Balance. And in this case balance between housework and rest.
Also related, compromise, which is a balance between two opposing (peoples') needs.
In our case, dishwashers are also related to the balance between needs and wants financially.
It's another magnet decorating surface around these parts
I wanted a dishwasher because the extra 30 minutes per day of doing dishes while at least one kiddo is napping is hard. Because sometimes that 30 minutes means losing out on my only 30 minutes that day to sit and even sorta relax.
And because when my husband gets home, he wants a little time to himself at some point, and I need him to take the kids even if it means me doing other housework...but I'm so tired of cracked bleeding hands. And so tired of never being able to get to my kitchen sink/faucet because both sides of the sink are full all the time - one side clean one side dirty. All the time.
But our kitchen is tiny. So tiny. And if we were to lose space to even a narrow built-in dishwasher, we'd lose almost 1/6 of our total kitchen cabinet space. So that's a giant nope.
Redoing our kitchen (and replacing the 30 year old appliances) is definitely in our goals, but not at this minute. Because we'll want to do a good job and make more space and put in a pantry, and a real dishwasher. But we definitely don't have thousands of dollars right now, lol.
Also, Eric, my husband, doesn't do many dishes. And he doesn't care about piles of dishes on the counter. Or using dirty dishes again, because "we are just putting leftovers of the same food back on them anyway." Seriously, you can't make this shit up. So spending money on a dishwasher is super low on his priority list.
SO....I found a compromise, a way to balance.
Portable dishwasher yo.
Which is extra hilarious because our poor realtor showed us so many houses for so many months and everytime we saw one with YET ANOTHER PORTABLE DISHWASHER he'd remind us that he hadn't seen one in 10 years before us. We joked that we couldn't buy our house because it didn't have one. He let me know afterward that he hasn't seen a portable dishwasher since. It's a running joke.
But, my friend had one she didn't need. And a generous relative sent us a financial gift. And we were hosting Thanksgiving.
So we picked up our brand-new-to-us-only portable dishwasher. And I washed it. And scrubbed it. And ran it empty. Oh, and I looked up the manual online, because I'm savvy and cool and stuff.
Super not fancy
Doesn't hold a ton, but every little bit helps!
It's kinda inconvenient when it's running
I am SO SO SO SO happy with it, especially as we just ran it like 10 times in the two days after Thanksgiving, and then only had maybe 2 other dishes to wash from that event. So hooray.
BUT...the manual didn't include some really important pointers for the Portable Dishwasher Rookies out there. Don't learn from us.
I mean, OK, maybe most of it is common sense, but when you've got a newborn and a toddler and they both keep getting colds, it's not as clear to you...I swear.
First, there's an adaptor that attaches to your kitchen sink to hook it up. It's NOT AT ALL efficient to take that on and off each time because screwing two wet metal pieces together sucks. Just leave it on. It doesn't look awesome, but you'll get over it.
The hoses aren't long enough, so it's just going to be in your way. Even though it's possible to hit a button to shoot some water out of your sink while it's hooked up, it's not worth it.
Related to the point above, there's an order to this madness. First put your final dishes into the dishwasher, make sure you're happy with what's in there and THEN hand wash your couple of large or delicate items, and FINALLY hook up and run the dishwasher at the end. A normal built in dishwasher you can wash stuff by hand while it's running, but not this one.
Empty the sink while it's running. No really. One single plate can and will inevitably cover up the drain and the dishwasher emptying will overflow your sink.
Turn the faucet ON after you hook up the hoses. Not before, and don't forget to do it, or it won't run.
Accept the fact that your outlet in the kitchen will probably "pop" about half the time it runs. If you're lucky like we are, it pops at the end, but if you don't notice that and try to use the outlet later for, say, a load of dishes....hitting on won't help you.
It runs a dry cycle after the wash. Don't unhook the hoses or turn the sink off for this. Seriously. If you unhook it and coil the hose - you'll flood your kitchen as it does a final pump out at the very end. If you turn the sink water off, the pump out doesn't work at well and the machine gets mad at you and beeps incessently, probably while you're sleeping, just to piss you off. Wait until it's ALL THE WAY DONE before unhooking. Trust me.
And really, the main important ones pertain to unhooking. Once it's done, you can unplug and unhook and shove cords and hoses back into it. But...turn the water off before you unhook it. Otherwise spray everywhere. Like a keg if you don't get the line all the way hooked up and you decide to turn the CO2 on. If you've never bartended, trust me on that one. Especially if you're at the beginning of a long shift and have somewhere to be afterwards, because beer showers just aren't fun. And even if you've managed to remember to turn the faucet off, you still want to hit the "let the water out" escape button because this depressurizes the hoses. If you don't, it's a SMALLER shower. And then shake the hoses out for a while. My husband taught me this, if only he applied it to other areas in life as diligently....
So there you have it, your official DON'T FLOOD ANYTHING BECAUSE IT REALLY SUCKS guide to using a portable dishwasher.
Because sometimes both kiddos are sad and exhausted and need milkies
He needed two cups a once
We don't have enough words to describe this dog. And these two are just buddies.
Finally learning how to get stuff to her mouth to chew
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