To think a bottle of washing up liquid should last a year

[Kinsters]

This is dredged up from ages ago but I'm wondering AIBU to think my parents are the odd ones? Is it me that's strange?

I moved into a new place and bought a new bottle of washing up liquid (just normal stuff). My parents came to visit me about 4 months after I'd moved in and in that time I had used about 1/3 of the bottle. They stayed for three weeks and by the end of their visit the bottle was almost empty!

Now it's 10 months later and I'm just getting to the end of the second bottle (ie the replacement for the one my parents went through so quickly). Who is the weird one here?! Are we both at opposite extremes of the washing up liquid scale?!

This is fascinating 😁 we have a huge bottle of Fairy which has been going since December 2018!

An 800ml bottle last a year means you use no more than 2ml per day.

I could tell you lived in Asia from how you wash up. No one in Asia uses a washing up bowl. That’s a U.K./Western thing.
I'm in the UK and I only own a small washing up bowl for camping. It usually lives under my sink with spare sponges and washing up gloves in it, I never use one at home.

An 800ml bottle last a year means you use no more than 2ml per day.
5ml is a teaspoon? 1/5 teaspoon twice a day sounds about what we would use, straight on the sponge.

Ours lasts 2-3 weeks! No dishwasher

Dishwasher here and probably get through a bottle of liquid a week anyway - I put one on the shop every week so I never run out but I did just have a look and have 8 bottles in the cleaning cupboard.

But! No matter - why can’t I have homemade curry dropped off at the gate every day for £65 a month?!!!!!

@Duvetdweller

I'd sign up for that too - I pay £30 a week for hello fresh and still have to cook it l!

@Kinsters

Plenty of people will deliver us food, but it's simply not affordable. £30 or so for two people per meal!

We have a dishwasher. Wash up fairly irregularly. A big bottle lasts around 2 months for us. I think you're using such a small amount. How!

I'm the same it lasts ages but I also just use boiling hot water for some things like a plate I just ate from because I am the only adult in my house using it and it only had some food on it. When my dad comes over he literally pours it into the sink like he's bathing the queen's corgis.
Also I was conditioned by the adverts as a child that fairy lasts longer, so I make it last longer...much longer.

Family of seven with 2 dc at school for lunch. I feel like I spend 3 hours a day at the sink! I can't afford a new dishwasher after mine broke (water not draining out the bottom of anyone has any DIY tips 😁) I use about a bottle and a half in a week and a half

SWnewstart it's really not samey. Or I guess it is in the sense of only eating Chinese food every day but we're Chinese (or my husband is anyway) so for us it's just food 🤣. We get three dishes each day - one meat, one veg and one wildcard which might be tofu, egg, fish, wantons, fried chicken pieces etc. We eat it with rice.

I've got a picture of it somewhere. That's a fairly typical box. I think it's for three people though from when my sister visited. It's sliced meat in gravy, breaded prawns and green veg.

The food is so good. I once asked if she did cooking lessons but she didn't really understand what I wanted (or maybe the answer was no) and she just offered to pack me the raw ingredients instead of the food lol. I don't think it would work if everyone chose from a menu. This way the woman who prepared the food just cooks eg a big pot of curry, portions it between all the boxes and then her dad delivers it on his moped. She runs a restaurant too. I think it's what we call an economy rice restaurant. It's basically a self service buffet and you get a plate of rice and can then choose whatever dishes you want and you pay according to what you take. I'll Google a picture.

That's not her restaurant btw. Just a random example that comes up when you Google economy rice restaurant!

I don't think you're weird OP, or unreasonable. I seem to make washing up liquid last a long time and I wash up a similar way to you. Rinse well, use a soapy sponge then rinse well again.

Having a decent sponge makes a difference - I need to use more liquid when it's getting raggy or compressed. I want to use an eco-friendly alternative but everything I've tried seems to need so much more washing up liquid.

Wow! Well imo it depends on the brand, type and size of bottle.

No dishwasher here (I wish!)

I prefer fairy original I've tried others but they really don't work as well especially on tough "burnt on" stuff like if you've made a pie and the edges of the pastry are seared on to the dish

I only ever buy it on offer so never full price and I get approx 1/2 L size or close to and that lasts me about 3 months roughly, so a 1L would last me 6 months.

I think a year is a bit much I'd wonder if your dishes were even clean!

You don't cook? And it sounds like you only have the evening meal dishes to do? Even so that still seems very low use to me

That sounds like you have takeaway every night? That's not healthy quite aside from the washing up side

They call it catering rather than takeout as it's home cooked style food and you don't choose what you're getting I'm sorry but I very much doubt it's as healthy as actual home cooked food because there are certain adjustments need to be made in order to cook in large quantities AND keep it hot and safe to eat when delivered. Calling it something else will make no difference to that. Plus no choice? That's weird! I wouldn't like that at all

Unless you have an anti-bac washing up liquid

It's all anti bac! Just some brands make a point of stating it! All soap based products are.

I've dx ocd snd I find it quite amusing how unaware people are of certain hygiene related things

I am fascinated that you don’t put water in a bowl/sink, never mind washing up liquid. Are you just rinsing things under the tap? Sounds a bit grim!

I don't put water in a bowl or sink. To me it's a bit like the old bath vs shower argument, and most people usually agree there that a shower is better for actually getting clean cos you're not lying in a bathful of your own dirt.

Same with dishes. The bowl would be full of grime after the first couple of dishes! I have the tap running, rinse plate (or fork, knife, pan, whatever) thoroughly under the tap, rub it with my soapy sponge, then rinse soap off under the tap again and leave to dry in rack.

It's the shower of washing up. Much cleaner than a manky bowl of dirty water.

Gentleness yes the sponge makes a huge difference. I also would like a more eco friendly alternative.

Graphista I do breakfast and lunch dishes. Just normal food for that. What adjustments are needed? Honestly, Asian food lends itself very well to mass catering in a way that western food doesn't. Plus delivering safely and hot? It's just put in a metal box and left on my gate. I put it in the fridge and heat it up later. I can tell that the food isn't full of fat, sugar and salt. No more than home cooking is.

I'd have thought I'd hate not choosing but actually it's very freeing. I never think about what to make during the week, shopping is loads easier, I get to try things I wouldn't normally try. It's great! The delivery is Monday - Friday only so weekends are when we get our western fix.

You’ve got to be joking! I buy a bottle every other week ( if that ) but we don’t have a dishwasher.

Family of 3 here, we like to cook and have no dishwasher and a large bottle would last us about 6 weeks.

We don't fill a bowl with water but we have one of those Dishmatic things that you fill with washing up liquid and water.