Question about washing dishes

[mustache you a question]

How often do you use your dishwasher?  Just curious because yesterday morning I started the dishwasher and had to restart it this morning.  My wife and I typically start the dishwasher 3-4 times a week but it's just us no kids.  We cook everything at home so that's why we have a lot of dishes but didn't no if there was a way to reduce our water/energy usage from the dishwasher (even though it is a high efficiency one).

[Mgmny]

Just me and my wife and we probably run our dishwasher 4-5x per week - almost once a day. Our top racks fills up much faster than the bottom rack. We eat almost every meal at home, or at work using dishes from home. The cost per load is supposedly $0.45 according to a google search, so i guess i don't really feel bad about running it that frequently. There's something therapeutic about having fully stocked cabinets (when the glasses are all lined up, no missing bowls, and all increments of measuring cups available and not dirty). 

[I'm a red panda]

1-2x per week, 2 adults
We cook all meals at home, but hand wash pots and pans. All lunches are in reusable containers that are put in the dishwasher. We don't heat dry.

We usually run out of dishes before we run it.
Our electricity rates don't vary on time, so we run it when we need more.
I hand wash baby bottles and pump supplies.

[catccc]

Family of 4, maybe we run it every other day at the most.  We don't put pots, pans, knives, or anything plastic in the dishwasher.  We frequently run out of plates and flatware before we run it.

[Fishindude]

Anytime there is at least a half load in there I like to run it.
Stinks to open a dishwasher half of more full to find out they've not yet been washed.

[patchyfacialhair]

We run the dishwasher once it's full. But, I hand wash the pot and pan that I use the most often. Breakfast usually has some eggs included so I like to make sure the non-stick is always clean, and one small saucepan is helpful for rice/sauces etc. so I like to keep that clean for anytime use.

Since our dishwasher seems huge, it takes about 2-3 days to fill it up. We have plenty of plates/bowls and flatware so we never run out.

[Morning Glory]

2-3x/week, must be totally full, family of 3. I bring breakfast and lunch to work in reusable containers which take up a lot of room. We usually reuse drinking glasses a few times before putting them in there, and we handwash pots and other large items. For some reason spatulas never get clean in there, so we handwash those too. We have an electric hot water heater so it is probably more expensive for us to run, but I appreciate the luxury of not having to wash all the small items by hand.

[WSUCoug1994]

Two adults and a 14 month old - we run it MAYBE once a week.  We pretty much only eat at home and hand wash plates, pans, thermos and water bottles.  This is likely due to the fact that we hate our dishwasher and find that hand washing is faster and cleaner.

[bigalsmith101]

My wife and I run the dishwasher less than once a week. We cook every single meal at home, and I work from home as well.

I eat oatmeal in a bowl with a spoon, eggs on a plate (same spoon), and a smoothie in a blender cup, every morning. THEN when I'm done, I immediately wash them and put them on the drying rack. I use the same bowl/plate/cup every day.

When we're done with our meals at home, we quickly rinse off the plates/utensils, and leave them to dry.

Easy, more efficient, less wasteful.

[YoungGranny]

We probably run the dishwasher once every 6 months. We didn't have one for a couple years so we got in the habit of washing by hand and sticking it in the drying rack - I guess that's stuck. We eat at home almost every meal. Probably should try and sell the darn thing lol

[marion10]

If it fits, it goes in the dishwasher- with the exception of knives. So pots and pans and Tupperware as well as regular dishes. We can even fit the grill from our gas grill in there. We recycle and jars and cans go in as well if there is extra space.  There are only two of us, but it gets run at least once a day- sometimes twice.

[Mgmny]

Easy, more efficient, less wasteful.

I think you'd be surprised.... I believe that dishwashers are actually MORE efficient and less wasteful than hand washing 99% of the time

[Mgmny]

Easy, more efficient, less wasteful.

I think you'd be surprised.... I believe that dishwashers are actually MORE efficient and less wasteful than hand washing 99% of the time

[Tris Prior]

Nearly every day, and there are only 2 of us. We cook pretty often, though - usually 2 separate meals as Boyfriend's and my eating habits/food preferences are quite different. We only run it when it's full, but that seems to happen within a day.

[Cranky]

We have 3 adults and 2 cats, and I run that dishwasher AT LEAST once/day. Sometimes I run it 3 times over the weekend! And I wash a lot of the bigger pots by hand...

I wash my lunch containers at school, but dh brings his home and puts them in the dishwasher. The cats go through 4 plates/day on their own.

[HPstache]

Nearly every day for my family of 3.  We cook every meal at home and have a 2 year old.

