When I bought my house, a dishwasher was a hard and fast requirement.
That said, for the previous 3+ years, I lived without a dishwasher. Once you get into the habit, it gets less painful.
Tips from a person who absolutely hates handwashing:
- Have several/many dishtowels. The cheap Ikea ones work well. You want something that dries pretty quickly so they're dry in time for the next meal. Also so they don't start smelling like mildew instantly. Also helpful: dedicated space for them to hang dry. A string and some laundry clips works well, if you have the wall space.
- Air-drying is the least work-intensive, but not always practical. For more drying space, as mentioned above, I would layout more dish towels on the counter, let drip while I finished washing up, and then finish drying by hand and put away. If I was too tired/out of fucks, I would leave stuff over night and put away in the morning, though with roommates and virtually no counter space, I tried to avoid doing this too much. You'll experiment to see what works best for you. I think a fair number of people do the coffee and put away dishes in the morning routine.
- When drying stuff on towels on the counter, leave an air gap/set stuff at an angle. It helps the water drain off and a glass that is placed upside down with no air gap will still be wet on the inside in the morning.
- Clean as you go. Again, a practice thing, and for fast-moving meals, isn't always doable. You'll get a lot better at doing all the prep work, doing a quick round of clean up, and then cooking. If there are two of you, have one person doing clean up while the other cooks will make everything a lot easier.
- Cook larger batches. You make the same amount of dirty dishes for twice (or whatever) the amount of food.
- Cook simpler meals. Look for stuff that can be done in fewer pots/bowls/pans. Experiment with your favorite recipes to cut down on the number of dishes it takes to make.
- Reuse dishes. Things like water glasses don't need to be washed every day, or even every other day. I would typically wash my bedside glass maybe once a week. If I just had toast for breakfast, I'd brush the crumbs off the plate into the sink and use it again the next morning. YMMV, etc etc.
- Depending, you might want a good pair of rubber gloves. If I was doing a lot of washing, my hands would start to get dry and irritated.
- Any pots or pans that need soaking should be started before you start eating. That way, 90% of the time they'll be ready to wash when you are done with dinner.
- Leave stuff to soak overnight if it isn't coming off. Most stuff with come off with either more soaking time or more scrubbing. I strongly favor more soaking time as you are less likely to damage the finish on anything delicate and by the time I got to that stuff, I was too tired to really care and would end up with badly washed dishes.
- Squeeze out the sponge when you are done every time. This helps it not get manky instantly. I've tried the brushes and what not, but they never felt as effective as a sponge. Also, set the sponge on it's short side so it has more surface area to dry.
- Experiment with what cleaning tools you like. You might like the brushes and hate sponges. Be careful with the extra-abrasive sponges. Some sponges can be cut in half, making them easier to use and less expensive overall.
Good luck! It can be done! Whether you grow to prefer it, who knows ;) I am madly in love with my insanely loud dishwasher because I really do dislike handwashing that much, but at the end of 3 years handwashing, it got a lot more automatic and less uuuuuugh.