You can probably just chalk it up to a life habit that I never gave opportunity… but I have always washed my dishes in a dishwasher. In fact, nearly every day of my life I have used a dishwasher. Go figure. My parents used one. My grandparents used one. It’s been in every home I have lived in…. and when it wasn’t available (broken or kitchen remodelings), it was a source of great stress. Dishwashers get loaded, started, and emptied. End of story. Or so I thought.
Recently, I have begun washing dishes by hand immediately following every meal. Months ago, I read a famous zen story titled, “Wash Your Bowl” (via Leo Babuata) and have considered its meaning ever since. Roughly one month ago, I decided to give the mindful practice of ”washing my bowl” a literal shot in my life. I began washing every dish following every meal. And since then, I have almost completely stopped using the dishwasher.
I love it. Here are the practical benefits that I have seen in my life:
- Less Physical Clutter. How often were dirty plates, bowls, and glassware left on my kitchen counter following a meal just waiting to be loaded in the dishwasher? Far more often than I would like to admit, that’s for sure. Each time, physical clutter was left on my kitchen counter, table, and sink.
- Less Mental Clutter. An unfinished project clutters the mind… always. Even when we were not in the kitchen, the pending responsibility of needing to clean the dishes was always hanging over our evening events. And we were specifically reminded every time we walked into (or even past) our kitchen.
- Seamlessly Transition Between Activities. Once the mind clutter of dirty dishes has been removed, we are freed to move from activity to activity, event to event, and room to room. We are allowed to be fully engaged in the present… however we choose to spend our evenings. There is no need to return to the past and finish the duties of our meal.
- Dishes are Always Clean. Ever need that one mixing bowl, pot, or cooking utensil, only to find out that it’s still dirty sitting in the dishwasher? Yeah, me too. Washing dishes after every meal means the dishes and cooking utensils are always clean and in their drawer.
- Dishes get Cleaner. Perhaps, the age of my built-in dishwasher has something to do with it, but I always hated pulling a bowl or plate out of the dishwasher that didn’t quite get all the way clean. And now I never do. Dishes are cleaned fully, everytime.
- It Takes Less Time. It came as a surprise, but I truly believe that washing our dishes after every meal has taken less time than loading/running/unloading the dishwasher. After most meals, it takes only 2-3 minutes to handwash each item. Cups are a snap. And most plates are a breeze to clean immediately following a meal.
- Example for My Kids. My kids see parents who finish what they start, aren’t afraid to put in a little effort, and leave a room cleaner than they found it. And those are life disciplines that I hope they embrace every day of their lives as they get older.
- It Brings Personal Satisfaction. There is a level of satisfaction in life that accompanies working with our hands and accomplishing a task without the need for mechanical intervention. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against machines. In many ways, they allow us to accomplish and create more than we could without them. I’m just saying there is a simple satisfaction in reminding ourselves that we can still live joyfully without them.
To accomplish the task of washing dishes immediately after every meal, I use three items: a dish wand, a sink rack, and a towel. I wash, dry, and put away. And with every practice in life, I own it – not the other way around. When we entertain or have a large meal that uses a number of cooking pots and pans, we still use the dishwasher.
It’s been a practical step of living intentionally. It’s been a process of choosing to question my life assumptions and live mindfully in all facets. And in that way, maybe it’s more than I just never gave it an opportunity… maybe it’s more honest to say that I never chose to live intentionally and mindfully.
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Nice post! It felt a little bit funny to read this post today, because I have washed myself my dishes without dishwasher a little bit over a month now and today some people are coming to buy my dishwasher. I have decided that I don’t need it, so I am gonig to sell it.
Of course I took about a month without using it to test if I “can live” without it and I noticed that I am doing well without it so now I am able to sell it.
One problem with dishwasher for me was that almost every time I have too few plates, too few cups or too few forks and so on. When I had used all my plates and dishwasher was full of them it was still almost empty machine, so I had to start it almost half empty or take some plates from it and handwash it when I needed a plate. I used to do handwashing rather than start dishwasher half empty.
Of course I had a possibility to go and buy more plates, more forks and so on, but I noticed that it is just much easier for me to own only couple of plates, couple of forks, couple of cups and so on and just wash them without dishwasher after usage.
