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I used to be uptight about how to load the dishwater until I put away a load that was packed by my partner, "like a raccoon on meth", and noticed there wasn't a

by dfxm12 2y ago

I used to be uptight about how to load the dishwater until I put away a load that was packed by my partner, "like a raccoon on meth", and noticed there wasn't a difference in the cleanliness. Now I just worry about buying new bowls. Will the bowls fit nicely given pitch and angle of the of the dealies on the rack? The bowls I inherited from my grandmother fit so nicely in any dishwasher I've loaded them into, but now they're starting to crack...

harrall 2y ago
I like to re-try everything a new way occasionally even if I've been doing it one way for 20 years.
danielparks 2y ago
Similarly, I used to stress about loading the dishwasher when I was a teen. I would spend so much time loading it that I have myself a neck ache from leaning over and I could have saved time by washing the dishes by hand. I still try to be somewhat efficient about loading the dishwasher, but… if I notice myself stressing I just say “screw it”, run it, and wash the rest by hand. The other thing I’ve realized is that sometimes things don’t get clean if you load them properly. For example, tall glasses that had smoothies in them. It’s a little gross if you don’t notice it until you’re about to use it, but… you can just look at them and wash them by hand when you unload the dishwasher. I guess this is all to say that sometimes the best optimization is to not think about it too much.
taeric 2y ago
I view it as an area where diminishing returns are almost as soon as you get started. Using a dish washer is already getting a TON of work done for me that I would otherwise have to do. Trying to squeeze any extra from it is kind of silly. I'll always have to run it some more tomorrow.
spiffytech 2y ago
Some things won't matter, some will. I think it's changed over time as dishwashers and detergents got better. The article mentions that newer detergents do better with unrinsed dishes. And I remember a commercial about a dishwasher that could eat a cake. My old model sure couldn't do that! If I wasn't careful I'd find hunks of food sitting inside after it ran. It also used to be that putting thin tupperware on the bottom rack was a sure way to melt it. Now I can't remember the last time that happened to me. Things that used to provably matter... now don't. On the other hand, I have a family member who loads the spoons in a big pile, and they stick together and don't get clean. Or, I had roommates who kept putting my good knives in the dishwasher, and the finish got ruined. That stuff still matters. I like the article's conclusion: we can just get the answers, and update our knowledge. We don't have to treat this like a pre-internet argument, where we just went in circles repeating heresay.
- hbsbsbsndk 2y ago
  When I was cleaning my dishwasher I realized there are two ways to configure it: with a in-sink garbage disposal, and without. If you don't have the garbage disposal part hooked up there is simply nowhere for the chunks to go and they accumulate at the bottom of the washer beneath a filter.
- anon7000 2y ago
  Another example is plates tall enough to block the top spinner. Or plates pressed together so much that water can’t get in between.
- ioseph 2y ago
  What do you mean by finish? I put all my knives in without issue but probably wouldn't do wooden handles
hinkley 2y ago
What I notice is that the dishes and glasses don't chip when I put them in and I do when anyone else does. Don't matter if there are more clean dishes per load if they're broken, people.
- stevenAthompson 2y ago
  You are thinking like someone who buys the dishes, rather than someone who wants the person who buys the dishes to get off their case about it so they can do something more interesting.
stronglikedan 2y ago
The only trick is to not block anything from the water, or a direct reflection of it. Other than that, it's a free-for-all.
Swizec 2y ago
> I used to be uptight about how to load the dishwater until I put away a load that was packed by my partner, "like a raccoon on meth", and noticed there wasn't a difference in the cleanliness. My partner loads the dishwasher like a raccoon on meth. I do it like a software engineer who's been thinking about The One True Way To Organize Things for decades. Cleanliness is fine either way. But I really hate that she can't fit a full day's worth of dishes in there so I have to do an extra load later.
- raffraffraff 2y ago
  That's the real difference. I'm playing Tetris, and getting an amazing score. She's leaving a bunch of stuff on the side for the next cycle, or hand washing them.
  - jeffrallen 2y ago
    Crushing the high score here too. Just recently got an entire line of colored kids plastic glasses on the top rack, I swear it made a do-do-do tone when I stopped that last cup in there. :)
- grepLeigh 2y ago
  On the other side of this argument, I've seen "just run the dishwasher twice" used as shorthand for giving yourself permission to do whatever is needed to get the job done and not letting perfectionism paralyze you from making progress. This blog excerpt explains the idea [1]: > Knowing this week was going to be a lot, I’ve been living by “run the dishwasher twice”. What the hell does that even mean?! Essentially it means to do whatever is the path of least resistance to get shit done. The advice came from a therapist to a woman who was feeling very low & was struggling with everyday tasks such as doing the dishes. She didn’t have the mental capacity to scrub dishes before putting them in her crappy dishwasher so she wasn’t doing them & they were building up & causing her more anxiety. Her therapist said not to rinse the dishes & just run the dishwasher twice, even three times if that’s what it took to get them clean. It was a game-changer for her, one that enabled her to do a small task in an imperfect way just to get it done. I wish the OP article had dug a little bit deeper into the psychology behind daily task conflict in relationships. The dishwasher is one of many microcosms (laundry, car, pets, etc) that I wish I'd paid more attention to in my relationships, because these conversations really do reveal relationship dynamics around HUGE issues like compromise, empathy, perfectionism, and judgmental behavior. [1] https://thebackfenceblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/27/run-the-dishwasher-twice/ https://thebackfenceblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/27/run-the-di...
airstrike 2y ago
IMHO the main advantage of neatly loading dishes neatly is that unloading becomes a 60 second exercise as opposed to a 5 minute one. It's not so much that I don't have 5 minutes to spare, but my back appreciates it if I can get it done quicker. I get 4 plates with each hand, silverware is already sorted neatly... it's just overall a better experience. In other words, even if you believe the time taken to sort is identical whether you do it loading or unloading, the difference is if you do it while loading you divide that task into many smaller tasks instead of doing one big sorting task on unloading.
DiggyJohnson 2y ago
> dealies Not often so I learn a new 5 letter word. I have the same issue with trying to get rid of the fiestaware from my childhood home my mom gave me when I graduated college. It just fits right.
m463 2y ago
I think that heavily depends on the specific dishwasher. I inherited a dishwasher and became more uptight after: - dishes that left the soap partially unused - wet dishes - melted stuff - stuff that blocked the upper rotating thingie - stuff that fell into the heating element and bottom rotating thingie maybe seeking a racoon-friendly dishwasher would be a relationship saver.
potato3732842 2y ago
>and noticed there wasn't a difference in the cleanliness. If they screw it up good enough there is a difference because the water streams can't get where they need to to get everything sufficiently cleaned and rinsed.
atoav 2y ago
In one of my jobs (civil service) I had to pack and unpack a cheap dish washer, for a horde of unruly kids each day. If you pack it orderly unpacking is a lot faster. It also helps to avoid problems with leftovers blocking the dish washer. Turns out most dish washer manufacturers thought a bit about how to load a dishwasher ideally (that matches the layout of the machines insides). For home use with small amounts of dishes it won't really matter tho.

