How do you not get divorced if you don't have a dishwasher?

[Chamomileteaplease]

A bit extreme but I am interested in how not to fall out with my family.

We are moving to a new house which has no room for a dishwasher. I don't even have a partner but I have three teenagers who I do not want to have fights with😎.

Here we have a rota and it works very well.

However, without a dishwasher, surely the washing up piles up hugely? With 3 or 4 people in the house?

Sounds daft but please tell me how you tackle it? Do you have a schedule😃? Do you have to wash up three times a day to keep on top of it?

I have put this in Relationships because as I said above, I really don't want to suddenly have world war 3 in the house about this and equally I do not want to be the one doing it all.

Yes to PP who said wash as you go. Everyone washes their own dishes should be the rule if you've got lots of kids. And do a lot of one pot or slow cooker meals to minimise washing up pots and pans.

You need to find space for it. Washing up is the only thing I've ever argued about with my son (now 21).

If you didn't cook you wash up after the meal

Or one wash , one dry and one gets a day off

You have a window with an interesting outlook otherwise make it interesting with bird/bath table plant pots with lasagne planting if one or these are possible then a window thermometer etc it’s very good for well-being !

Just do it as you go.

Our rule is stuff isn't just left in the sink for hours as it makes it so much harder, so only leave stuff there if it's pots/pans etc. while you eat.

Our dishwasher was broken for a couple weeks and it was easy to simply catch up the dish washing after each meal. Before starting to wash, I’d dry and put away the stuff from the meal before so the drying rack is free and clear. Once a week I scrub and disinfect the drying rack. I usually do the dishes as I find it relaxing and satisfying.

Ours broke earlier this year and we can't afford to replace it yet.
Breakfast: Everyone does their own
Lunch: Mostly people are out.
Dinner: A bit of give and take. We have a rule that the washer-upperer gets to choose the music. Everyone else puts away / wipes the table etc

I would move heaven & earth to get one, I planned my kitchen at the house I owned round the dishwasher & the eye level oven.

i ripped out a kitchen unit to get a dishwasher in. Best thing I ever did.

Each person in the house has their own plate, cup, bowl, glass and cutlery. Just 1 of each! They are then responsible for washing their own dishes or eating over the sink like an animal 😁

Will you be owning or renting the house?

i can't imagine a house big enough for you all, wouldn't have a big enough kitchen that a cupboard can't be replaced with a DW.

Oh dear.
We had this problem in our first home when it was just DH and I. Neither of us liked doing dishes and mostly the person who didn't cook had to do the washing up. When we moved we both agreed that a dishwasher was a must.

I'd try looking for a counter top dishwasher if I were you.

Maybe I am a bit sad but I am finding it very interesting hearing about everyone's thoughts and feelings about dishwashers 😄.

In answer to questions, we will be owning so in theory there could be adaptations but there really isnt' a lot of room to play with. Once we have lived there a while hopefully all will become clear.

In this house, I got a combined washer dryer and moved cupboards to fit a slimline dishwasher. But if I couldn't do that I'd get a countertop one.

There’s three in our house. I wash up breakfast dishes mon-fri, Partner does weekend. I sometimes wash evening dishes during the week, but as I’ve usually cooked I mostly leave it for partner. Weekends lunch and evening is whoever gets to it first. Dd is 10 and I’ve not yet got her on board with washing up, but will be soon.

Christ, this thread. We don’t have a dishwasher nor do we wash up as we go. The dishes pile up around and, yes, shock horror, inside the sink then in the evening one of us (adults) spends maybe 15 mins washing them up. Sometimes no one can be arsed and they get left till the next morning, or even the next evening, and surprisingly the sky hasn’t fallen on our heads nor have we been outcast from society for being ‘grim’. The kids just do their homework and would make a shit job of it anyway. What’s the big deal? Couldn’t live without a dishwasher, get a grip.

I have a rule I will wash up
if the draining board is clear - if not
they have to do the draining board and washing up and then dry it and make it totally clear before bed

We don’t have a dishwasher. Stuff gets piled up next to the sink and during the week the eldest 2 children (both 10) do it after dinner - one washes up, one dries and puts away, if they do a good job they get their pocket money, if they do a rubbish job they do it for free. At weekends either DP or I does it, whoever gets to it first, although we don’t dry, just wait til it’s dry and then put away. Don’t have a drying rack as can’t fit enough on it, we just put a tea towel down on the draining bit of the sink and it gets put on there (and then expand onto the worktop on another tea towel if we run out of space). Normally DP does it but I occasionally get to it first if he’s out or whatever. Never had an argument about it! 🤷‍♀️

Kids all scrape their plates after meals, rinse if need be and then stack their dishes next to the sink ready to be washed so it’s all contained in one bit of the kitchen. We have 5 kids ranging from 10-4 so there’s usually a fair few dishes but it all gets done one way or another!

I would get a dishwasher - take out a cupboard.. anything. You will not enjoy being without one.

I've been with and without one throughout my life, honestly you'll get used to it.

Haven't had one now for 10 years. Keep on top of it is my advice, but I don't fret myself if I leave it overnight.

When my sister and I were teens we were supposed to take turns to wash up every day. My sister developed a cunning strategy of engineering an argument at the dinner table which would allow her to strop off upstairs, then make a reappearance an hour later and say she'd forgiven us. It was a good 2 months before the penny dropped that she only did this when it was her night to wash!

I've never had a dishwasher. We wash up once a day after the evening meal, the cook doesn't wash up.

But there's only the 2 of us, so never a big pile.