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Frugal Friday: Washing Dishes the "Green" Way
Photo Credit: Brooke Raymond
If you do use a dishwasher, it also conserves energy and water if you wait until you have a completely full dishwasher to run it (instead of a partly filled dishwasher). This way you are getting the biggest bang for your buck of running it...one load of a full dishwasher uses less energy and water as running two loads of a half-full dishwasher.
Also, many dishwashers now have an "economy" cycle option. So if your dishwasher has this option, give it a whirl. Use it and save!
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Labels: Frugal Friday
4 Comments:
I have struggled with the idea that dishwashers are more energy efficient than hand washing. I now know that dishwashers are better if one has an energy star machine. Some of the old dishwashers are water and energy gluttens.
Thank you for this information. I'm actually posting an article on efficient ways to wash dishes on my blog tomorrow (11/5/8). I hope you'll stop by to check it out. Here's the address:
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com
Thanks, again!
Small Footprints
After a meal, I start by running the garbage disposal with the usually wasted cold water which comes before the water gets hot. Then I close the sink, put in the largest dirty bowl or pan, squirt soap into it, & run hot water into it, just enough to wash the smallest pieces, like a sharp knife. As I rinse each piece, my bowl or pan gets fuller, so that by the end, I have enough water in the sink to wash the larger pieces.
This is interesting, but not the best way to wash dishes.
Home economics teaches to wash the "least" dirty items first - glasses, silverware, dishes, & then pots & pans. The rational being that the water will still be soapy & not as dirty & the lasts, dirtiest items can get clean.
Washing glasses in a cooking pot will leave grease on the glassware, etc.& require more water to rinse the items.
As we take on what we will eat on a plate, there is little or nothing for the disposal. Most scraps go into the composte, saving water & $$$ for fertilizer.
Doing dishes with the 2 sink method requires a disinfectant in the 2nd sink.
This is actually an abridged verson of the method resturants can use, but resturants must have 3 sinks - washing, 2nd for a rinse, & a third for a rinse. I think both the 2nd & 3rd sinks have a small amount of bleach as a disinfectant in the water.
Using the method in the article will leave a soap film on the dishes.
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