You Asked: Dish the Dirt on Doing Dishes

**  Update  **  Thank you readers for sharing with me that hand washing may or may not be as energy "green" efficient as a dishwasher.  That's why IHeart blogging, because I can share my ideas with you, and you can share your ideas and wisdom's with me!!!

One thing I started doing when I decided to stay home with the kiddos, is hand wash dishes.  Don't get me wrong, we have a dishwasher that IHeart to no end, and definitely use as a great way to save time {just run it late at night and open/pull out drawers to let dishes air dry while sleeping, which is a great way to save energy}, however, for all my daily dishes, I hand wash.  I do this because I find that while home with the little ones, I am serving at least three meals throughout the day, and it's much more effective to rewash the same dishes, than dirty multiple sets and tossing them all in the dishwasher.  The time it takes to hand wash really is next to nothing...


A reader asked:

Hi Jen,
I just stumbled across your blog and LOVE it! You are so talented... not only a great eye for design, but a wonderful photographer as well! So many questions pop into my mind for my own house. A simple one to start with that drives me crazy in my kitchen... in your pictures of your kitchen you do not have a big, ugly drying rack for dishes. It takes up so much space on my counters. How do you get around that? 

Oh, but I do, you just can't see it!  Which is the best part!  I currently use a smaller chrome version that tucks right into right side of my sink:

Rubbermaid Chrome Twin Sink Dish Drainer

It's great, because I can use it every day, and it's not a visual distraction.

See, after the dishes are all washed up, I place them in the dish drainer over a towel to dry....

And if I need to free some counter space, the dish drainer fits perfectly back into the sink!

I reuse the dishes over and over throughout the day, and when I want to spruce things up, I put them away.  But most often, I don't because it's just too easy to keep using the same ones over and over a couple times a day, each day of the week!  

Oooh, and I have one last favorite little dish washing trick.  I like to use gloves to protect my cuticles from drying out, so to ensure they dry well in-between uses, I just snagged a couple of Command Strip Clips, attached them to the cabinet door under the sink, and hang them by the finger tips!  That way, any water that may have gotten inside, can easily dry out!

And because we all love to be a little nosy and peer inside each others cupboards {or is that just me!?}

I stash extra dishtowels, rags and cleaning supplies here, along with dishwasher soap disguised in a pretty canister.  {When storing cleaners under the sink, it's always a great idea to use cabinet locks to keep little fingers out.}

The rest of my dish-washing goodies are stored in a small drawer next to the sink as such...

Anyone still there?  Sleeping?  Bored?  Sorry, I am good at tangents.

Any other hand washers out there?  Love it?  Hate it?  Any other tips and tricks for those who do it daily?  How about storing dish washing goodies?