The journey to minimalism certainly prompted us to use our dishwasher less as well. As Naomi mentioned above, I was getting tired of pulling needed cooking utensils out of the machine all the time as well.
any concerns about germs? One reason we’ve used the dishwasher is for sanitation and I couldn’t get the water hot enough to kill germs without burning my hands. I do enjoy handwashing dishes though. Sponges also harbor germs though one could use cloths they wash in the laundry.
No. I don’t worry much about germs. Never have. Someone else commented above about bacteria on dish towels… But again, honestly, the thought never crossed my mind.
Maybe a helpful tip: change your dishtowel every 1-2 days. Always dry hands with a separate handtowel. :-) no germ worries. p.s. a few germs are actually good for you (as I’m sure you know)…
I am not sure if that works for gems, but can’t you just put dishes in the hot water about 15minutes or 30minutes before washing them and just wait when the water is cool enough so you don’t have to burn your hands and you can still keep dishes at least in some time in hot water?
Aleksi, that is a simple solution to my germ problem — thanks! Can’t believe I didn’t think of that. I am more germaphobic b/c I’m recovering from a bone marrow transplant still and am immune suppressed, but I think soaking them in hot water would do a good job.
If you’re soaking your dishes in hot water for 30 minutes then you’re no longer following the precept of ‘washing your dishes immediately’.
However, for someone like Aleksi who has a special need, room for flexibility is needed and you may actually be happier in the long run with the peace of mind that you get from washing your dishes in the dishwasher.
Really? Germs? I’ll let the common misconception that every germ is evil slide, but when you wash dishes by hand, just as when you wash your hands, the friction and motion of rubbing and scrubbing is what gets the germs off. Not the temperature of the water. I usually think the dishes coming out of my dishwasher have more potential to be germy and dirty, because the water may not have sufficiently reached a part of a dish to “scrub” or spray it. I think hand-washed dishes should not be a problem! But that’s just my opinion (based on what I’ve read about germs).
(And now I scroll down and see the rest of the comments. D’oh! Sorry, I wasn’t trying to sound so rude. I still think hand washing shouldn’t be an issue. The germs get scrubbed right off!)
No worries, Rose…I actually liked your comments and it reminded me of the common sense I once had! haha — I love handwashing and think you’re right on! Fear is not a good reason to make decisions…except running away from someone attacking you.
Fun to read the comments.
I am giving hand washing a try starting today. Thanks for such an enjoyable post.
Let me know how it goes. Remember, it’s more about mindfulness than anything else.
I wash all my dishes etc. in time. I’m still struggling if I want a dishwasher in the future or not.
But there is one thing which really speaks for the dishwasher: Dishwashers save plenty of water (at least here in Europe).
That’s so interesting, do you have an energy efficient dishwasher? Here in the UK, it’s found that hand-washing dishes arer much more cost-effective.
@Volker, yes, dishwashers save a lot of water, energy (hot water heating), and soap over hand washing in the US as well. Particularly the newer ones can really cut down on all the above — but they do that by a combination of adding capacity (more dishes per load) as well as reducing water and soap per load.
We have a fairly new one with TONS of capacity and we are very vigilant about not running it unless FULL but that does mean pulling out the to-be-washed spatula from time to time. For me I work at being very conscious of energy/water usage… so the dishwasher wins.
Every apartment so far that I have had has not had a dishwasher and it hasn’t been a big deal.
For the towels, just make sure that they are dried properly between every meal that way bacteria won’t spread.
As for getting the water hot enough, it doesn’t matter for most things, and if you are worried about lets say the water bottle and coffee mug you use everyday during cold season you can just boil some water in the kettle and pour it in/over it once you are done washing so that it rinses everything off. I wouldn’t really worry about it though.
We do have a rack to air dry though.
We went the opposite way and bought a dish washer just a couple of years ago. Part of me still wishes we hadn’t, but with 4 adults and two kids and everyone drinking several cups of tea or whatever a day and not remembering which was theirs, so taking a fresh cup, spoon, plate etc. every time, we had LOADS of dishes and two of us grudgingly spent more than an hour every day doing the dishes.
In hindsight we could have opted for a really simple solution and given everyone their (distinguishable) cup and spoon to take care of themselves, but we were into other things at the time, not very much into creative solutions, not very much in the moment either, and it just never occurred to us.
Meanwhile our family is down to two adults and one kid, living ever more mindfully, or so we believe, so you would think we wouldn’t get a full dishwasher every day, but we still do, because the three of us have completely different and pretty irreconcilable eating habits.
