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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think hand washing dishes is so uneconomic?

109 replies

MrsKeithRichards · 01/09/2012 10:14

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!?!?

OP posts:
Indith · 01/09/2012 21:51

Well I just got a dishwasher which makes me very happy indeed. It fits everything for a whole day for my family including pans so goes on once a day so I think that is ok.

However, until now we have washed up once a day. I have solid fuel hot water/heating so in the summer when the fire is off I only heat water by immersion heater once a day as it is so uneconomical. We stacked the dishes through the day on the worktop then one small basin of hot water. Do glasses, cups, silverware. Then in the now dirty water rinse plates and pans. Then run new basin and wash plates and pans. Yes a bit of a pin in the arse but not uneconomical no.

the reason I got a dishwasher is more because I was fed up of having a days worth of dishes on the side in our small kitchen really.

CleoSmackYa · 01/09/2012 21:53

I agree! I demand the government buy me a dishwasher, and a bigger home to put it in

MrsHerculePoirot · 01/09/2012 21:57

rulebritannia what do you mean 'put it on the worktop to finish off'? Surely you go straight from table to dishwasher, then dishwasher to cupboards? As opposed to table to next to sink, wash, dry it (unless you do it in batches which strings it out further), then into cupboard. Can't work out at all how that can be quicker?!? If they aren't for you though that is fine, but for us they deffo save time, energy and water.

Kasbaah · 01/09/2012 21:58

Don't mind the washing up, its a bit of time out, what a saddo. Can't do it without my marigolds though. Bet I would love a dishwasher if i got one, but don't you need a load of stuff like mugs etc. to get thru the day?

alistron1 · 01/09/2012 21:59

There are 6 of us in our house - a lot of washing up. Our kitchen is shite and there is no room for a dishwasher. Would it be worth us (given the size of our family) getting a counter top one? I fucking HATE washing up.

MrsHerculePoirot · 01/09/2012 22:04

Some research here
And here

Haven't really found any environmental research against them as yet... Our old one has been taken by a company who environmentally friendly recycle them/their parts.

YeahBuddy · 01/09/2012 22:04

I can't fit a dishwasher in my tiny kitchen, it's something that really irritates me every single day because I have no life

BUT I am moving soon and I will finally have a decent sized kitchen :) Guess what's on top on my Christmas list this year?!

LiquidCosh · 01/09/2012 22:06

YADNBU
Mine broke for over two weeks and it felt more like two bloody years! I could've kissed the whirlpool man when he finally arrived with the part to fix it!

vodkaanddietirnbru · 01/09/2012 22:09

I hate washing up but I hate drying dishes even more and the dishwasher does both for you. There is no need to pre-rinse the dishes - scrape leftovers into the bin and load them in. Washing dishes by hand is very time consuming as well. I love my dishwasher!

LST · 01/09/2012 22:12

YABU. I hated my dish washer. Hand washing is so much easier and cheaper!

perfectstorm · 01/09/2012 22:15

I think dishwashers 30 years ago were a bit crap, tbh. My aunt had one, and she says that they never dried anything properly and you had to rinse most of the dirt off before loading. Which made it almost as much work as washing by hand. If I'd been exposed to one of those, I might well never have bothered to get one of my own. But a decent modern one should clean immaculately, and then dry totally, unless there are any indentations or anything where water can pool.

Allpastyears I don't use tablets, I just use powder and rinse aid and salt, and then do a maintenance wash every month at full heat. I was told that's better for the machine, by an engineer. I use a shedload of washing up liquid to get the difficult stuff clean, too, as I can't use 70 degree water on my hands. And I can't wash anything like as many things without changing the water, either, because it's gone all scummy. Again, back to the shower vrs bath principle, I suppose. If you use the all-singing all-dancing tablets, though, I can see it would mount up fast. They're crazily expensive, aren't they? And it isn't as if using separates is time-consuming, especially as salt and rinse aid last several washes.