by dfxm12 2y ago

harrall 2y ago

I like to re-try everything a new way occasionally even if I've been doing it one way for 20 years.

danielparks 2y ago

Similarly, I used to stress about loading the dishwasher when I was a teen. I would spend so much time loading it that I have myself a neck ache from leaning over and I could have saved time by washing the dishes by hand. I still try to be somewhat efficient about loading the dishwasher, but… if I notice myself stressing I just say “screw it”, run it, and wash the rest by hand. The other thing I’ve realized is that sometimes things don’t get clean if you load them properly. For example, tall glasses that had smoothies in them. It’s a little gross if you don’t notice it until you’re about to use it, but… you can just look at them and wash them by hand when you unload the dishwasher. I guess this is all to say that sometimes the best optimization is to not think about it too much.

taeric 2y ago

I view it as an area where diminishing returns are almost as soon as you get started. Using a dish washer is already getting a TON of work done for me that I would otherwise have to do. Trying to squeeze any extra from it is kind of silly. I'll always have to run it some more tomorrow.

spiffytech 2y ago

Some things won't matter, some will. I think it's changed over time as dishwashers and detergents got better. The article mentions that newer detergents do better with unrinsed dishes. And I remember a commercial about a dishwasher that could eat a cake. My old model sure couldn't do that! If I wasn't careful I'd find hunks of food sitting inside after it ran. It also used to be that putting thin tupperware on the bottom rack was a sure way to melt it. Now I can't remember the last time that happened to me. Things that used to provably matter... now don't. On the other hand, I have a family member who loads the spoons in a big pile, and they stick together and don't get clean. Or, I had roommates who kept putting my good knives in the dishwasher, and the finish got ruined. That stuff still matters. I like the article's conclusion: we can just get the answers, and update our knowledge. We don't have to treat this like a pre-internet argument, where we just went in circles repeating heresay.

