In honour of Labour Day, let me ask you this: what is your favourite labour-saving device?
Not sure what mine is, but it's definitely not dishwashers. I've never had one, and I've never liked them, and given the fact that my parents use theirs as storage space, I can only conclude that they don't really like theirs either. Half the time I didn't even use the one at work when I looked after twenty residents at three meals and two snack-times, because I found it quicker and easier to do it by hand. Plus quieter. And it's a Zen thing for me I suspect, as I like the idea of only being responsible for getting a plate clean in the moment that I'm washing it. (Have to admit that I only wash and let everything air-dry. I also make a point of doing the dishes at least once a day before I go to bed, so that I wake up with a clean slate, um, counter.) Now I do understand that a busy family with working parents might really want and need their dishwasher, but one or two people?
That was my thought anyway as I saw a counter-top dishwasher in the Canadian Tire flyer this week. Obviously, being able to stand on a counter, it's really tiny, and of course that means you can only do a few dishes at a time. Which then begs the question; why not do them by hand? It would save not only time, but also hydro, and at $250, a fair bit of money. Well, folks, I was going to include a couple of money-saving tips gleaned from my house-cleaning days, but hey, I think I've laboured enough on a weekend when you're not even supposed to labour, so I'll leave it for now.
(pssst, but I'll give you a hint: avoid stainless steel!)