Washing up - is DH filthy or am I overreacting?

[Washingupfury]

I have name changed for this. Dh and I have a disagreement about washing up water. He feels that you fill the sink, start with cleanest stuff eg glasses work your way through to the dirty stuff and no need to change the water unless the bubbles disappear, even if the water looks dirty.

I fill the sink, wash, rinse under running water, and if the water gets cloudy I change it.

I just caught him washing a cereal bowl in this:

I think it's disgusting. He thinks it is fine 'as it was the last thing to be washed'. We have agreed to abide by the MN poll for future washing up.

So, YABU DH is sensible and timesaving, of course the last few things will be washed in cloudy water.

YANBU DH is filthy and clean water and rinsing are the way to go.

@EnglishBluebell is the food you eat off the plates utterly rank as that is what is in the washing up bowl

Yes - housekeeper with the little broom on, hostess was the coffee morning one with the coffee cup.

I can only imagine some posters here live on a diet of hand-dug, unwashed turnips and raw egg yolks to make them so convinced that any harmful microbes will survive scrubbing in detergent and hot water.

@wintersgold you do know what washing up liquid does don’t you?

Yes, it is! You don't want old food residue on your clean plates and cutlery

I'm shocked at the poll findings. But then again as has been discussed on previous threads about this subject, this appears to be a peculiarly ethnic British way of doing the washing up. Other nationalities and children of immigrants into the UK (like me) think it is a disgusting way of doing the washing up.

Glasses, dishes, cutlery and pots, must be rinsed to remove washing up suds and debris in the washing bowl and then left to air dry in a rack. No drying with a tea towel. But people don't like to admit that they are a mucky so and so, therefore they will carry on doing what they have done for years.

OP, I'd be telling DP not to wash the dishes and doing them myself. Then you know that they are done properly.

I think this is a pointless exercise. One of the benefits of a dishwasher is putting all the dirty stuff in it out of the way and switching it on when it's full. If you baulk at the thought of some things being in there for >gasp< a few days before they get washed you can always run a rinse programme.

Yes!

The thing I think is revolting is when guests think they are being helpful or polite and rinse the mug or cup they've had a hot drink in and put it on the drainer. 1. You are my guest, this is not necessary. 2. It is rank. 3. We have a dishwasher!

It surrounds the grease particle as one end of the molecule is hydrophilic and the other hydrophobic. Then when you rinse, you rinse off both grease and soap combined.

I’m well aware how much water is wasted by water companies. I’m not “performative worrying” I’m genuinely concerned about how much water is wasted in the home as well and to to minimise the amount I use

The first time I saw my husband do this I was too disgusted for words. To be fair to him he grew up without running water. And he doesn’t do it anymore. But I agree with you; it’s grim.

"Normal" dish washing as happened through decades.
What a topic.
Your problems on my head.

@Washingupfury

Have any of you gotten sick/food poisoning from his way of washing dishes?

I strongly suspect the answer is no, because if any of you had, it would keep repeating, and you'd then start changing things to figure out the cause and stop it happening.

So his way works perfectly fine. Maybe you don't like it. That's fine, when you wash up, do it your way. But there isn't "right" and "wrong" here, there's your opinion and his. As neither hurts anyone, be an adult and let him also be one and do it his way when he's washing up.

Dishes aren't sterile, it's really not a problem.

I didn’t mention pre- rinsing or post rinsing with running water.
i did mention the amount of detergent.

How you extrapolated that into me being responsible for world-wide drought I’ve no idea!

It’s not rocket science. Put the washed dishes + drainer into the sink and pour some clean water over them.
Before you start, I said SOME, not a reservoir full.

Your DH’s way is fine. Though if there’s more than one super-greasy item or the water’s no longer hot I might change the water. Washing dishes under running water is a huge waste.

If you have washed the dishes in “soapy” water and left them to dry without rinsing then there is detergent on them, not great.

What health issues does having residual detergent on dishes cause?

Think it may be a British thing, this washing up bowl with soapy water and not rinsing.

Well you do... until someone comes into the kitchen with a mug that needs washing up and it has dregs in it.

“Latest research seems to indicate that remnants of dishwashing detergents are able to damage the protective barrier in the intestines and therefore allow bacteria to infiltrate the cells causing inflammation. When it comes to washing dishes - make sure they are rinsed well in plain water.”

I’m not too keen, you?

I rinse any really dirty dishes under the hot tap first, then use your husband's method. I don't think I've ever changed the water mid dishes. I'm in my 60s and rarely ill (and when I am it's nothing to do with the dishwater!).

I've been doing this for decades, as have most other people I know, along with my parents, GPs etc. People go overboard about things which have been done for decades - what do you think is going to happen to you? Where I live people don't rinse dishes, except maybe glasses.

I think we'll be OK. But carry on...

So as long as you're not using huge squirts of the soap to wash your dishes so that you're making your next meal taste soapy then there is no harm in NOT rinsing your dishes afterwards

I think as a nation we will have more problems with using too much water than leaving a possible trace of soap suds on a plate