Saturday, April 7, 2007

The Long Overdue Dishwashing Experiment

Zack and I like experiments. Maybe it's because we like learning new things. But probably it's because we like to justify doing things we want to do, and calling it an "experiment" is the easiest way to do that. A few years ago we did an "experiment" with dollar hamburgers. (You know, the hamburgers a fast food restaurant sells on it's dollar menu.) The experiment consisted of seeing which dollar hamburger was better. That meant we had to go to each of those places and try their hamburgers. Turns out that McDonald's had the best tasting dollar burger, the "Big'n'Tasty". (Or was it called the "McBig'n'McTasty"?)

I think we like experiments because it makes things fun. It can turn boring housework into SCIENCE!!!

Today we did an experiment that made me realize I've wasted much of my childhood. The results of this experiment caused me to question my cleaning reality. It has shaken my very housework core!

We washed our dishes in the dishwasher WITHOUT rinsing them off first. I know you won't believe the results, so I took pictures of the before and after so you could see for yourself.




These are two pans of lasagna that we ate on MONDAY. They've been sitting in the sink for four days. (It's been a busy week.)
Here they are after being washed. Perfectly clean! Every single dish is spotless. Why did I spent the past 22 years washing dishes BEFORE putting them in the dishWASHER? I'm like those ladies who clean their house before the cleaning lady comes. Like those parents who teach their children before they go to school. Wait. That's a good thing. That's a VERY good thing. (Mental note to parents: PLEASE teach your child how to spell their name and at least have them know their colors before sending them to kindergarten. I have a lot more to say on that subject, but I'll have to do it another day.)
I feel like I've been liberated from a dark, damp, dishwashing prison.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The dishes had piled up so high it was intimidating, but there were projects to work on, puppies to wear out and movies to see. So the guilt of "laziness" was replaced with the thrill of an "experiment"!

sarah k. said...

My dishwasher always works without a prerinse. He's had lots of practice, though. I think those machiney-things have gotten better in the past few years. The whole energy and water waste issue is really an issue. So good for you, proving you don't need to do it all twice.

sarah k. said...

Tag!

Kathryn Thompson said...

This truth could set us all free.

Crystal said...

Perhaps dishwasher technology has advanced in the last five or so years, and the previous dishwashers had no such ‘super’ strength. Thus the tradition of washing the dishes before you actually use the dishwasher was born. So theoretically speaking perhaps you have only wasted your ‘dishwashing efforts’ in the last five years or so… Hopefully that will make you feel a little better. ;)

Thanks for sharing the discovery; I just might have to so some experiments of my own.

Anonymous said...

Hola...anyone want to come and fix MY dishwasher so that I can try experiments like that? Stupid GE dishwashers..that's all...

Doug - The JeepCruzer said...

You have very lucky dishes. Zack identifies himself as a magnet for foodstuffs. He boasts to to banish dirt to the land of wind and ghosts.