Least Likely to Succeed

My house came with a few built in luxuries. Luxuries I would never have sought out. Things that were never deal breakers if the house did not have them. One luxury I wanted was space both inside and out. I think we succeeded in that. I also wanted one more bathroom for a total of two, at least while the kids are still at home. Low and behold we ended up buying a house with three. The third bathroom is a complete luxury that I would never have sought out, or missed had we bought a home with only two.

Another luxury is my dishwasher. When we first moved in I was keen to try it out. See what all the fuss was about. I have to be honest and say at first the lovely built-in device seemed like a dream. When everything was crazy busy I loved not having to hand wash my dishes. I just put them in the dishwasher. My sink was always empty and my counter tops were always clean. It allowed me to focus on other things. I seriously had to doubt whether I would revert back to my simple ways...or if I was doomed to be sucked in by the convenience of it all.

The honeymoon didn't last long. After a week of using my dishwasher I realized how much extra work it really was. I had to rinse each dish before putting them in the appliance. If this step wasn't done properly I would find caked on bits that were terribly hard to get off even by hand. The style of my dishes as well are not dishwasher friendly. Water pools in the recesses of my mugs and I always end up wiping them dry anyway. I was also put off by the cost of buying special detergent. And I had to wonder whether or not reports that using a dishwasher used less water than hand washing. That just doesn't make sense to me. Here I was giving my dishes a pre-wash before actually washing them. It felt like I was adding extra steps and that some how this was to make my housekeeping easier.

I could see the advantage of a dishwasher if I had guests over, a large family or if we were truly pressed for time and not at home all that much. But as an everyday device the usefulness eludes me. Of course this does not take into account the cost of buying a dishwasher, paying for the energy to run it and the water to sustain it. The cost of the dishwasher is huge compared to the convenience it provides. Very high cost for very little pay back.

I don't see myself using the dishwasher very often. It's been relegated to one of those luxuries that just came with the house. My dishwasher has been nominated for "Least Likely to Succeed". We may have a winner here folks!