Following on from the "softly softly" thread, a question for you.

Please don't quarrel with me if you don't agree Gransnetters, what follows is just what I've read over the years:
I've always understood that a dishwasher is actually cheaper to use than washing by hand - always assuming that you don't count the cost of the machine in the first place. Apparently the cost of heating the water tank, then running the water until it is hot (at least twice) is more than filling the machine and just heating the water you use. More modern machines have heat exchangers that absorb the heat from the washing and rinsing water to help with the drying.

In our house we have cheap power at night (whatever they now call the old Economy 7) and the machine is timed to run then, using any hot water than remains in the system rather than using cold water.

I wash up by hand (no room for a dishwasher. I hardly ever use a drying-up cloth, but I rinse everything in very hot water and leave to drain. I have a friend who does the same, and she says 'God dries them'. I do feel it's more hygienic.

I sometimes wonder why people use so much soap when they wash up. I can't see the point of all those heaps of suds, which take so much water to get rid of. It's not as if there are fibres in fabric to get in between. Somebody told me that the least sign of soap in the water, ie a few bubbly suds, means that the water is saturated with the detergent, and adding more is unnecessary. You can tell if you do need more if there's lots to wash.

Hahaa! That made me laugh merlotgran

Isn't life to short to be fussy about the way we wash our dishes?

Exactly the same way i was taught at home and in home economics at school. I always hand wash, the dishwasher is used to store oven trays or even bulk buy from the supermarket ! every now and then i put vinegar in the machine and run it through the cycle(most time i remember to take the bulk buy out first )

What a lot of replies! Thanks all.

Just to answer a couple of posts, sarahelen I don't think it's being fussy, just efficient, as that way everything seems to get clean!

Never got a single Brownie badge, only went once and decided that Brownies and I were never going to be compatible, I wasn't exactly a biddable child!

Mr P has hardly ever called me by name! If he is calling to me, for example, upstairs, it's"darling", if I call him he responds with "yes Miss"

Hi Pheonix,
I have read the comments and maybe I like being different but I things in an order like this under running hot (to wash after soaping with washing up liquid) and then cold (to rinse) water; plates, bowls, saucepans, dishes, cutlery, then wash my glasses under tepid water, rinsed with cold water.
I aim to purchase a dishwasher soon and will wash glasses seperately. I cant stand soap nor marks on glasses!

I follow the same pattern, but I like the washing up water to be hotter than my hands can stand, so that I have to fish things out with the washing up brush and the water is still very hot when the washing up is finished - and I'm a stickler for rinsing everything in clean hot water too.

My major bugbear with lodgers is that although I quickly get them trained in washing/drying up in a timely manner I cannot persuade them to use water that I consider hot enough. My current Malaysian lodger uses barely tepid water, which would drive me to distraction except that she mostly uses her own utensils and often eats directly from (her own) pans/bowls. (And she sent us a wedding anniversary card to 'Mum and Dad' - she's adorable.)

cc

I'd have a DW if I had room... likely many of us don't, or maybe don't own their flat/home. I need the cupboard space as we live in a flat. Also, one less thing to leak into flat below. Trouble enough with washers doing that. Been there, done that. Ugh.

If I have to wash up that is the way I do it too, I think mine is a legacy of domestic science classes at school and college. It was useful in the old days because glasses got the clean water and didn't get greasy deposits and then you progressed through the increasing stains until you reached the pans. In the good old days we had to boil the kettle several times to do one lot of washing up.

I just chuck it all in as I go then wash it as thoroughly and quickly as I can, horrible job not worth thinking about. Just get it done and out of the way.

I'm like harrigran domestic science at school taught the same order. "Domestic Science sounds really clever doesn't it much better than cookery and/or needlework.

Happiness is Me with a dish washer. It goes on at 7 o-clock and takes about 2 hours and I'm told that it cost about 79p per load. I hate unloading the thing, that takes about 20 mins.

What I want is some non-stick pots and pans that are dish washer safe, even M&S don't do them. suggestions please.

Ah, that’s the way we were taught in that good old domestic science class of yesterday – clean things first and then so on and yes, I still do it that way. After all, who would want to wash drinking glasses in the water you had just pulled your lasagne dish out of? Still, I never wanted a dishwasher but I do now have one and they are good to a certain point, though you will probably find yourself pulling the ‘only half washed’ lasagne dish out of the dishwasher, to wash by hand.

Two hours, Im68Now?

I use the economy wash which only takes 40mins and everything comes out sparkling.

If I had a dishwasher, I'm sure I'd continue to 'soak' things like lasagne dishes before putting them in!

why does it take 20 minutes to unload I'm68?

You must have a very large kitchen

I'm not sure how long it actually takes, I switch it on at 7 and then go and watch something that we've recorded and drink the wine and that should tell you why it takes 20 min. to unload.

Any ideas about the dishwasher safe non-stick pots and pans.

A few red wine suggestions would help to I hate all types of housework

I wash up in same way but any plates/dishes are soaked or rinsed off/wiped with kitchen towel before washing up properly. Even when I had a dishwasher I would never have put plates etc in covered in food - yuk all the food gathering goodness knows where!! As I'm now on my own I usually only wash up once a day.

When DH was alive he used to do washing up (pre-dishwasher days). I do miss my dishwasher but small kitchen in new home means I haven't got room for one or storage for extra crockery etc

I also rarely dry up, leaving everything to dry & put away when I get up in the morning (more hygienic than using tea towels)