[ysette9]

Maybe 2-3 times a week. I notice a huge difference when we are all home for the weekend and eating three+ meals a day at home.

Use the damn thing. It is way easier than hand washing and better for the environment

[Bird In Hand]

We run it when it's full, which is once every 1-2 days.  Family of 5, all meals prepared at home, and only wash pots & pans by hand.

[GreenSheep]

Never. We don't own one, and we don't have enough dishes to fill one up anyway, so we'd end up either running it less-than-full or  removing whatever we need from it to hand wash it and use it. I like dealing with just a few dishes at a time rather than emptying an entire dishwasher all at once.

[meghan88]

+1 for washing a few dishes at a time by hand.  Those dishwasher pods are expensive.  Our method:

- very quick rinse or soak right away to get the worst off
- with the water off, scrub with soaped-up sponge; pile up the scrubbed dishes in the other side of the sink
- quick rinse under hot water

Doesn't take much time, and doesn't use much water.

Also:  we try to prep and cook with efficiency, meaning we do things in one pot if we can, and we limit or eliminate the use of prep tools.  Sometimes I'll slice vegetables right into the pot, no cutting board.

[HipGnosis]

I think you'd be surprised.... I believe that dishwashers are actually MORE efficient and less wasteful than hand washing 99% of the time

I'm pretty sure that's based on marketing by the dishwasher mfg's.

I can see how some people would use more water washing by hand - but I also know it's possible to wash dished with very little water.  I do it every day.

I can't fathom any way that washing by hand uses more energy.   I'm using less hot water, no pumping water around and no heating of water or air.   I use a drying rack so there's not even any washing of dish towels.

[ZiziPB]

I run mine about twice a week (only when it's full) - I'm a single person eating at home and using reusable containers for lunch at work that I bring home to wash.  Pots (unless they are 100% stainless steel), knives and the coffee pot get washed by hand, everything else goes into the dishwasher.  I don't use the heated dry option.

My family visited recently for a few weeks so we were 3 adults preparing and eating all meals at home - we ran the dishwasher every day.

I believe hand washing is more wasteful than using the dishwasher.  Plus I have eczema on my hands that gets irritated when I hand wash a lot.

[Linea_Norway]

How often do you use your dishwasher?  Just curious because yesterday morning I started the dishwasher and had to restart it this morning.  My wife and I typically start the dishwasher 3-4 times a week but it's just us no kids.  We cook everything at home so that's why we have a lot of dishes but didn't no if there was a way to reduce our water/energy usage from the dishwasher (even though it is a high efficiency one).

We are in a similar situationand use the dishwasher equally often as you do. Oftest every other day.

[ysette9]

Somewhat mixed results depending on situation, but mostly coming out in favor of the dishwasher:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/aug/19/carbon-footprints-dishwasher-washing-up

The Bonn study proves that the dishwasher uses only half the energy and one-sixth of the water, less soap too. Even the most sparing and careful washers could not beat the modern dishwasher.

https://www.treehugger.com/kitchen-design/dishwasher-vs-handwashing-the-winner.html

...washing a load of dishes (12 place settings) by hand uses on average 27 gallons of water and 2.5 kilowatt-hours of energy to heat the water ...By comparison, an energy-efficient dishwasher uses about four gallons of water and 1 kWh of energy per load. (And over the course of a year, using the dishwasher saves more than 400 hours of labor!) Researchers also found that dishwashers cleaned better, as half of the hand-washers failed to reach an “acceptable level” of cleanliness.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eatingwell/hand-washing-dishes-vs-dishwasher_b_1542991.html

[BlueHouse]

At least once a week, but it's pretty wasteful for my lifestyle. 

I've been thinking about using my dishwasher as a drying rack.  I use very few dishes, and it seems I always have something in the drying rack.  If I put the drying rack away and used the dishwasher as a rack, I believe I'd save a lot of money because I pack sandwiches in tupperware and then wash them when there's only a breadcrumb from yesterday in the tupperware.  I have thought about not washing it and reusing it the next day, but because I'm going to run the dishwasher at least once a week anyway, I just throw them in there. 

When I had an injury that hampered my mobility, I found it easier to eat off the same (clean) plate/fork/glass every day rather than wash/put away/take out/eat/wash/put away. 

