How to Quickly and Inexpensively Hand Wash Your Dishes

I live in a very small and old house. There was never once a dishwasher installed in this house and I doubt there every will be. Before this house, I lived in an apartment that did have a dishwashing machine. However, I soon had to stop using it because the machine itself was old and leaked water everywhere, even after being repaired many times. Not only that, if did not clean my dishes as well as if I were to hand wash them.

So I started hand washing my dishes and I have been for years. Now I really do not have no choice but even if I did have the means and space for a dishwasher, I would still choose to hand wash my dishes. I have learned a lot over the years and here I will tell you how to quickly and inexpensively hand wash your dishes.

To start off, you will need a few things:

Dishwashing gloves - These can be found at any store and come in lots of different sizes and shapes. These will protect your hands from anything sharp that might be in your sink while washing. It will also protect your nails and keep your skin soft.

A large rectangular container - I was able to find these at a dollar store. You will be putting your dishes in there while washing and dirty ones in before you can do the dishes.

Concentrated soap - I personally use Dawn. It is more expensive than others, but it works great. You do not want to use cheap dish soap because you will use more of it. If you don't use Dawn, make sure it is at least concentrated. The other stuff is too runny and you will constantly be adding more soap.

A sponge with a scrubby side - I buy mine in packs of 6 at Dollar Tree. They are a yellow sponge with a green scrubby side. These are great because they are flexible enough to reach into any dish or cup, they hold a lot of soapy water and you can easily flip it over to clean off something stuck on with the scrubby side.

A dish dryer/strainer and liner - Believe it or not, I actually see these at yard sales a lot but they are also very inexpensive in stores. You'll want to get a good plastic or steel one that has a place to put utensils. The liner you place underneath the dryer to catch any drips and they will drain back into the sink.

Now that you have everything you need, here is how to start washing your dishes. First, during the day or as you eat your meals, when you are finished make sure to scrape off any leftover food, then rinse off whatever is remaining. This will save time when you wash your dishes. If you don't have time to wash them, place the scraped and rinsed off dishes into the container. Then place the container off to the side on the counter or back in your sink. Then during the day as you need to use your sink you simply move the container out and replace it when you're done.

When you're ready to wash your dishes, clear out anything in the sink. On your counter start stacking and seperating your dishes. Put them in the order you are going to wash them. Here's the order I wash them:

Dinner plates
Small children's plates and/or dessert plates
Bowls
Cups and mugs
Frying pans
Pots
Casserole dishes
Utensils and silverware

Once you have them in order, put the stopper in the sink and place your utensils and silverware in the bottom. Then start filling up the sink at least half way with hot water. While the water is running, squirt some soap in so it will get distributed in the water and get bubbly. Turn the water off. You will not have the water running while you are washing the dishes. This is unnecessary and expensive.

Put on your gloves if you haven't already done so, put a little bit of soap on your sponge and put all the dinner plates in. You will want to wash them under the water to get the most use out of the soap and hot water. As you wash each item, place it back into the container until you are ready to rinse them.

Once you have washed each stack and placed them into the container, then wash the utensils and silverware at the bottom of the sink. Then remove the stopper and let all the dirty water drain. Then turn on the faucet to rinse your dishes. I use a very luke warm water to do this and sometimes even cold. You're already washed your dishes so there's no need to use super hot water.

Start rinsing off all the dishes in the container and placing them in the dryer. I do the dinner plates first then place them in the dryer one after the other in the back, then placing smaller ones in front. Then I rinse the bowls from smallest to largest and place them in the front. Then I rinse the mugs and cups and hang them off the sides. Then I will put the pans, pots or casserole dishes on the side of the dryer and on top of the other dishes. I can get a full days worth of dishes on one dryer.

Then rinse off your utensils and you do not have to take each one individually to rinse. I grab all the spoons and rinse them off together, then the forks, then knives, etc. This makes it easier to put away if they're grouped together.

I do not hand dry my dishes. This requires a lot of clean, dry dish towels and time. Only do this if you need to use the dishes right away. Other wise they will dry overnight perfectly fine and you can put them all away in the morning.

Hand washing your dishes gets easier and faster the more you do it. The soap is cheaper than dishwashing machine liquid. Most people rinse their dishes off before they put them in the dishwasher, using even more hot water in addition to what the dishwasher uses. You will soon see the savings and never go back to the dishwasher!