I have already replaced the latch on my 4 year old dishwasher once and I think soon it will need it again. Recently, as I was trying to hold my mouth just right to get it to close and praying I could get it closed just this one more time so that please, please, please I could make all of the dirty dishes turn into clean dishes, I remembered a very handy trick Roxanne passed along to me when her dishwasher was out of commission.
If you're anything like me, the dishwasher is, obviously, glorious for washing dishes, but it also very neatly holds the dirty dishes UNTIL it washes them. Here's the deal -- it can still hold dirty dishes when it's broken! Better yet -- it also holds CLEAN dishes while they dry!!! Can it get any better???? Well, yeah, it could actually NOT be broken and wash the dishes, but still!
So, the system goes like this: Start, before you do anything else in the world, by calling the appliance repair man, for the love of all that is clean and sanity-saving!! Then, while waiting the obligatory 4-6 days for his 12-hour window of when he will show up, store dirty dishes in the bottom of the dishwasher. If you ever get the urge to stand over a steamy sink-full of spaghetti-chunked soapy water, then place the clean dishes on the top rack to dry. When they drip on the bottom dishes, it's like a pre-rinse! If the dishes on the bottom begin to tower precariously and scrape the top rack -- it's time to stop waiting for an urge and just get busy washing.
Obviously, the best trick of all is for the dishwasher to actually work, but when it doesn't, this Works for Me!
For more Works for Me tips, check out Shannon's blog.
6 comments:
I love this idea! My dishwasher works, luckily, but I love the ingenuity!
What a great idea! I've not thought of that one and we have had tons of opportunities with our dishwasher over the last couple of years! :(
Thanks for the tip!
Tracy
I've had good luck with this company:
http://www.repairclinic.com/0001.asp
for buying latches and rollers and such when they break on the dishwasher. So much cheaper than having the repair guy come out for something you've already diagnosed.
...or you could just snub sustainability all the way and go with paper plates and those new cook-in-the-bag-in-the-microwave dinners!
Perhaps I am the only person on the planet who actually enjoys washing my dishes by hand... the warm, soothing, sudsy water (and nowadays there are some lovely aromatic dishwashing detergents) not to mention the steam facial during rinsing and all that standing - could count for some sort of yoga, and couldn't yoga be considered exercise?
Thank you for reminding me. . .I had actually forgotten I did that. . .but I'm so glad you remembered. We were without a dishwasher for over a year, and it was a P-A-I-N!!!!! Sorry yours is decrepit.
I have never lived in a house with a dishwasher, since marriage. (Note the bitter tone here.) So fie on your dishwasher and its brokenness! (Just kidding. Mostly.)
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