Poorly chicken

[patsylabrador]

I have been trying to find out if it uses more water to wash up under running water or fill a bowl with water. I googled it and various sites and forums suggest that a bowl of water uses less. But then they go on to say that if you use a bowl of water it's best to rinse the plates first to keep the water clean and then rinse again to get rid of bubbles. Wouldn't that mean that roughly the same amount of water gets used? Also washing as I go along with the tap on (it's not gushing out, just a little flow) I don't need the dishwasher so much. I hate washing up in a bowl these days but also I don't want to be wasteful. 

[Cat tails]

I use a washing up bowl and only rinse things that are really greasy or dirty otherwise. I definitely don’t rinse afterwards and refuse to dry my dishes, so they just air dry.

Think using a running tap would use more water, but you could time yourself when washing up. See how long the water is on. Then time how much time it takes for a litre to come out with a measuring cup and see how much water you are using. And then also see how much water goes in the bowl.

Alternatively, washing up water from a bowl can be used in the garden. Larger shrubs and trees do fine with the dishwater. A tip from Monty Don during this summers drought.

[Beantree]

We use two washing bowls. Dishes go straight into warm detergent water, are washed and then rinsed in the plain cold. In practice the rinsing bowl is filled first which takes the cold out of the hot water pipe and so saves water. The cold bowl can go onto the plants, but the hot gets rather greasy and is best down the waste.

In England the hot to the sink was so far away from the cylinder we used to fill a cold bucket for the chicken's drinkers and then fill the cold bowl.

[mullethunter]

We just use the sink. So we start with an empty sink and the tap running on low hot flow, so the first few things are washed under the tap, then as we go the sink fills so things are washed in the sink and we can just turn the tap on to give each item a quick rinse after washing. I never use more than two thirds of a sink of water. OH uses more (too much) because he leaves the tap running the whole time.

[Daphne]

I also wash up in the bowl but only once a day first thing to deal with anything particularly mucky or delicate from the day before (I know this is anathema for some people) because for most things I load the dishwasher.  I often fill the bowl from the kettle after it has boiled for morning tea; I think I have become very parsimonious about water since living in Portugal, although obvs the kettle uses electricity.  Anyway, I never dry up either like CT, mostly laziness but partly I can't see the point of getting a tea towel dirty which in turn needs to be washed.  Another tip is to not use loads of washing up liquid so everything isn't coated in bubbles and therefore doesn't need rinsing or not so much.  I have also noticed (parsimoniously) that some brands of washing up liquid have much bigger holes in the nozzles so more liquid gushes out if you don't pay attention.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Daphne
unclear English!

[mullethunter]

Daphne I love the reason your post was edited 😂

[Daphne]

Yes, well, I used an indefinite article instead of a noun, making the sentence ambiguous.  Schoolgirl error.  I have written a lot of reports in my professional life, and edited a lot of other people's work, so when I notice a mistake I can't let it go, although predictive text often makes a mockery of what I intended to write, as does texting, as I routinely hit the wrong key without noticing!  Added to which, I am fascinated by grammar, far more than the washing up!

[Patricia W]

18 hours ago, Daphne said:

Some brands of washing up liquids have much bigger holes in the nozzles....

Daphne, you now have me examining the size of the holes in the nozzles of washing up liquid bottles in the supermarket!  The power of Omlet strikes in most unexpected ways...... ! 

[Cat tails]

[Charlottechicken]

Patsylabrador, thank you for starting this thread, this is exactly why I continue to log in and look around the forum. Nowhere else could you get a rational and measured conversation about washing up! 

 

Personally, I wash up with a half full bowl and rinse as I go with a dribble of hot water, the bowl never gets over full by the time the greasiest dishes are done. I have also noticed big holes on some washing up bottles, it certainly seems a ploy to get you to use more as it reminds me of the possible urban myth of the words "and repeat" on shampoo which allegedly doubled profits.

[The Dogmother]

56 minutes ago, Charlottechicken said:

Personally, I wash up with a half full bowl and rinse as I go with a dribble of hot water, the bowl never gets over full by the time the greasiest dishes are done. I have also noticed big holes on some washing up bottles, it certainly seems a ploy to get you to use more as it reminds me of the possible urban myth of the words "and repeat" on shampoo which allegedly doubled profits.

I do the same CC, when I wash up by hand. I use the dishwasher about once a week, and tend to put all the dirtier stuff in it.

[Cat tails]

The hotter the water, the less liquid you need and it leaves less bubbles on your dishes, so need for rinsing. And if you don’t have fireproof hands, you could just use those sexy yellow gloves! It saves you water and washing up liquid. I also think that spending a bit more on more fancy dish washing liquid saves both water and liquid in the end.

Using the hot water from boiling veggies or pasta is a good way to soak any pots or pans with lots of cake on of food.

[ajm200]

We have to use a mild dishwashing liquid without all the strong additives as we have a child who has ridiculously sensitive skin.  We couldn’t use washing powder for years and discovered eco-balls that work surprisingly well.  We use method liquid and it doesn’t foam well. I use the hand washing sink  (it came with the kitchen) to rinse stuff Off the plates under running water and then wash with method. method isn’t very foamy and supposedly has no nasties (until the next newspapers panic!) so we don’t rinse after washing 

[Daphne]

I can't quite believe I am still contributing to this thread, but here we go.  I burnt some food onto a pan a few days ago.  Yesterday I was in Tesco and wanted some cheap cola to soak the residue off the pan.  I bought 2l of the stuff for 17p!  I am horrified, how can 'food' be so cheap?

I used Method stuff for a while on my bathroom, but I have to say I didn't find it very effective, but perhaps the dishwashing liquid is better.

 

[Patricia W]

I’ve used a scoop full of washing powder on a pan with burnt in residue successfully.  But if the rhubarb is up, I find the leaves work wonders.  

Still checking nozzles on washing up bottles...

[The Dogmother]

If you have really dirty pans or cooker shelves, there's a 'hack' I was told of recently (luckily I have never needed to use it) wrap the offending items in tin foil, fill the sink with HOT water, dissolve a dishwasher tablet in it and leave the items to soak. Apparently, there's a reaction between some ingredient in the tablet and the tin foil, which blasts off all dirt, baked on or not.

[soapdragon]

I always soaked burnt on stains with Biotex - very Bio pre washing powder that I used for nappies, back in the day! Sadly though I havn't seen it in shops for a while so assume it has bitten the dust. A shame as it was brilliant.

[Cat tails]

5 hours ago, soapdragon said:

I always soaked burnt on stains with Biotex - very Bio pre washing powder that I used for nappies, back in the day! Sadly though I havn't seen it in shops for a while so assume it has bitten the dust. A shame as it was brilliant.

Biotex is still readily available here. Use it often with laundry!

[mullethunter]

I just use a paste of bicarbonate of soda on burnt on stuff