flowing down them.

@ south345 - if you have a white film, check your rinse aid dispenser, if full, it may not be dispensing properly. Alternatively, check your salt levels, if is full, check that the lid is screwed on tightly and then give it another turn -
I have had several dishwashers and find that sometimes just turning the salt container lid tightly closed is all it needs! Strange but true as have advised friends and family to do the same and it seems to work every time!

If not using the dishwasher. (I have a gleaming white sink that I like to stay that way, effortlessly cleaned each week when I handwash my smalls in Persil!) I like to wash up as I go along if preparing a meal - fill sink with hot soapy water and put dishes, Veg chopping boards, knives in as I finish with them. Then while dish is cooking, I wash up with a sponge scourer, empty the sink, rinse dishes under hot tap and put on draining board to air dry - don't use a tea towel, unless need something dry straight away. Meat chopping boards are washed separately or rinsed and put in dishwasher. If very mucky dishes, washing up water is changed. Use J cloth to wipe down surfaces, sprayed with Dettox and this is then rinsed and wrung out after each use. I leave it to soak in some Persil overnight. Separate hand drying towel in kitchen. Washed with aprons (now used after ruining several shirts) and tea towels.

I put the warm pans or baking tins into soak in the sink and wash up pretty much as I go, this means that there are only the dinner plates etc to load into dishwasher afterwards, turn it on and can relax knowing kitchen is neat and tidy and everything clean. Lasagna type dishes need a quick soak and scrub in soapy water, rinse and air dry - again best done when dishes are still warm before food has dried on

I can't abide a sink with dirty dishes in it - DH on the other hand can't seem to be able to open the dishwasher to load or unload it and religiously splashes the dregs of his morning tea all around the white sink as he rinses his mug and places carefully onto white draining board, leaving a lovely brown ring ... This is after carefully placing a used butter knife in the middle of crumby worktop, next to the teaspoon used for stirring his tea. Then he wonders why I have catsbum face every morning!

Oops this has turned into an epic (threadkilling) post. Oh well at least I have got it off my chest. I can't abide non rinsers and as for letting animals to lick plates .

happybubblebrain You have - the point is the concentrations of bacteria on plates that look clean if there are any are irrelevant, you do not need to kill every bacteria around, your body is perfectly capable of dealing with them.

I don't want you to wash in hot enough water to kill bacteria (in the sink or in a dishwasher where it can be done) as I think it's a bad idea to live in a sterile world. I just wanted to correct peoples mistaken view that it does!

Fred - I completely agree, there was a sarcastic tone to my last post. Me and dd never get ill and have no allergies. I think this is largely due to the fact that I do the bare minimum cleaning, I'm the world's worst at washing up and we proabably eat enough bacteria so our bodies know how to fight the really bad bugs when they need to.