hbsbsbsndk 2y ago
When I was cleaning my dishwasher I realized there are two ways to configure it: with a in-sink garbage disposal, and without. If you don't have the garbage disposal part hooked up there is simply nowhere for the chunks to go and they accumulate at the bottom of the washer beneath a filter.
anon7000 2y ago
Another example is plates tall enough to block the top spinner. Or plates pressed together so much that water can’t get in between.
ioseph 2y ago
What do you mean by finish? I put all my knives in without issue but probably wouldn't do wooden handles

hinkley 2y ago

What I notice is that the dishes and glasses don't chip when I put them in and I do when anyone else does. Don't matter if there are more clean dishes per load if they're broken, people.

stevenAthompson 2y ago
You are thinking like someone who buys the dishes, rather than someone who wants the person who buys the dishes to get off their case about it so they can do something more interesting.

stronglikedan 2y ago

The only trick is to not block anything from the water, or a direct reflection of it. Other than that, it's a free-for-all.

Swizec 2y ago

> I used to be uptight about how to load the dishwater until I put away a load that was packed by my partner, "like a raccoon on meth", and noticed there wasn't a difference in the cleanliness. My partner loads the dishwasher like a raccoon on meth. I do it like a software engineer who's been thinking about The One True Way To Organize Things for decades. Cleanliness is fine either way. But I really hate that she can't fit a full day's worth of dishes in there so I have to do an extra load later.

raffraffraff 2y ago
That's the real difference. I'm playing Tetris, and getting an amazing score. She's leaving a bunch of stuff on the side for the next cycle, or hand washing them.
- jeffrallen 2y ago
  Crushing the high score here too. Just recently got an entire line of colored kids plastic glasses on the top rack, I swear it made a do-do-do tone when I stopped that last cup in there. :)
grepLeigh 2y ago
On the other side of this argument, I've seen "just run the dishwasher twice" used as shorthand for giving yourself permission to do whatever is needed to get the job done and not letting perfectionism paralyze you from making progress. This blog excerpt explains the idea [1]: > Knowing this week was going to be a lot, I’ve been living by “run the dishwasher twice”. What the hell does that even mean?! Essentially it means to do whatever is the path of least resistance to get shit done. The advice came from a therapist to a woman who was feeling very low & was struggling with everyday tasks such as doing the dishes. She didn’t have the mental capacity to scrub dishes before putting them in her crappy dishwasher so she wasn’t doing them & they were building up & causing her more anxiety. Her therapist said not to rinse the dishes & just run the dishwasher twice, even three times if that’s what it took to get them clean. It was a game-changer for her, one that enabled her to do a small task in an imperfect way just to get it done. I wish the OP article had dug a little bit deeper into the psychology behind daily task conflict in relationships. The dishwasher is one of many microcosms (laundry, car, pets, etc) that I wish I'd paid more attention to in my relationships, because these conversations really do reveal relationship dynamics around HUGE issues like compromise, empathy, perfectionism, and judgmental behavior. [1] https://thebackfenceblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/27/run-the-dishwasher-twice/ https://thebackfenceblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/27/run-the-di...

airstrike 2y ago

IMHO the main advantage of neatly loading dishes neatly is that unloading becomes a 60 second exercise as opposed to a 5 minute one. It's not so much that I don't have 5 minutes to spare, but my back appreciates it if I can get it done quicker. I get 4 plates with each hand, silverware is already sorted neatly... it's just overall a better experience. In other words, even if you believe the time taken to sort is identical whether you do it loading or unloading, the difference is if you do it while loading you divide that task into many smaller tasks instead of doing one big sorting task on unloading.

DiggyJohnson 2y ago

> dealies Not often so I learn a new 5 letter word. I have the same issue with trying to get rid of the fiestaware from my childhood home my mom gave me when I graduated college. It just fits right.

m463 2y ago

I think that heavily depends on the specific dishwasher. I inherited a dishwasher and became more uptight after: - dishes that left the soap partially unused - wet dishes - melted stuff - stuff that blocked the upper rotating thingie - stuff that fell into the heating element and bottom rotating thingie maybe seeking a racoon-friendly dishwasher would be a relationship saver.

potato3732842 2y ago

>and noticed there wasn't a difference in the cleanliness. If they screw it up good enough there is a difference because the water streams can't get where they need to to get everything sufficiently cleaned and rinsed.

atoav 2y ago

In one of my jobs (civil service) I had to pack and unpack a cheap dish washer, for a horde of unruly kids each day. If you pack it orderly unpacking is a lot faster. It also helps to avoid problems with leftovers blocking the dish washer. Turns out most dish washer manufacturers thought a bit about how to load a dishwasher ideally (that matches the layout of the machines insides). For home use with small amounts of dishes it won't really matter tho.