This is not the way I would wish it, but I tell myself it’s a process, and we make small adjustments every day towards the goal of a better/simpler/more ecological lifestyle, and we are (generally) headed in the right direction.
For the dishwasher we use ecological completely biodegradable tablets (three products in one, no salts or other stuff needed) and we add 100ml of eco-friendly rinsing product once every 3 months or so, the wastewater goes back into our terrain and feeds the trees in the orchard. I fill it in the evening (5 minutes), my husband empties it in the morning (5 minutes). We couldn’t for the life of us wash all that stuff in 10 minutes, so for us having the machine is still a useful gain of time – at the point where we are in life. Perhaps it will change… I can see us go back to being a no dishwasher family at some point (my husband can’t, not yet anyway: too many unpleasant associations).
Meanwhile I’m planning to etch names in all our glasses and paint designs on all our cups and plates, so everyone can easily pick out their favourites and stick with them for the day. Should be fun, to drink from a glass called Anastasia and stir with a spoon named Squirt, or eat from a plate decorated with autumn leaves or little hearts… I haven’t gotten around to that though. Sigh – it’s a process…
I failed ! Tried to use just one plate, bowl, cup and glass…..failed !
Tried hand washing ….only 3 days….failed !
Found out I am a dishwasher person.
Unclutterer had this story: http://unclutterer.com/2010/11/09/range-oven-dishwasher-a-perfect-unit-for-a-small-space/
I’m always looking for a small dishwasher :)
A few thoughts . . .
(1) Why not use a combination method: hand wash knives, wooden spoons, mixing bowls, i.e. anything that shouldn’t go in the dishwasher as well as anything you might need before you run the dishwasher. Use the dishwasher for tabletop items: glasses, cereal bowls, plates, knives, forks, and spoons.
(2) For the items that you hand wash, have a dish rack, as Joshua recommends. But instead of using a towel, let the items air dry. Easier and more sanitary. And if you have an attractive dish rack and attractive kitchen equipment, seeing these items air drying can be pleasant (not visual clutter).
(3) Consider using this method for hand washing dishes: In the morning, fill a mug or a bowl with some dishwashing soap and hot water. Then dip your sponge, dishcloth or dish wand in the mug or bowl. (This tip comes from a book about living on a boat where water is in short supply.)
(4) If you’re concerned about dishes that go through the dishwasher and not getting clean, rinse them first. You’ll still be using less water than if you hand washed everything. Also, this means that you can run the dishwasher on the quickest setting.
(5) If you use a sponge, an easy way to sanitize it is to get it damp, put it in a bowl, and then put the bowl and the sponge in the microwave for a couple of minutes. (I use a bowl that also doubles as a container for food scraps that I later compost.)
(6) Make it a point to use dishwashing soap with a fragrance that you like.
Dishwashers became popular when I was in high school and I remember having to wash all the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher because if you didn’t the dishes came out dirty. It never made sense to me to wash the dishes twice. I know dishwashers are far more efficient now, but I’m so in the habit of just handwashing my dishes before putting them in that I end up wasting water and time doing both.
When we moved into our house, it didn’t come with a dishwasher and I choose not to put one in. Instead, I wash our dishes by hand. I’ve crocheted dish cloths that fit in my hand perfectly, can scrub the dishes without scratching, and I only use one a day and then wash them to keep them sanitary. I’m also making dish towels using waffle fabric and binding the edges like a quilt binding to make them pretty, again to have several to use each day and then throw them in the wash to sanitize them.
I find that I tend to meditate when handwashing dishes, and the act of dishwashing is calming for me. I have hung birdfeeders from the tree outside my kitchen window and will watch the birds eat, or will do dishes around the time my daughter leaves for school and returns from school, so I can watch for her as she walks to and from the bus stop, which is visible from my kitchen window. I watch the seasons change, watch the neighborhood cats wander, watch friends and neighbors walk with their pets and kids. It’s become much more than ‘time to wash the dishes.’
Thank you for this post!
i am 43 and i have never lived in a house with a dishwasher.
we have always washed our dishes by hand.
after a meal, it’s nice to clean everything ready for the next meal and chat with my husband….i wash and he dries.
we built a beautiful new kitchen last year and didn’t consider a dishwasher for even one minute.
i cannot bear how they smell inside!
Well for the last 8 years I have not used dishwasher. We have 5 kids and all of the older ones are trained to wash their dishes after they are done. It all started when we bought an old house that did not have room for a dishwasher without a big renovation. Now we are in a new house with a dishwasher and after a week we all decided that dishwashers are a waste of time. All the kids complained about having to wash their dish before they put it in the dishwasher. We also don’t worry much about germs. So in conclusion if our family of SEVEN can survive anyone could.
