What is a washing up bowl for?

[UniquelyBoring]

I've never used a washing up bowl in my house but when I go away at Airbnb there's often one there and I don't understand their purpose. Please can you break it down for me.

Thanks.

How much water are you wasting by keeping the tap running??

It’s for bathing the baby !😂

It also means you are not washing veg and crockery in the same sink. Not as much of a problem these days but in the days when veg was covered in mud.

The lack of common sense on this thread is astonishing. It's no wonder so many areas have a hosepipe ban.

Like many others I grew up in a house with a belfast sink - see image. You would have had to use gallons of water to wash up without a washing up bowl, and risk chipping any glassware or crockery as well.

As an Aussie, they just seem so germy and grimy when I've visited the UK. Never dry, always a bit smelly. I'm very glad I don't have a generational attachment to them!

@YeahNahWhal you must know some scummy people. I clean my washing up bowl after every use. It is no dirtier than a sink would be if it wasn't cleaned.

We had a young family member visiting from Australia. She came into the kitchen on her first visit and she looked at the washing up bowl in the sink and said “ Ah yes mum told me that the English keep a bucket in the sink, why do you do that? “ both my husband and I erred and mmmd about why. I could have done with reading this thread before answering her.

We stayed in an AirBnb in Australia and I asked the owner if there was a washing up bowl. She asked what one was. I could have done with reading this thread before answering her.

I’ve been in to some houses in Australia and they do have washing up bowls, so it’s not a totally alien concept. They even sell them in supermarkets.

Have you any idea just how much water you are using with that method?

Anyway, other uses - carrying a bowl of water to another part of the house for eg: cleaning the skirting boards, washing dirty finger marks off the walls, using the dregs of washing-up water to clean mud off the doorstep, cat food from the floor beside their dishes, the uses are endless.

You can stand pot plants in them to give them a good drink without any compost blocking up the plughole, washing veg and scrubbing potatoes, soaking aching feet, carry a bowl of water outside so you can get the dried-on bugs off your windscreen, you name it. And when you've finished, you can pour the water on the parched garden instead of letting your paid-for water go to waste down the drain.

It is also easier to store than a bucket, fitting neatly into the sink.

I want to know how people manage without one.

For me it's mainly to be able to empty cups down the side of the bowl. I presume a lot of MNers have double sinks so probably don't need them for this purpose, but it's annoying when you're washing up and there's still some tea in the cup.

In my house they also have the additional use of enabling my husband to wash round the sink so that it appears clean, without noticing that he's left additional detritus underneath the bowl. This then disgusts and irritates me in equal measure upon discovering it at an inopportune moment. So that's fun.

"So if you fill either the sink or the bowl with I'm guessing soapy water how do you rinse everything?"

I half fill the sink then rinse into the same sink.
Some people have a double sink, one for washing, one for rinsing filled with water without soap, like they do in pubs.
People will argue with this, but it is true that many British people, at least in Wales where I come from, don't rinse at all. In the old day the soap residue would come off with drying, but now that many people air dry this doesn't happen so they should rinse.

you really don’t know the purpose? Or are you trying to make some sort of point? Bizarre post.

Dunno. Never had one, they always seem v slimey when I encounter them.

I can’t stand washing up bowls - they just seem unnecessary for washing up and just get in the way sploshing revolting water when emptied etc and I hate the thought of stuff that is eaten off just festering in the filthy water and that fettered water being used as the basis of cleaning them - I used to soak them then empty the sink and then individually wash and rinse each item under a running tap with no bowl involved (time-consuming but not an issue since buying a dishwasher!).

They are definitely useful though with the main purpose being a means by which soapy water can moved around the house to clean other areas such as a carpet spill, walls, car etc.

It protects the sink

*from getting scratched, it helps protects crockery from getting damaged and if something breaks it helps protects your hands. It uses less water and you can pour slops outside the bowel into the sink.

Tbh it's pretty obvious when you give it some thought. 1+1 stuff

I find washing up in a sink a bit grim for some reason. You have to use loads more water to fill it. I use a bowl, fill it up, then empty it if I have lot of greasy or dirty washing up such as for a roast dinner. I probably use the same amount of water as one sink full but in 2 or 3 lots so I'm washing items in cleaner water.

I suppose the alternative would be to waste loads more water and washing up liquid trying to degrease all pans enough that one sink full will then be enough to clean them.

Mum washes up in the sink and seems to often have quite a shallow amount of water compared to using a bowl.

Horses for courses.

I never understood the purpose of one either. I use a bit of cool water to soap up the cups etc while the tap is off, then give each one a quick rinse under the hot tap before putting away. I don't use too much water that way, probably the same amount as people would use to fill up their bowls. I've never chipped a cup or plate from the sink but then I do have one of those mats at the bottom to stop them clanking about. (It gets gross underneath that too.)

I don't understand not rinsing either!

Can see the need for water meters I think. Christ.

I've never had one either and have ocassionally wondered about them (no dishwasher here either - I just use the sink) - as a PP said they often seem slimy underneath because they're left standing in the sink. But the water saving benefit hadn't occured to me - that does make a lot of sense.

Not sure about 'transporting' water for washing/cleaning elsewhere though - wouldn't a bucket be more practical for that?

Washing up x

Main reason. Saves water.
Secondary reason can pour dregs down sink without dirtying bowl.
Third reason to protect sink and crockery. I have broken items in the sink in the past! Oops.

I only used to have a single sink and that was only a small sink. Now I have a small sink and a tiny second sink but still use the bowl to save water.

Save water also saves energy unless you are all washing in cold water? Running hot water is SO wasteful.

Wash items from cleanest to dirtiest. Stack them in dryer thingy and pour a jug of clean water over them at the end to rinse.

It's also good, once the water is dirty, to rinse all your recycling.

I wash my bowl in the dishwasher. I rarely do washing up as everything that can (and some that shouldn't!) goes in the dishy-washy.

That is far more energy and water efficient than washing by hand.

I wash in dishy when there's space or to make a full load. To continue with the eco theme.

Uses less water. For tipping liquid down the side. Means you can rinse plates of soap without making the water cold, coz it goes down the side. Also, can use the water on the garden. It’s such a waste to run the tap the whole time when washing up. No wonder there’s a hosepipe ban.

I clean mine after use and turn it upside down in the sink so it’s not gross.

It's also good for washing vegetables in when you unload from the shop and before putting away.

Little bit of vinegar, cold water, soak for 20 minutes then drain.

You should see the dirt and oil that comes off fruit and veg!

One reason I haven't seen listed here - with a metal sink, hot water gets unpleasantly cold FAST. Plastic keeps the heat in more.

I find your comments a tad OTT. Why wouldn't you scrape food detritus off the plates and give them a bit of a rinse first before washing them?

This is what most people do.