Doing Dishes

I’m not saying that it is always best or more economical to wash dishes by hand. The older model dish washers were not that great when it came to efficiency. The newer more energy efficient models of electric dish washers are proving worth their money. But, if you don’t have the money right now to buy a newer model, or you have an older model, washing by hand could put some money in your piggy bank. You could then afford the new fangled dish washer! Or, you might find that you enjoy washing dishes by hand after all.

In order to save money washing dishes by hand you have to be efficient yourself. Here is a typical picture of the way I do dishes. See if you can do better by using less water, energy, or effort.

I scrape off as much food as possible, as soon as possible, so it doesn’t have time to get stuck-on. My “waste” food goes to animals or compost.

When I’m done cooking with a pan or pot, but not ready to wash it, I put a bit of water in it. Enough water to cover the food that’s going to get stuck-on before I can wash it. I use my saved graywater for soaking, so I don’t run any water here. You did save your graywater didn’t you?

For the most part, I soak the dishes in graywater. I keep the dirty dishes in a dish pan with a little soap and water. But I don’t soak a lot of dishes at a time. When I have a “load” that is a good size for me, my sink, our kitchen, I do them then.

I don’t soak greasy items with non-greasy items. No sense in getting a glass all greasy. So the only things that soak are the things that need it. A swish of water in a glass of milk will keep it from getting that stuck-on ring of milk in the bottom of the glass.

My kitchen sink is equally divided into two sides. On both sides I use dish tubs. They are made of plastic, just a bit smaller than the sinks. Small enough that I can get my hands in there to pick the tubs up.

Inside both of the dish tubs I have plastic storage bins, the kind with holes of some sort. I drilled some extra holes in the bottom. This makes a strainer, so when I’m using really hot water, I can just lift out the basket, without burning my hands.

My set up is, from right to left; dirty dishes on counter, wash water side of sink, rinse water side of sink, drain board.

How much water? How hot or cold? How much soap? What kind of soap? Sponge or wash rag? All of this will depend on you, your situation, and right down to the dishes you are washing. The idea is your trying to save money. If you skimp on cleaning the dishes, you may end up sick.

Usually I soak in room temperature water graywater, I wash in very hot water, I use homemade soap or antibacterial soap. I usually rinse in warm to cold water, unless I have another load to do. In which case that rinse water is hot.

When the first tub of wash water gets too dirty I save that to my graywater bucket, then the first load rinse water becomes the new wash water. Since I wash the least nasty items first, that rinse water is good for washing, and the items that went through the hot rinse water were not that nasty.

We are non-meat eaters so I have very little that is greasy. The cold rinse water is better for greasy things. The cold water will show if you didn’t get it clean enough, so you can wash it again if needed.

Peace!