to think hand washing dishes is so uneconomic?

[MrsKeithRichards]

Bloody dishwasher broke. It's seven years old, used daily so I'm guessing it's gone to the white good home in the sky.

So for 3 days now I've gone back in time and am hand washing. I wash up about 4 times a day, hot water on all the time, a couple of basins of water at a time not to mention the rinsing, a few tea towels in the wash a day. Soaking wet work tops, dishes lying about. arrrgh!!!!!

I can't wait until my new one comes on Wednesday. How did I cope before!?!?

Cloudbase, they sell tiny tabletop dishwashers. Fit on top of a counter and drain into the sink.

People say that dishwashers use less water but if it uses less then one bowl of water for twice the amount of dishes then the dishes would still be dirty!

Dishwashers work exactly like showers, except they reuse water at each cycle. So a small amount of cold water is repeatedly sprayed on the stuff at the start, to get big objects off. Then the hot starts. Then the detergent is released and new hot sprayed with it. Then it's rinsed with more at such hot temperatures the crocks will steam themselves dry afterwards.

A shower uses less water than a bath, and costs less, but it gets you cleaner because you don't sit in your own muck. Exactly the same principle.

Your electricity bill went down by a third? Wow. I think my one run a day doesn't account for a third of my leccy bill.

I was actually aware of that marquesas but I'm pretty sure that much less water need to be heated up for a dishwasher, and less water is used overall.

I have never had a dishwasher and never will. I wash up once a day, after dinner. I close the kitchen door, put on the radio and just get on with it. I don't see it as drudgery like some people do. That may be because there are only 3 of us and dd is often out so it's just breakfast and dinner dishes, so 2 or 3 bowls, 2 or 3 dinner plates, cutlery, a couple of pots and a few glasses/mugs. It can easily be done with one bowl. You lot are amateurs!
Although I imagine with a large family it could be a bit of a chore...

My water direct debit went down from £65 per month to £38 a month after we got a dishwasher (I wash up under running water though as cannot stand cleaning in mucky water)

I come from a big family. When i was a child the washing up was a major part of the family routine. It was what we argued about, bonded over and bought favours with. Now we argue and bond over wiping the surfaces, cleaning the floor or making the beds instead.

I handwash by v quickly rinsing & using a dish brush under warm running water. Then the water goes off and I use a soapy sponge scrubber to do first glasses, then well rinsed stuff, then stuff that needs a bit more scrub, stacking as I go. Then the dirtier stuff ( like lasagne dish or blackened frying pan) goes in the bottom of the sink, stacked plates & bowls on top, plug in, and I rinse the soaped stuff with very hot water, letting the dirty stuff soak a bit before scrubbing. One last rinse (also used to clean sink) and the job is done. Water runs hot for max 10mins for a days washing up ( family of 4, sahm) which is a bit wasteful but super efficient at getting things really clean. And it's an eco tap where the flow is artificially fast.

It can be done! And that's maybe 20 mins washing up, not a whole heap of extra time to stacking and starting a washer. Plus, if you are the one washing up you make sure you only dirty what you need. It would take 2 days of dishes for our family to fill a dishwasher!

I like washing up. I banish the rest of the family upstairs, and put The Smiths on my cd player. Then I run the water really hot, slather my hands in Neutrogena Swiss Formula and then put my rubber gloves on. The hot water helps the cream soak into my skin, softens my hands and strengthens my nails. I watch the world going by my window as I wash, and wail along to Morrissey, occasionally stopping for a small dance around the kitchen. A dishwasher would spoil the fun!!

I used to think I hated emptying the dishwasher until last month when my dishwasher broke. If I ever get another one I will never moan about emptying it again, I hate washing up.

Yanbu. My dishwasher is coming this week
Exp drove me insane with washing up even when we had a dishwasher. He would wash up about 12 times a day and put some stuff in the dishwasher (then leave it for a week before he switched it on). I tried to put my foot down and insist he left things by the sink and only washed up once a day because he made me boil with rage.
He also insists that not everything can go in the dishwasher....even less economical......au contraire stupid ex!

We have a dishwasher but for some stupid reason I always end up putting a few bits in it and washing the rest up. Tonight I thought sod it, it's all going in - pans and all. So much easier. This is the future :)

I don't want a dishwasher. It uses far more energy than washing up in a bowl of hot water and I don't want a lot of skanky, unwashed plates and cups sat around fermenting in a dishwasher waiting to be joined by enough of the same to make it worth running.

But then I'm not very princessy about nails either.

jeez just wash wash your dishes...........or get your dc's too

If you are worried about economic things or the environment........... boil the kettle and put it in the basin and top up with cold water

All the environmental advice is to get a dishwasher, rated A+ for energy and run it as full as possible. Over the year this saves you water, energy and time apparently. Many studies show this despite people having a gut feeling of the opposite.

Erk....thought kettles were shocking electric wasters!

I

YANBU, but you have little sympathy from me as we don't have one, nor do we have space for one. I shall look up these counter top ones mentioned but am unsure we'll have room for one of them either.

Sorry - I've been busy in RL.

I live on my own. Use electricity only for washing machine, TV etc., lighting, hoover, gadgets.

Water heated by gas. Boiler on for an hour every morning which heats water for shower/bath and washing up etc. Gas consumption has gone down every bill, tho' every quarter I'm paying more.

My water is metred, very low - I think about £12 pm.

My energy bills have a graph showing consumption. I was surprised, too, at the dip after giving up the dishwasher. It's only about 3 years old, but a Friday afternoon machine that kept going wrong. I used it about once a day.

Families are expensive! But many hands make light work...

MrsHerculePoirot

In the time taken to put everything tidily into your dishwasher and take it all out, put it on the worktop to finish off, you could have washed the lot in a bowl in the sink and had it ready more quickly..

How can a dish washer be quicker and more economical?

Surely you need to run them under the tap before putting in the machine to get rid of food bits and gravy so you will be using 2 lots of water. One at the sink and one in the machine?

No need to pre-rinse, why would you?

Scrape off any large chunks/bits of fat etc. but that's all, no water required.

I'm not convinced about dishwashers being economical. Washing up liquid is much cheaper than dishwasher tablets, and what about the cost and environmental implications of manufacturing the great bloody thing, not to mention disposing of it when it gives up the ghost?

Ours broke last summer, took us 6 months to bother getting round to fixing it. We only did so then because the washing machine broke (can't live without that!) and we got one guy round to look at both.