How Often Do You Wash Dishes?

[kathie859]

We are a 2 adult household...both home all day and eat most meals at home. It really depends on what type of dirty dishes have accumulated whether I wash or not. If it's a bunch of glasses I MAY let them sit a day if the dishwasher isn't full but if the dirty dishes are plates with food crud on them, I'll wash them daily. It's the bug lure thing that I worry about

I had an aunt who hand washed dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Once I helped her by putting away the dishes in the dishwasher not realizing that she hadn't actually run them thru the cycle I was amazed that someone would waste time like that.

 

[*JoGo*]

Family of 4. We eat out once a week. During the school year, we run the dishwasher about every other day, whenever it is full. I hand wash casserole dishes and baking sheets. Also my egg skillet because I need it every day. We also use paper plates often. Usually we run out of forks first. My kids have 3 glasses each in a specific color, in case we don't run the dish washer for 3 days. I got tired of them forgetting which glass was theirs and using several a day. Problem solved.


I can't imagine how her dishes get cleaned after sitting for a week all dirty. Or how it all fits in her machine without dishes overflowing in the sink and onto the counters.

 

[badblackpug]

If you are worried about bacteria after you wash your dishes, put a couple of tablespoons of bleach in that final rinse water. Kills more bacteria than just hot water will.


I guess I will be the only one who admits to not washing dishes everyday. My dishwasher is not working so everything is handwashed and some days, my time just runs out. They are rinsed and stacked in the sink but some nights, I am exhausted and dd is busy and we just have to let it go.

Nope, I don't wash them every day either.

But we only run the dishwasher, oh, about twice a week. Once a week if one of us is travelling. Pre-washing the dishes takes about, oh, two quarts of water.

So handwashing is a waste of water, but running the dishwasher every meal isn't?

Besides. Ever queried what a suburban home in a semi-tropical region (no sprinklers needed) uses in water vs. the industrial waste in water or what farms waste in water? We're not even a blip on the radar.

I am not paying the water/sewer and electricity bill for any industries or farms, but I am paying mine!

My dishwasher has many different settings, one is low energy.

As does mine, but no energy is still less energy than low energy.

 

[mebbradley]

There is 5 people in our house between the ages of 19 and 27. 19, 21, 22, 22, 27.

I do the dishes 95% of the time for all 5 of us. Our dishwasher gets run at least twice during the day, it's jammed full each time too. I hand wash a couple things each day.

 

[Stitchfans]

For sure I wish dishes once a day. Sometimes twice depending on what we had for lunch.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

If you are worried about bacteria after you wash your dishes, put a couple of tablespoons of bleach in that final rinse water. Kills more bacteria than just hot water will.


I guess I will be the only one who admits to not washing dishes everyday. My dishwasher is not working so everything is handwashed and some days, my time just runs out. They are rinsed and stacked in the sink but some nights, I am exhausted and dd is busy and we just have to let it go.

Now there's a thought. That wouldn't be a bad idea. After all, I drop some bleach down the garbage disposal a couple of times a week anyway, might as well do it all at once!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I am not paying the water/sewer and electricity bill for any industries or farms, but I am paying mine!

OH. I thought it was an ethical concern. In that case, note my location. We have plenty of water and, so long as you don't go nuts using it, it doesn't cost much of anything.

 

[Grimley]

We rinse everything to get all of the food off before putting in the dishwasher. They look clean, but are definitely not until run through the dishwasher.

We rinse too, and if there's something sticky (egg yolk or cheese etc) I'll use a brush on the plates before they go in the dishwasher.

I run ours daily. I can't imagine what a dishwasher full of dirty dishes smells like after a week.

 

[ilovemk76]

We put all dishes and pots into our dishwasher. As a result, we can run the dishwasher from every other day up to twice a day. There is a pot that does not fit and we hand wash that after the meal we used it. The only time a dish sits for a time in the sink is when we are soaking it.