Interesting post. Our dishwasher broke about a year or year and a half ago. We chose not to spend the money to replace it at the time. I grew up in a family where we always had a dishwasher. My husband’s family never had a dishwasher. My MIL still hand washes everything. I found I came to dread the idea of having to wash the dishes every night, but once I got started, it was a fairly calming activity (if I hadn’t neglected doing them the night prior). Anyhow, we purchased a dishwasher almost 2 months ago now. I find I dread loading/unloading the dishwasher the same. However, I am teaching my 4 year old to unload the unbreakable items. With us expecting in May, I knew I would want a dishwasher for those early months. However, I have found that I like handwashing dishes. It is more minimalistic, I believe, if you DO wash, dry, put away after every meal or even every evening, as I did.
I wash my dishes by hand too even though we have a dishwasher. The problem is sometimes my back starts to ache when I have a lot of dishes :/
brilliant. i have been meaning to use my dishwasher less in my effort to become greener and to live more responsibly – i came across your post and “got my butt in gear” and ordered an in-sink dish rack today!!! Would be honored if you’d stop by http://www.heavyenlightenment.blogspot.com/ and feel free to post a comment anywhere you’d like. Following you on Twitter as of…this very moment!!! You are doing a wonderful thing. rock on!
Eve says that she has “been meaning to use my dishwasher less in my effort to become greener . . . .”
But according to Rodale, using a dishwasher is generally greener than washing dishes by hand:
“Unless you’re diligent, hand washing can be extremely wasteful. A European study comparing hand washing to machine dish washing found that hand washers used as much as 27 gallons of water and 2.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy to wash 12 place settings, compared with the 4 gallons and 1.5 kWh used by a hyperefficient dishwasher to wash the same number of dishes.”
I don’t get the wasteful hand washing thing…. 27 GALLONS? how!!?? I live in Sri Lanka currently and at my house I have to carry the hot water from the bathroom to the kitchen since the hot water tank (its a small one, 5 gallons) is located there and not plumbed in anywhere else. I take 2 gallons, MAX, in a bucket to my sink in the kitchen and wash all our dishes. I rinse them as well, and don’t overflow our sink. Everything airdries on the draining board. So that means I MAYBE use 3 gallons of water for dishes A DAY since I only do dishes once a day most of the time. We are a family of six (ok the baby is three months and doesn’t count in the dishes) and I cook everything from scratch, bake everything from scratch. We are not chronically ill with stomach complaints due to germs – in fact, we hardly ever have stomach problems and this is in a country where I also boil all our drinking water. I think North Americans need to re-evaluate their (our) wasteful practices and habits. Honestly. 27 GALLONS? Even in Canada I NEVER used even NEARLY that much. Do people just leave the water running the whole time?
Evie, yes I’m guessing that the 27 gallons of water for washing 12 place settings would be used by someone who lets the water run the whole time. It’s also interesting to note the study cited by Rodale took place in Europe, not in North America.
Kris thanks for the info, but i’m with Evie, i can’t see how my handwashing of dishes in a sink without endlessly running water is more wasteful than running a dishwasher 2x a day (like i have been doing). Mine is not an energy efficient washer and i can’t afford to get a better one right now, so i’ll stick with the handwashing as another way for me to live more responsibly. I find that i use less dishes and cookware because it takes more work to wash those than to stick them in a dishwasher!!! What a great post. great comments, too. Have an awesome day everyone!
I took another route and added a second dishwasher to my home. It has saved me so much time and mental anguish. We have a clean dishwasher and a dirty dishwasher. We take clean dishes out for a meal (much like you would out of a cabinet), use them, then place them in the dirty dishwasher. Once we run the dirty dishwasher, there may be a few clean dishes we have not used that get put back into a cabinet, but its usually only 4 or 5 and takes a lot less time than emptying an entire dishwasher.
The only one I agree with is #5. I’ve never had a dishwasher but have daydreamed about one. But I don’t think they could get my dishes cleaner than I can. I’m very thorough and every dish gets a full inspection before it goes on the drying rack. I too am dubious of the 27-gallon handwashing average. Maybe I do rinse a little more than I need to sometimes, but on the whole I try not to waste. I actually challenge myself to see how little water and soap I use to get a dish clean. Soaps are so concentrated these days, I’m finding even one drop is sometimes too much!
