Since it is just the 2 of us in our house hold I do not use my dishwasher except when we entertain or have large family dinners.
I have always just washed the dishes in the left hand sink and run the water constantly as I rinsed and placed them in the right side sink. A lot of times Mickey dries them as I wash or I dry them when I have finished washing all of them.
Recently my blog friend, Soholiah, was in Africa, working at a Children's Home, and did a post about doing dishes the Old Fashion Way with dish pans. It brought back memories of my mother using a dish pan. I realized that I would not be using nearly as much water if I used a dish pan to rinse the dishes in, rather than wasting water as it constantly ran during the process.
Hence my new pink plastic dish pan that fits perfectly in the side sink.
As I rinse the dish I then just place it on the towel to the side of the sink on the counter. You can see from the small amount of dishes we have per meal that this is my preferred frugal way of doing them.
Just another small way I have found to economize on the water and electric bill. Not wasting as much water, and drying them by hand towel.
Addemdum: Be sure and read Tammy's comment which covers another "frugal" point about using the dish pan that I failed to cover. Thanks Tammy!!!
Like you...it is just the two of us...so just for kicks...I did it the ol' fashioned way...I mean if I have to run the water for pots and pans, I might as well right? I actually enjoyed it! Plus the extra water in your pink pan could save $$ watering plants!
ReplyDeleteHurray for this site...I love it!
Awesome Idea!!!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
wonderful idea! i love the watering plants after rinsing dishes idea. being frugal is fun! :D
ReplyDeleteI've been doing dishes by hand, not by choice, but I never thought of a dish pan. Great idea. Thanks Susan.
ReplyDeleteI find keeping soapy water in the sink helps me wash as I go, and after using the bathroom, I go to the kitchen sink to wash my hands (I'm trying to wash more often) in the soapy water. Rinse water in a tub? Very smart.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of a documentary we saw a while back on water conservation and about the people living in New Mexico/Arizona and other arid regions of our country had to be super conservative with theier water.
ReplyDeleteWe use our dishwasher to death! Every meal we have there are so many dishes...the dishwasher is a great friend! LOL!
I remember my MIL used to wash dishes that way and she had to go outside to pump the water. I never minded doing dishes,except when we got down to the pots and pans.
ReplyDeleteNow when I wash dishes outside the dishwasher I don't dry, as I was told it is better to just air dry in a rack than use a towel on them
Germ reason I guess.
Enjoy your inspiration blogs.
Thanks for sharing.
This is a timely post for me as my dishwasher has sprung a leak in one of the hoses. So for the last 2 weeks, we've been washing and drying dishes. I haven't called anyone to repair it yet. I keep thinking we can fix it ourselves, but so far no attempt on hubby's part has been made.
ReplyDeleteI'm not minding the hand washing.
My grand mother always did her dishes with 2 dishpans. One for washing and the other for rinsing. Thanks Susan.
Like you, Bill and I do our dishes by hand. I like having the dishwasher for large crowds, but find I have to hand wash some things even at those times.
ReplyDeleteYour dishpan idea is a good way to save water which we may be forced to do more of if we don't get some rain here soon!
Fantastic! Our dishwasher has been broken for years; never bothered to fix it. So we all take turns the old fashioned way--it's just a way of life around here. But thanks for the dishpan idea. Unfortunately, we don't have a double sink, so I don't know how we'd do it. I have thought of putting them in the rack and pouring water over them using a pot or teakettle. I think maybe that would be more economical. Thanks so much, Susan.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, I often do the dishes the old fashion way.. There's only 2 of us too, so why use a dishwasher. We use the dishwasher only on occasions when we have company or family over.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I confess. I cringed when I read that you let the water run constantly to rinse the dishes. Imagine my relief to read on and discover you have a pink dish pan. :)
ReplyDeleteLove your idea. I was washing my dishes the same way.
ReplyDelete