There is not reason to every wash a dish before putting it in the dishwasher.

Loading and unloading the dishwasher sure beats hand washing everything. People seem to hate to unload the dishwasher but you do the same thing when you dry and put away the dishes you hand washed.

 

[Southernmiss]

All the time. Dishes are like tribbles in this house. You turn your back and they multiply.

Dishwasher gets run once a day at least. Sometimes twice a day. We also handwash big stuff and coffee maker.

We are home a lot so that is probably why.

I also make hot breakfast most mornings. This morning I made crepes. Yesterday it was crepes and omelettes.

As far as your friend, that is odd. I would gross out knowing I have dirty dishes in my sink or dishwasher all week. I mean that stuff cakes on there.

This is me minus the hot breakfast and crepes and omelettes!

6 of us. I home cook dinner each night. Kids eat all day long-they say that they still have to eat every 2 hours! No paper plates or plastic utensils used at all.

I do dishes as soon as everyone leaves for school or work, then dishes as I start supper and the kids do the dinner dishes then there are dishes after dinner from snacks and desserts. We rinse the plates, cups and bowls and then the dishwasher is run at least once a day sometimes twice.

I can't leave the house with dishes in my sink --just a pet peeve.

 

[badblackpug]

OH. I thought it was an ethical concern. In that case, note my location. We have plenty of water and, so long as you don't go nuts using it, it doesn't cost much of anything.

LOL no. Too many kids, too many showers, too much laundry. With 7 people showering (2 of them twice a day) the rule around here is the dishwasher has to have a full load, and so does the washer.

 

[mvazul]

I can't imagine how her dishes get cleaned after sitting for a week all dirty. Or how it all fits in her machine without dishes overflowing in the sink and onto the counters.

She told me she looks at it as a game. She likes to see how much they can squeeze in before having to run the dishwasher.

We rinse too, and if there's something sticky (egg yolk or cheese etc) I'll use a brush on the plates before they go in the dishwasher.

I run ours daily. I can't imagine what a dishwasher full of dirty dishes smells like after a week.

This is exactly what we do.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

LOL no. Too many kids, too many showers, too much laundry. With 7 people showering (2 of them twice a day) the rule around here is the dishwasher has to have a full load, and so does the washer.

GRIN. Ahhhh. Now it makes sense! See, we're two adults alone, living in a water rich state. We don't ever even make the maximum water allowance before it starts costing more!

 

[Gisele]

I don't for I prefer to eat off of paper plates, it makes life much easier and cleaner, and no dish pan hands or prune fingers etc............

~~ I love you Phil and you will forever be with me! Forever my very best and most special friend! I love you to no end. ~~​

 

[Disney Doll]

The stuff in the dishwasher gets washed when it's full; once or twice a week at most. Pots, pans, knives get washed when used.

This.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We wash all the time. My dishwasher runs once a day normally at night, and I empty it every morning only to fill it up throughout the day. I also hand wash little dishes too. I hate seeing dirty dishes! I may even be OCD about it. I love a clean kitchen.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Other.

We are just two and we only have dinner at home. The rest is at work. We rinse the dishes and remove all food items, but not "scrub" them and they are left in the dishwasher. We run the dishwasher when it is full: could be every three days, five days?

Any pots or larger items are hand washed and put away that evening.

 

[robinb]

I run the dishwasher when it's full, which is about every 2-4 days depending if my DH is at home. I think it's wasteful to run a small load.

 

[gm]

I wash by hand. Never used the dishwasher. I am so used to it. I do however use my dishwasher to hold my everyday dishes after they dry.

 

[marie1203]

Our dishwasher gets full every other day. It is just the two of us but I throw in the dogs and cat bowls in too. I wash the pots and pans once a day. We usually only have pots and pans left from dinner. Breakfast DH has cereal and I have oatmeal with some fruit. DH takes lunch to work and I usually just have a salad or left overs.