Still, I hate washing dishes. HATE. I don’t want to clean after I’ve eaten. I want to kick back and let my food digest, maybe nap. But I have very few plates and cookware and I can’t cook or eat again until they’re clean. And sometimes I’m tired, or come home late or in a bad mood. I just plain don’t feel like it! So I either start skipping meals or settle for fast food until I’ve mentally psyched myself up to tackle the chore. I know avoiding a problem doesn’t make it go away so I should focus on ways to make the chore pleasant. Maybe if I had a window in my kitchen I’d feel differently.
My guess is that it is also cheaper to wash dishes by hand rather than use 2 hours of electricity and hot water for each daily load.
Back when I was a Peace Corps volunteer, I once took a bucket bath (bucket of water that you use a cup to poor over yourself, wash, rinse same way), washed my hair and then used that water to mop my house with 1 1/2 gallons of water. Conservation is essential when you rely on limited rain water or river water carried in by mule by your neighbor.
Now, back in the US, I do what my grandma used to do with dishes – two sinks of water. One side is soapy, the other is not. Wash in the soapy side, rinse in the other. Saves a ton of water that way. And, if you have dish pans, you can then use the water to water the trees. Not like the women back in the olden days would have even had a drain to poor it down or considered not using the water on their gardens when getting that water was such a chore.
As far as “germs” and getting dishes clean – dishes are like anything else. It is the combined force of scrubbing with the soap that kills the little beasties. Soap works by breaking up the cell membranes of the bacteria and viruses – which is why we use it, in addition to lifting the grease and turning it into little floating balls that go down the drain. Same thing with your hand soap or laundry soap. The only reason that hot water helps is that it helps to loosen the grease. In the dishwasher, the heat is high enough that it can kill bacteria, but you most likely can’t stand that much heat to do that by hand… Regardless, the dishes are clean either way!
I used to rely on my dishwasher everyday and with 3 children it was in use every day. The cost does add up with the water usages, power and the dishwashers tablets that I use every time. After about a year my dishwasher became blocked and I couldn’t see where the blockage myself so I called out a plumber. He said that there is a blockage inside the dishwasher which was caused by the buildup of muck and was getting worse. The plumber advised me that he can unblock it but it will happen again so I decided to get rid of it and hands wash my dishes. For the first few weeks I did let the washing up pile up as I didn’t want to spend my time washing dishes everyday and after a while I got into a routine and now do it daily.
I loved this post and agree with everything that you say. I was brought up to do exactly what you describe. My parents in their 70s still leap to wash, dry & put away immediately after every meal (or after a leisurely coffee).
Because I could I bought a dishwasher in my 30s. It is now never used. It caused me great stress. The job took ages, the packing, washing cycle and unpacking took forever and I felt that the day could not move on. I cringed at the litres and litres of water that were being used. I failed to learn how to stack properly and so many dishes ended the process needing to be cleaned by hand anyway. Then of course there was the washing of the items that could not go into the dishwasher.
So I have given up – the dishwasher is gathering dust. I especially agree with item 8 in your list. I love washing dishes – I try to make sure there is a window over the sink in my houses and I can be in quite a zen-like mood when I do the dishes and yes its quick and clean. I can’t get so excited by all the hygiene stories posted by others, its simple to me.
My husband thinks I am mad and calls it COWS (compulsive obsessive washing syndrome) but you have added to my conviction – and I have a lovely clear and clean kitchen.
Thanks for your great site.
I found your site while Googling for more information about the new dishwasher my wife and I just purchased and are awaiting delivery. Our old one went out the other day and we immediately went down to get another one. I agree with you about clutter and I cannot stand for dishes to pile up in the sink. So, I simply don’t put them there. As I cook I put dishes directly into the dishwasher, skipping the sink altogether. I never let a dish stop at the sink; it goes into the dishwasher. When done with dinner, dishes get scrapped, rinsed and placed into that marvelous machine. That’s why Im going nuts right now without a dishwasher. I’m trying to keep up with hand washing each dish as I finish with it and I just cannot keep up, while trying to cook. I’ve boiled over several items, cut my fingers three times washing knives and broken a bowl and a glass. Thank goodness my new dishwasher is due to arrive soon. I can’t continue to run my kitchen much longer without it.
I did enjoy your fresh thoughts, however,
Phil Johnson
Slidell, Louisiana
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