Dishwashing

Many Christian homemakers are attempting to go off the grid with some of their house work. Some line hang their laundry instead of using an electric or gas dryer. Some use a wood burning cooktop instead of an oven. One of the ways my family has decided to try and be good stewards of our money is by hand washing our dishes. This is a subject that has come under much study and scrutiny among green living circles. Unfortunately, most of the studies have been conducted by companies like Whirlpool and Electrolux, who manufacture some of the most costly electric dishwashers on the market. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume they may have a tiny little agenda to push people toward their products. Let me share a story from my personal life.

When our decade and a half old dishwasher finally bit the dust we decided to purchase an energy efficient dishwasher. Well, actually, you're pretty much forced into buying HE appliances. It's virtually impossible to find cheap dishwashers, agitator washing machines and tube television sets new these days. Since Kenmore is a name we trust, we went through Sears and purchased the Elite dishwasher. The nice technician from Sears sang the praises of this dishwasher as he installed it. According to the sales pitch we should be able to leave baked on cheese in a casserole dish for a month, throw it in the dishwasher, run it and it will come out sparking clean. Let's talk about what happened with my new dishwasher:

~It runs in two and a half to three hour cycles on normal wash.
~It recycles the water from the first spray for the rinse, which leaves bits of food from some dishes on others.
~Because we have hard water we have to use costly liquid detergents and a rinse agent.
~It did not rinse all food particles off of dishes. In fact, I was having to scrub my dishes clean prior to loading them.
~The drying cycle runs for about thirty minutes on my washer, and yet I still have to towel dry some dishes (particularly food storage containers and mugs).
~It leaves coffee and tea stains in mugs.
~Food gets trapped in the bottom and it smells like a landfill when you open it.
~It has stripped the finish off a few of my quality saucepans.

Sadly, the pros still have cons attached to them - mainly the fact that it is a large capacity dishwasher; however, it may take two or three days to fill to capacity that would necessitate a load. Meanwhile, dishes that I need frequently are sitting dirty in the machine waiting to be run. I saw no difference in my water bill and my light bill went up slightly, as I have to run this machine through the drying cycle, otherwise it doesn't drain completely.

One day, after countless times needing the cheese grater, a measuring cup or the mixing bowl, I decided to hand wash the few dishes I had in the sink instead of loading them in the dishwasher. I came to realize that for me hand washing was quicker. If I am having to scrub the dishes clean before loading in the dishwasher then it isn't worth it. Basically, my dishwasher exists for no purpose other than peace of mind that my dishes are sanitized. I'm still having to wash them by hand before loading them. I decided to challenge myself - wash dishes by hand and see if I didn't notice a difference in my light and water bills. I encourage you ladies to do the same. Here are some tips to make it easier on you:

1. If you have a two-basin sink, reserve one basin as your "sanitizing" side. Keep that side free of dishes that have been used to prepare raw meat, chicken, fish or eggs and kindly ask your family members to not wash their hands over that side of the sink when full. Use sanitizing wipes, peroxide or bleach to sanitize that basin every morning before filling with soap and hot water. Set your hot water heater to no lower than 140 degrees. Fill the other side with straight cold water when it comes time to rinse.

2. Use reusable dish cloths (try knitting or crocheting you own using 100% cotton yarn such as Lily Sugar 'n Cream or Pisgah's Peaches 'n Cream. I'll post links at the bottom of my post) rather than sponges or scrub brushes. Sponges and brushes harbor germs and bacteria. Use a fresh dish rag every day. If you use a towel to dry, use a clean one every day that is dedicated to this purpose. Try not to use that towel to wipe off hands or counter tops.

3. Use a low-residue dishwashing soap (not an electric dishwasher detergent!). Palmolive makes a Free & Clear dish soap. It's a bit more costly than generic or regular line soaps, but you use less per load and it doesn't suds up as much which makes it easier to use only one sinkful of cold water for rinsing, rather than having to run the water to rinse.

4. Try and scrape as much of your scraps off your plates and give the dishes a quick rinse before sanitizing. This keeps bits of food from lingering around on your dishes.

5. If anyone in your home has been ill, use a cap full of non-chlorine bleach in the sanitizing basin and wash dishes used by the sick separately. This is also good for washing dishes that have been used to prepare raw meats, fish or poultry products. It is crucial you use non-chlorine bleach if you are also using dish soap, as using chlorinated bleach and concentrated dish soap can cause a potentially dangerous chemical reaction. If you only have chlorinated bleach on-hand use the bleach in your rinse basin rather than the wash basin.

If you follow these steps it should make hand washing dishes both efficient and cost-effective.

Crochet Dishcloth Patterns
Knit Dishcloth Patterns (the Ballband Dishcloth is my personal favorite)