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I was washing dishes in the dishpan
tonight and my mind wandered to the history of dish washing in my family.
My mother had the dish washing schedule down
to a science. We were divided into
groups of two and rotated out weekly by age and sex as well as duties to be
done. We had the tasks broken down in
parts divisible by two. The person who
cleared the table and put away the food also washed the dishes. The person who received the cleared dishes
then scraped off the big bits rinsed them and stacked them. That person ended up drying and putting the
dishes away. The other two got the night
off. There was no reward and no sympathy
for the Sunday dinner team. You worked
your shift and got it done. You still
had homework to do.
There were draw backs. The person rinsing and stacking ran the water
through the entire process. It just ran
down the drain constantly. The hot water
ran out before the dishes were done.
These problems were never addressed or changed. It was the way it was to be done.
| This is not my Gram! (just a reasonable facsimile!) |
My grandmother had another way of doing
that had a lot less running water. She
grew up in the era of pumping water at the sink and boiling water on the stove. We all cleared and scraped our own at her
house. She wiped the dishes with a wet
rag to remove as much debris as possible.
In a large farm house type sink she put all the dishes under boiling
water and let them soak in the soapy hot water till it cooled enough to turn
your hands pink but not so hot it scalded them.
The washing was done, the dishes were set in a drain rack and more
boiling water was poured over them to rinse.
They were so hot they dried as the steam rose.
The fraternal grandmother used nearly the
same method but she washed her dishes in a plastic dish pan that lined the
sink. When she washed the dishes, you didn't hear a clink or clunk! She was
raised in the little house on the prairie era with one plate per person so they
were handled with great care.
Everyone has their own method, but my
thoughts tend to lead back to the what-if the end of endless running water
actually comes. All those homes I have
cleaned in with their diverse methods of washing the dishes will have to learn
to cope without the dishwasher sloshing water around for over an hour to do
what takes ten minutes and one-tenth the water by any hand method. I still look on in wonder at the women who
wash their dishes by hand then load them in to the dishwasher to make sure they
are really clean. Really? Yes. How
will she cope?
It
causes me to wonder, when the occasional husband wanders through my area and
asks if there is any way to cut household expenses. I tell them unplug those digital equipment chargers
unless they are charging something. I
suggest hand washing dishes then putting them away and not washing them
twice. I suggest only washing a full
load of clothes. Three towels is not a
full load. Every time, I am smiled at by
the bewildered husband who mumbles something about too much work to make it
worth the effort. Once, I swear I heard the phrase ‘living like
hippies’!
I then can use the savings to store food or
supplies for later and my mind will be ready to cope without the dishwasher. I will miss running water. I will cope with grandma’s gathering and
boiling method as long as I can get water for it.
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- Learn how to conserve water when you are washing dishes by hand
|
I made a mental note, get more bleach.
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