6 ms·

Wow, author runs dishwasher twice a day, sometimes three times a day on weekend. That's insane. Life-hack: reuse dishes and glasses when possible throughout t

Wow, author runs dishwasher twice a day, sometimes three times a day on weekend. That's insane. Life-hack: reuse dishes and glasses when possible throughout the day. Wipe off crumbs after breakfast and lunch and set the plates aside. Don't freak out if there's a little left-over grease smear on the dish or dried up fruit-water in the bowl from three hours ago, it won't kill you. If the dish is actually in gross shape (caked on cheese or whatever) then fine, throw it in dishwasher and grab a new one.

plutonorm 6y ago
Kids.
- mumblemumble 6y ago
  When we doubled the size of our household, we quadrupled the volume of dishes and laundry.
  - halfFact 6y ago
    We switched to cloth diapers and need to do a load every day or 2. Hopefully this is better for the environment than disposable.
pmoriarty 6y ago
For decades, I used the dishwasher exclusively to wash my dishes, but once the pandemic began, I started washing my dishes by hand and have been doing so ever since. I used to hate washing dishes by hand, because I found touching the leftover food and grease to be really gross, but since the pandemic I started using nitrile gloves when washing dishes by hand, and then since the leftover food was no longer touching my skin I didn't find it gross any longer. In fact, I was surprised to find that washing dishes became sort of a meditative experience for me, when I took a break from whatever I was involved in in my day-to-day life, and for 10 minutes or so focused on just doing the dishes. So I almost started to enjoy washing dishes by hand, and only rarely run my dishwasher any more. Really, the only time I run the dishwasher now is when I'm too exhausted to do the dishes by hand, instead of every single time. It's also nice not to have to wait for hours for the dishes to be washed and dried, and not to waste so much electricity to just do a handful of dishes.
- taldo 6y ago
  Dishwashers are usually much more water efficient than hand washing.
  - sukilot 6y ago
    ...if you only wash a full load and your hand washing is extremely hot water with the faucet at max flow.
  - shard 6y ago
    How does it balance out when electricity use is taken into account? Saving water might be better in water-poor locations, but saving electricity might be better in high-electric-rate locations. In water-poor locations, it might be more advantageous to use the gray water from hand washing for other uses, such as watering the lawn or flushing the toilet.
    - andechs 6y ago
      Most of the electricity usage is due to the drying cycle of the dishwasher. If you want to be super efficient, set your dishwasher to skip the drying cycle and either prop the door so that the dishes can drip dry, or hand dry the dishes coming out of the dishwasher. Generally, when hand washing dishes, hot water is used. Typically ~5-10 times more water is required when hand washing, which results in more water needing to be heated (and is less energy efficient as a result).
      - shard 6y ago
        > Generally, when hand washing dishes, hot water is used. Typically ~5-10 times more water is required when hand washing Ah, is that so? I've not had a hand washing experience where hot water was used, I thought everyone used cold water. Also, I'm surprised at the efficiency of the dishwasher. Do people leave the faucet running while they do dishes? What I do and typically see is an initial rinse, then water is off while scrubbing, then a rinse to remove the soap. I personally direct the water stream so that the same water passes over other dishes while I rinse the one in my hand, thus reducing the amount of rinsing needed for subsequent dishes.
dsr_ 6y ago
Four humans, all home all day long. We cook. Minimum one dishwasher run daily, maximum 3, average is about 2. If the sink isn't clear, I can't refill the water tank for the chiller. If I don't refill the water tank, people don't drink enough water. Running the dishwasher is cheaper than medical bills.
- eigenvector 6y ago
  You may want to consider a simple detachable hose you can connect to the faucet to fill up something external when the sink is full. I use such a thing for filling a bucket of water that can't actually fit in the sink. You will find it in your local hardware store.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- globular-toast 6y ago
  You actually think you're going to get sick if you don't run the dishwasher multiple times a day? How do people become this detached from reality? I grew up in a family of seven and we didn't even have a dishwasher. Believe it or not, we're all still alive.
  - floren 6y ago
    I read it as "the family will become dehydrated and need to go to the ER if there's not water in the chiller, because straight from the tap is UNACCEPTABLE"
    - dsr_ 6y ago
      Correct. As it happens, my wife's side of the family is prone to kidney stones, and also has an incredibly high pain threshold.
- mdoms 6y ago
  > If I don't refill the water tank, people don't drink enough water Huh? What's wrong with water from the tap?
ogre_codes 6y ago
This raised my eyebrow too, but then I saw that she has 6-8 people in her house and it makes sense. With 2-3 people we usually wash about 2 out of 3 days, I can see if you have that many people running twice a day.
munk-a 6y ago
For 6-8 people in a household twice a day is unreasonably frequent. Most of those people are probably kids so it's not like you're racking up tons of wine glasses. So, while it's nice to use an environmentally friendly detergent - the most environmentally friendly thing you can do is just reuse dishes when possible - did you eat a bagel on that plate? Give it a rinse and use it again!

