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Thread: Washing Dishes By Hand

  1. #1
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Washing Dishes By Hand

    I don't know why, but since I've moved up here, I've stopped using the dishwasher. I didn't plan to stop using it. We do have a dishwasher in the house, but now I'm thinking of using the space for a hot water heater instead, because I have not used the dishwasher once.

    I can't figure out why, because our eating patterns are the same here, we eat the same meals, we use the same quantity of dishes, but for some reason, it seems easier to just wash as we go. Maybe because the house is smaller? Maybe because I'm more clutter-sensitive? Maybe because now I'm not holed-away in a separate room while DH watches the evening news--I just turn my head and dry while I watch.

    In any case, I find it very interesting that I hated doing dishes in NJ, but I totally don't mind it up here.

    I love the becomingminimalist site and I follow it on Facebook, and he recently tackled the same topic: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/wh...-a-dishwasher/

    Anyone else wash dishes by hand? By choice or necessity? Is it a big chore, or are there aspects of it that you enjoy--like the zen of it?
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  2. #2
    Moderator Float On's Avatar
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    I wash by hand (well...mostly it's DH but I do sometimes). The hard water has killed 4 dishwashers in 27 years.
    Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.

  3. #3
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    My house doesn’t have a dishwasher. This was a plus for me when we bought it.

  4. #4
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    well only one apartment I've ever lived in had a dishwasher (and I don't think I used it much then either), most apartments probably don't (and do you really want to make it the "make or break" argument in an otherwise good apartment? I make that air conditioning, a parking space, and having an on premises shared laundry - when I have a choice). And having to hook a dishwasher up to rental property seems a real pain.
    Trees don't grow on money

  5. #5
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Hate washing dishes so can’t relate

  6. #6
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    I LOVE the dishwasher.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    I LOVE the dishwasher.
    +1

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    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    I LOVE the dishwasher.
    Me, too. Our dishwasher heats its own water and does a whole load with less water than I would use handwashing.

    I do some handwashing -- some items can't go in the dishwasher (good knives, some recyclables which just melt at that temperature, some plastic kitchen gadgets) and sometimes washing one large pot by hand leaves lots of room for other items in the dishwasher. But I'm very happy to have a dishwasher for everything else.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  9. #9
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    I LOVE the dishwasher.
    I am on my own and love my dishwasher. I don't like hand washing dishes but particularly cannot tolerate the dishwashing detergents so every time, I have to put on gloves to protect my hands and nails. That gets old very fast.
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  10. #10
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    catherine, my money is on either a) you are now in the same room as DH, so handwashing dishes isn't an isolating chore anymore or b) there is something about the setup of the new kitchen that makes handwashing dishes easier.

    I admit to not understanding the "zen" of handwashing dishes. I grew up handwashing dishes for a family of 9. I see no zen. I see hot water that dries my skin, greasy dishes, germs and general ickiness. I may only run my dishwasher once every three days, but I love the fact that I don't have to pull on rubber gloves two or three times a day to deal with the dishes.

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