MySpanielHell · 01/09/2012 22:26

My water isn't metered and I didn't know most people's was.
Hot water exists as a consequence of the heating being on anyway, so it doesn't cost anything for me to use hot water, unless it was hot weather and I didn't have the heating on.

So I can't see how having a dishwasher would be me more economical.

vodkaanddietirnbru · 01/09/2012 22:30

my water isnt metered either but what the dishwasher saves the most is TIME - I dont want to stand for hours washing and drying dishes when the dishwasher will do it for me.

MySpanielHell · 01/09/2012 22:33

Yes, I am envious of the time saved and do not enjoy washing up, but I can't see where in our kitchen we would fit a dishwasher. I have considered (when we have some money) getting one in the cellar and carrying the dishes down in a bucket.

But then my mum has a dishwasher, and all the items that are a nightmare to wash up can't go in the dishwasher anyway (or maybe that is just her).

IWipeArses · 01/09/2012 22:35

Oh my life would be so much improved by owning a dishwasher. I loathe washing up, the skin on my hands is awful, even with gloves. One day...

imonthefone · 01/09/2012 22:36

dish washers are stupid.....by the time you've rinsed of the food and stacked it all in, you could have hand washed them all and put them away!

and then putting the fecking thing on...and you've got no cups for tea, cuz they are all in the daft machine Hmm

MySpanielHell · 01/09/2012 22:36

I don't even wear gloves! I'm going to scrutinize other people's tomorrow to see if mine are wrecked in comparison.

imonthefone · 01/09/2012 22:38

I think in the Dalai Lamas autobiography there is a chapter on washing up...he said it is a time to be still and reflective, and grateful that you are just doing the washing up and so distracted from dealing with the other shit in your life that you have to deal with...he said it better than that, obviously....

I always remember that, when I feel like moaning about the washing up...

vodkaanddietirnbru · 01/09/2012 22:40

you dont have to rinse off the food - thats just silly! We have plenty of cups left for tea too!

imonthefone · 01/09/2012 22:43

ok, maybe it is my friends who are stupid, rather than dishwashers......Grin

marquesas · 01/09/2012 22:45

In the past when I had a dishwasher I was told by an engineer that you need to make sure there's no food on the dishes or it will clog up the machine. I don't know if that's true but it sounds reasonable.

DialsMavis · 01/09/2012 22:46

My new house doesn't have one.... I sat up in bed and howled when I realised. We have only been here 3 days, so am still finding washing up a quaint novelty at the moment. If I ever get a job then the freezer will be going in the garage & will get a dishwasher with first pay cheque Smile

imonthefone · 01/09/2012 22:49

what they need to invent is a machine that takes clothes from washing machine and hangs them on the line; then keeps an eye on the weather and can bring them in if it starts to rain; then put them all back on the line again when it has stopped raining.....repeat until clothes are dry; fold and put in drawers

Id buy one of them

perfectstorm · 01/09/2012 22:52

MySpanielHell I have a condensing boiler, so the water is heated each time of use. And our water's metered, too. Plus the time/annoyance factor.

Does the Delai Lama have kids, and if so, is he primarily responsible for the labour raising them creates? Because my immediate reaction to that kind of thinking is that the person in question only washes up now and then. No chore is that awful until you have to do it over and over and over again, and for other people.

You did used to have to rinse before loading, 30 years ago. So people raised in families who had the first wave of them (or who have learned to load by such people) will still do it. It's completely unnecessary now though. Thankfully!

wigglesrock · 01/09/2012 22:57

I like doing the dishes Blush. A dishwasher is way down my list of housey things I'd like - but I couldn't live without my microwave.

My mum was the first person I knew that had a dishwasher - my dad bought her one about 25 years ago for Christmas - lots of romance in our house Grin she loves it, couldn't live without it according to her (second only to her other favourite Christmas gift - the hostess trolley Hmm).

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