plutonorm 6y ago

Kids.

mumblemumble 6y ago
When we doubled the size of our household, we quadrupled the volume of dishes and laundry.
- halfFact 6y ago
  We switched to cloth diapers and need to do a load every day or 2. Hopefully this is better for the environment than disposable.

pmoriarty 6y ago

For decades, I used the dishwasher exclusively to wash my dishes, but once the pandemic began, I started washing my dishes by hand and have been doing so ever since. I used to hate washing dishes by hand, because I found touching the leftover food and grease to be really gross, but since the pandemic I started using nitrile gloves when washing dishes by hand, and then since the leftover food was no longer touching my skin I didn't find it gross any longer. In fact, I was surprised to find that washing dishes became sort of a meditative experience for me, when I took a break from whatever I was involved in in my day-to-day life, and for 10 minutes or so focused on just doing the dishes. So I almost started to enjoy washing dishes by hand, and only rarely run my dishwasher any more. Really, the only time I run the dishwasher now is when I'm too exhausted to do the dishes by hand, instead of every single time. It's also nice not to have to wait for hours for the dishes to be washed and dried, and not to waste so much electricity to just do a handful of dishes.

taldo 6y ago
Dishwashers are usually much more water efficient than hand washing.
- sukilot 6y ago
  ...if you only wash a full load and your hand washing is extremely hot water with the faucet at max flow.
- shard 6y ago
  How does it balance out when electricity use is taken into account? Saving water might be better in water-poor locations, but saving electricity might be better in high-electric-rate locations. In water-poor locations, it might be more advantageous to use the gray water from hand washing for other uses, such as watering the lawn or flushing the toilet.
  - andechs 6y ago
    Most of the electricity usage is due to the drying cycle of the dishwasher. If you want to be super efficient, set your dishwasher to skip the drying cycle and either prop the door so that the dishes can drip dry, or hand dry the dishes coming out of the dishwasher. Generally, when hand washing dishes, hot water is used. Typically ~5-10 times more water is required when hand washing, which results in more water needing to be heated (and is less energy efficient as a result).
    - shard 6y ago
      > Generally, when hand washing dishes, hot water is used. Typically ~5-10 times more water is required when hand washing Ah, is that so? I've not had a hand washing experience where hot water was used, I thought everyone used cold water. Also, I'm surprised at the efficiency of the dishwasher. Do people leave the faucet running while they do dishes? What I do and typically see is an initial rinse, then water is off while scrubbing, then a rinse to remove the soap. I personally direct the water stream so that the same water passes over other dishes while I rinse the one in my hand, thus reducing the amount of rinsing needed for subsequent dishes.

dsr_ 6y ago

Four humans, all home all day long. We cook. Minimum one dishwasher run daily, maximum 3, average is about 2. If the sink isn't clear, I can't refill the water tank for the chiller. If I don't refill the water tank, people don't drink enough water. Running the dishwasher is cheaper than medical bills.

eigenvector 6y ago
You may want to consider a simple detachable hose you can connect to the faucet to fill up something external when the sink is full. I use such a thing for filling a bucket of water that can't actually fit in the sink. You will find it in your local hardware store.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
globular-toast 6y ago
You actually think you're going to get sick if you don't run the dishwasher multiple times a day? How do people become this detached from reality? I grew up in a family of seven and we didn't even have a dishwasher. Believe it or not, we're all still alive.
- floren 6y ago
  I read it as "the family will become dehydrated and need to go to the ER if there's not water in the chiller, because straight from the tap is UNACCEPTABLE"
  - dsr_ 6y ago
    Correct. As it happens, my wife's side of the family is prone to kidney stones, and also has an incredibly high pain threshold.
mdoms 6y ago
> If I don't refill the water tank, people don't drink enough water Huh? What's wrong with water from the tap?

ogre_codes 6y ago

This raised my eyebrow too, but then I saw that she has 6-8 people in her house and it makes sense. With 2-3 people we usually wash about 2 out of 3 days, I can see if you have that many people running twice a day.

munk-a 6y ago

For 6-8 people in a household twice a day is unreasonably frequent. Most of those people are probably kids so it's not like you're racking up tons of wine glasses. So, while it's nice to use an environmentally friendly detergent - the most environmentally friendly thing you can do is just reuse dishes when possible - did you eat a bagel on that plate? Give it a rinse and use it again!