[Prairie Stash]

Somewhat mixed results depending on situation, but mostly coming out in favor of the dishwasher:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/aug/19/carbon-footprints-dishwasher-washing-up

The Bonn study proves that the dishwasher uses only half the energy and one-sixth of the water, less soap too. Even the most sparing and careful washers could not beat the modern dishwasher.

https://www.treehugger.com/kitchen-design/dishwasher-vs-handwashing-the-winner.html

...washing a load of dishes (12 place settings) by hand uses on average 27 gallons of water and 2.5 kilowatt-hours of energy to heat the water ...By comparison, an energy-efficient dishwasher uses about four gallons of water and 1 kWh of energy per load. (And over the course of a year, using the dishwasher saves more than 400 hours of labor!) Researchers also found that dishwashers cleaned better, as half of the hand-washers failed to reach an “acceptable level” of cleanliness.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eatingwell/hand-washing-dishes-vs-dishwasher_b_1542991.html

Be careful of your sources. You'll notice most of the sources don't distinguish between electric and gas water heaters. If you read about dishwashers you'll find they heat with electric (my electricity has a high carbon footprint) and my hot water is heated with gas with a low footprint. I can break it down for your region, power grids across NA all have differing carbon emissions/kwh so making broad generalizations isn't practical.

I hand wash. My natural gas bill for all my hot water is $60/year, including showers, laundry and the aforementioned dishes. According to the chart the average hand washer spends 45/year on energy to wash dishes; see how the math is funny? Do you really think laundry and washing 4 people use a fraction of washing dishes? In other words, the Bonn study proved it for the region the Bonn study was based, not for the entire world.

[tooqk4u22]

How often do you use your dishwasher?  Just curious because yesterday morning I started the dishwasher and had to restart it this morning.  My wife and I typically start the dishwasher 3-4 times a week but it's just us no kids.  We cook everything at home so that's why we have a lot of dishes but didn't no if there was a way to reduce our water/energy usage from the dishwasher (even though it is a high efficiency one).

Typically, running a dishwasher is more efficient than washing by hand because of the amount of water usage, especially if you don't rinse your plates before you stick them in the dishwasher (not necessary but people still believe they must essentially wash everything before it is washed in the dishwasher).

[CupcakeGuru]

2 adults, 2 kids. We run it practically every day. Sometimes twice a day on the weekends (especially when there are a lot of other kids over)!

[ZiziPB]

How often do you use your dishwasher?  Just curious because yesterday morning I started the dishwasher and had to restart it this morning.  My wife and I typically start the dishwasher 3-4 times a week but it's just us no kids.  We cook everything at home so that's why we have a lot of dishes but didn't no if there was a way to reduce our water/energy usage from the dishwasher (even though it is a high efficiency one).

Typically, running a dishwasher is more efficient than washing by hand because of the amount of water usage, especially if you don't rinse your plates before you stick them in the dishwasher (not necessary but people still believe they must essentially wash everything before it is washed in the dishwasher).

+1
There is no reason to rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.  As I understand it, the newer dishwashers actually work better if the dishes are not rinsed as they have sensors that adjust to the level of "dirt".
I never rinse anything, just scrape off any leftovers.  Everything comes out clean.

[merlin7676]

Several times a week b/c the roommate has to have a new glass every time he gets a drink. Plus he's a "grazer" so is constantly eating small bits here and there all day/evening. And he always needs a new bowel or utensil every time he nibbles on something.
Husband and I use reuse our glass all day long and clean(er) plates and bowels can be used for more than one thing..Plus we do bring our lunches from home and use the plastic bowels and stuff to hold those.

That being said we also do frequently hand wash the dishes. I do think it is cheaper. I fill the sink only deep enough for one plate sitting at the bottom.  This is enough water to wash most of the stuff.  Rinsing them will add water to the sink that can be used for bowels. Rinsing those adds a little more water to finish off the big stuff like pots. By the time I'm done, sink still is only 1/2 full most time.

[Prairie Stash]

Easy, more efficient, less wasteful.

I think you'd be surprised.... I believe that dishwashers are actually MORE efficient and less wasteful than hand washing 99% of the time

The same Bonn study used to compile this data also states Australians use 1/4 the water that Americans use. The average american, it states, uses 40 gallons while Australians use 9 gallons. The averaeg American uses 3.5 kwh hand washing, Australians use 1.2 kwh.

Therefore according to the data you provided, the average Australian that hand washes uses less energy and water than an energy star appliance, if you use the same citation you provided.
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/stories/life-cycle-analysis-doesnt-budge-outcome-of-the-great-dishwasher-debate

As an aside, the economic cost/wash was factored to be higher than hand washing; once you account for purchase price. 

