Recovering the Lost Art of Hand Dishwashing (Tips for When Your Dishwasher is Broken)
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In case you hadn’t heard, our dishwasher broke three weeks ago. I didn’t realize what a vital member of the household it was until it broke. I know, a dishwasher is a luxury. Our pioneer mothers lived quite productive lives without them. Our sisters in other countries regularly experience dishpan hands. I didn’t know how good I had it.
Believe it or not, the last three weeks have not been a crisis. In fact, I’ve discovered lots of ways to thrive despite the fact that I must wash dishes at least three times a day. For all you peeps without an automatic dishwasher, hearken unto the voice of my cry:
- Wash as you go. Whatever you do, do not let the dishes pile up. Do not pass go; do not collect $200. If the meal is over, wash up. If the snack is over, wash up. It isn’t going to get easier. Trust me.
- Put them away right away. The secret of the dishwasher is that it hides your dishes, whether clean or dirty. Don’t let the grass grow under your feet. Deal with the dishes right away.
- Get good soap. I prefer Dawn. We’ve tried other bargain brands, truly we have. This is not an infomercial. Dawn really does cut grease out of the way.
- Wear gloves. This is absolutely necessary, especially in winter. I pick up several packages on sale at Walgreens, usually 3/$1, and stash them until I need a new pair.
- Use the racks from the dishwasher! Normally, we load the dishwasher with cups, plates, and flatware and then handwash pots and pans. We have a small countertop drying rack for this purpose. However, we quickly outgrew this drying rack once we started handwashing complete dinner sets for 8+ people. (The dishwasher broke prior to our Kansas friends coming for a visit.) What a brilliant idea to use the dishwasher racks to dry dishes. I’m hoping that when the new machine is installed tomorrow, that they’ll let me keep one of these mammoth drying racks.
- Limit your children to one cup per person. I told you how my children are all color coded? Well, I hid all their extra cups after a few days of washing 20 cups per day. They each get one cup – ONE. And this has worked amazingly well. I already told them they’re not getting the extra cups back!
- Teach your kids to wash dishes. I learned to wash dishes when I was seven, but recently realized that NONE of my children knew how to handwash dishes. This has proven to be a wonderful bonding experience – a silver lining, if you will, to the stormy cloud. One night while washing and rinsing with FishBoy7, he struck up the most amazing conversation:
FB: Mama, what was your best part of the day?
Mama: Our talk during dinner tonight. I loved your answers to my questions. I could tell you were thinking about them carefully. {continues washing dishes}
FB: Aren’t you going to ask me the best part of my day?
Mama: Oh, yes, what was the best part of your day?
FB: Right now. Washing dishes with you.
Be still my heart. Handwashing with my boy certainly works for me, even if the dishwasher doesn’t.
Be still my heart… that made me tear up!
I keep asking my husband to use the same cup throughout the day, but somehow we end up with a dishwasher full of cups. I think I’m going to follow your lead and actually HIDE all of the other cups.
I never really thought about the fact that my daugther doesn’t really know how to wash dishes. She rinse them to put them in the dishwasher but that’s it. It’s probably time she learned the washing part. Dawn seems to work best for us, too. And believe me, I have tried them all but keep coming back to this.
Hi LifeAsAMom,
I’m sorry to hear that your dishwasher is broken, that’s not fun. Although from your posts it sounds like it’s providing for some beautiful family moments of being together, so perhaps it’s not all that bad.
Have you had a look at what could be wrong the dishwasher? You might be surprised how simple it is to fix and you can order appliance spare parts online.
Admittedly I work for an appliance spare part retailer; before working here I had no idea that you could buy all the parts to fix it yourself. I hope that you’ll give it a go. If you need any help I’m personally available on twitter, my username is @espares.
Kind regards,
Samara
Love all of your tips! We have been married for 17 years and have never had a dishwasher. Someday…….. All of your suggestions are wonderful! Dawn is definitely the best. I’m a coupon girl, but will pay more to get Dawn. If I can just get my 5 kiddos to actually follow the one cup rule!! And I have to admit that the only part I really hate is putting the clean dishes away…Mom needs to work on that! 🙂
I literally took all the other cups away. You have to follow it if there aren’t any others! LOL
This post made me chuckle. We follow most of those same rules…except we don’t have a dishwasher. We haven’t had on in 16 years. I looong for a dishwasher. Unfortunately the size and layout of my kitchen forbids one. So alas, I am chained to the sink. To be honest, it isn’t so bad….except when you are washing 2849425487 baby bottles that have 38759347349 parts to them (Thank you Dr. Brown)!
I went to the “one cup a day” system 3 years ago. My husband and I stick with it too. It is so much easier than everyone having 3 or 4 cups being used during the day. Pick a cup in the morning and thats your cup for the day. The only exception is in the winter…we usually each have a cup and a mug (hot chocolate or hot tea). But still, it cuts down on the clutter and extra stuff to wash!
We’ve been “one cuppers” for years – I didn’t have a dishwasher until 2 years ago. Plus we had really bad water pressure that made dish washing a looooong drawn-out chore.
On the gloves – I find it better to invest in heavy duty gloves that can stand up to the silverware and knives. I used to buy some black, industrial type gloves at (of all places) the dollar store, but then my husband brought home some green ones from work that fit me. It was a good sized bag and has lasted me for years because each pair lasted for months and months. Then I’d just replace a single one when one got nicked. Alas, I finally used up my last whole pair a few weeks ago and had to buy some. Oh, and if you can find heavy duty ones that also have a long sleeve that can be rolled, that’s even better because it keeps the water from running down the glove and onto your arms and clothing!
Love #5 – ONE CUP. I’m still trying to get my teenagers to grasp this concept.
We purchased a new dishwasher in May 09 after having saved up the cash to pay for a new one. The old one was still working (running) but not cleaning up to my standard so we were washing by hand. My new dishwasher is one of my best friends. Bet yours will be too.
We had really bad dishwasher luck for awhile, and I spent about 6 months without a working dishwasher. It was NO fun- especially since I had baby bottles to wash every night from daycare. I can’t imagine having done it with so many people to feed! oy!