Being Organized When Washing Dishes

Dishwashers are supposed to make our lives easier when compared to washing everything by hand. Ideally, what was once a chore that could take hours, now only takes the amount of time that you use to place everything into the dishwasher. At least, that's how it is supposed to work. Often times though, we find ourselves needing to rewash everything, simply because we didn't pay enough attention when we were loading the dishwasher. It doesn't need to be this way anymore. That's where being organized when washing dishes comes into play. As you are loading your dishwasher, you need to take the time to organize everything. While it may seem like a lot of extra work at first, over time as you get used to the practice, it will go a lot quicker.

• Work your way up. When loading the dishwasher, make sure that you start at the bottom and work your way up. It may sound simple, but often times the big complicated tasks are made up of smaller, simpler ones. Being sure that you load the bottom of the dishwasher will help you to ensure that you get everything into the washer properly.
• Put vertical items in the bottom. Ideally, when you are loading your dishwasher, you should place the plates and other "straight" items into the bottom rack. This helps to ensure that the items on the top rack get enough water to get clean. One of the biggest problems that you can have when washing dishes is to have the items on the top row of your dishwasher not get enough water because it got blocked by the lower level.
• Like by like. It may sound a little obsessive compulsive, but if you place similar items by each other in the dishwasher, you will actually be able to fit more into the dishwasher. Think of your dishwasher as a large jigsaw puzzle, and the plates, dishes, flatware, and glasses are the pieces to that jigsaw puzzle. This means that you try to fit each of the pieces together properly to form the correct picture.
• Don't overload the unit. Perhaps the easiest mistake to make when loading a dishwasher is to overload the machine. By putting too much into the dishwasher, you will not be able to get everything properly clean. As you begin to run out of space in the dishwasher, instead of trying to "force" things into spaces that are too small for them, find something that will fit there better. If you force something into a space too small for it, not only will it be less likely to get clean, but you also run the chance of either the item or the dishwasher getting broken.