[GreenSheep]

Several times a week b/c the roommate has to have a new glass every time he gets a drink.
Husband and I use reuse our glass all day long

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my mom last time I visited my parents. My brother lives in the same town, so he's always popping in to visit, sometimes for just a few minutes and sometimes all day. My mom decided she must have trained him too well, because she's always finding a glass he used sitting in a corner on the kitchen counter, waiting for him to reuse it, even if he just stopped by briefly. Sometimes it stays there for a week before she finally decides he won't be back for a while and washes it. :-)

[Linea_Norway]

Several times a week b/c the roommate has to have a new glass every time he gets a drink.
Husband and I use reuse our glass all day long

We reuse our cleaner glasses, plates and bowls as well.
Once we had a friend visiting us for some days. I served him drinks and fill up the same glass all day. Next day, later in the afternoon, he asked me if he could please get a clean glass now, because the current one was looking very fatty fingers on the outside. I had simply forgotten to give him a clean glass on a new day. That was embarrassing. It was not my intention to be so cheap...

At our mountain cabin where we do not have water, we reuse dishes as much as we can all day and only wash by hand in the evening. The kitchen is also too small to store too many dishes. And we have too few cupboards to store dishes anyway.

[redbird]

At least once a week, but it's pretty wasteful for my lifestyle. 

I've been thinking about using my dishwasher as a drying rack.  I use very few dishes, and it seems I always have something in the drying rack.  If I put the drying rack away and used the dishwasher as a rack, I believe I'd save a lot of money because I pack sandwiches in tupperware and then wash them when there's only a breadcrumb from yesterday in the tupperware.  I have thought about not washing it and reusing it the next day, but because I'm going to run the dishwasher at least once a week anyway, I just throw them in there. 

When I had an injury that hampered my mobility, I found it easier to eat off the same (clean) plate/fork/glass every day rather than wash/put away/take out/eat/wash/put away.

I've been doing this for years. It works well, but you do have to run the dishwasher every so often if you do. You'll end up getting a puddle of water over time in the bottom of the dishwasher. I'll run it every few months or so (with dirty dishes inside so it's not wasteful) to drain that water out and let the inside of the dishwasher get cleaned out.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Daily. We have three little kids; two of them aren't using dishes...yet. 6 months is coming up.

[WhiteTrashCash]

We run our dishwasher 2-3x a week for the two of us (and our cat dishes.) We hand wash all pots and pans. The cost of running the dishwasher is very low for us because we purchase our detergent by bulk at a warehouse store and our electricity is provided by solar panels. It's worth saving the time it would take to handwash everything.

[Beach_Stache]

Family of 5, we run the dishwasher about 2-3 times/week.  I STUFF the dishwasher.  really as long as water/air can get to the dishes then they will all be clean, so I've very strategic about how I place the dishes so they can all be hit by the soap and water.  What my wife thinks is full is only half full to me, so while I hate doing dishes, I end up doing all the dishes b/c it pisses me off so much if she runs it based on what she thinks is full.  The drying component also doesn't seem to work, so I typically run it at night and let it air dry, put stuff on the rack that needs more drying and leave it for a day.  Then I hand dry the other dishes with a towel that then goes in the washing machine.  I also make my own dishwasher detergent which is a fraction of the price which I love doing!

Big pots/pans/tupperwear I try to hand wash right away so it's not taking up the majority of space in the dishwasher.  If the kids have a dinner plate that doesn't get much damage (ketchup, nasty stuff) then I hand wash and put in the rack to dry.

http://thisfrugalfather.blogspot.com/

[BlueHouse]

+1
There is no reason to rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.  As I understand it, the newer dishwashers actually work better if the dishes are not rinsed as they have sensors that adjust to the level of "dirt".
I never rinse anything, just scrape off any leftovers.  Everything comes out clean.

Is this also true if you don't run your dishwasher every day?  If food sits on a plate for 5 days before going through the cycle, I don't think it will come off (but I admit I've never tested it)

I've been thinking about using my dishwasher as a drying rack. 

I've been doing this for years. It works well, but you do have to run the dishwasher every so often if you do. You'll end up getting a puddle of water over time in the bottom of the dishwasher. I'll run it every few months or so (with dirty dishes inside so it's not wasteful) to drain that water out and let the inside of the dishwasher get cleaned out.

Thanks redbird.  By any chance, are you asian?  My asian friends are the ones who suggested this to me.  I'm going to give it a try.  See if I'm more thoughtful with the number of dishes I dirty and it will also get the ugly drainer off the countertop. 

[frugalwitch]

Each day and we are only 2 adults.

I don't bother cleaning stuff by hand most of the time.

[redbird]

I've been doing this for years. It works well, but you do have to run the dishwasher every so often if you do. You'll end up getting a puddle of water over time in the bottom of the dishwasher. I'll run it every few months or so (with dirty dishes inside so it's not wasteful) to drain that water out and let the inside of the dishwasher get cleaned out.

Thanks redbird.  By any chance, are you asian?  My asian friends are the ones who suggested this to me.  I'm going to give it a try.  See if I'm more thoughtful with the number of dishes I dirty and it will also get the ugly drainer off the countertop.

Nope! I'm a super pale white woman with Irish/German roots. :)

I did grow up in a house that didn't have a dishwasher and the first few apartments I lived in as an adult had no dishwasher. Since I had to wash by hand I would just buy whatever dishes I wanted. Some of them I bought in Japan when I lived there for a few years for work, and most Japanese wash dishes by hand. Dishwashers exist in Japan, but Japanese houses have such small capacity power breakers that they can't really handle them, or they'll be super small. As a result, enough of my dishes are either not dishwasher safe or I'd rather not wash them in the dishwasher even if they claim it's safe (things like expensive stainless steel pots) that at least half of what I make dirty I'd have to wash by hand anyway. It doesn't really add too much time for me to go ahead and wash the rest by hand.

That's why I dishwash by hand, even though I know my ~2 year old dishwasher is going to be less wasteful on the water.

[spicykissa]

We wash everything by hand, because things always come out of the dishwasher with soap on them. In 3 different apartments, with multiple types of appliance, detergent, and configurations of dishes, I still get soapy-tasting food, especially in drinking glasses. If I'm going to have to rinse and dry it again anyway, I might as well not bother with the dishwasher!

Granted, we've never had a particularly new or high-quality dishwasher, so I'd be willing to try again when/if we move.

[Rosy]

I think you'd be surprised.... I believe that dishwashers are actually MORE efficient and less wasteful than hand washing 99% of the time

I'm pretty sure that's based on marketing by the dishwasher mfg's.

I can see how some people would use more water washing by hand - but I also know it's possible to wash dished with very little water.  I do it every day.

I can't fathom any way that washing by hand uses more energy.   I'm using less hot water, no pumping water around and no heating of water or air.   I use a drying rack so there's not even any washing of dish towels.

I tend to agree, I bet they didn't include the cost of those pricey dishwasher pads either.

Two people - 1 or 2 times a week. Damn thing does not do a good job. Nothing is as annoying as taking out a cup with a coffee ring or plates with stuck on egg residue. If it was just me, I'd never use it, but on days when I'm dead tired I'm glad I can stick the plates out of sight.
I'd rather have the storage space instead.

What really saves the most money and time is:
Think about the process first - how could you fix your dish in only one pot - one pan - one casserole?
Clean up as you go - chop directly into the pot (someone mentioned that already:)

[brooklynmoney]

I never used to use it at all (single adult) but now I'm feeling really stressed so find that using it 2x last month was helpful. That said, my electric bill went up $10 that month. Could that be just from running it 2x? I didn't even use the heat dry option. I did get a new hot water heater, but I think that was the month before and there was no change in my bill. Anyway, that seems insane to me. It can't really cost me $5 every time I run it??

[Anon in Alaska]

I'm single. Once every three weeks maybe? I have a 40 year old dishwasher. It's kind of noisy and probably uses more energy than a modern one would but it's not worth replacing it with a new one and having the new one break in a few years and replacing it again.

[cadillacmike]

Just me and my wife and we probably run our dishwasher 4-5x per week - almost once a day. Our top racks fills up much faster than the bottom rack. We eat almost every meal at home, or at work using dishes from home. The cost per load is supposedly $0.45 according to a google search, so i guess i don't really feel bad about running it that frequently. There's something therapeutic about having fully stocked cabinets (when the glasses are all lined up, no missing bowls, and all increments of measuring cups available and not dirty). 

You sound worse than me.  ;-)

Just the two of us, however we frequently have weekend guests. We don't run it until its full. I have service for 10 in both the everyday Corelle and the formal china, service for 12 on the silverware and stainless, so we won't run out of dishes or utensils. It makes a racket so it usually only gets run at night. We usually each have a water / juice glass that we re-use for several days, and we'll hand wash if its only a few items. Certain hard acrylic glasses / goblets can't be washed in it because they'll crack (ruined a nice set of colored stem goblets) and the crystal & fragile / irreplaceable wine glasses get washed by hand (although that hasn't stopped me from breaking a large fragile Cadillac wine goblet!)

Now when we have large family gatherings like Easter, thanksgiving, etc We have to run three fully loaded sessions on it to get all the plates & bowls clean, and that still leaves the large pots & pans for hand cleaning. 

I never run the heated dry - waste of electricity. But we do keep the jet-dry doohickey filled, otherwise its spot city on the glasses.

And we're not replacing it until it dies a permanent death.