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In your opinion, what is the best way to wash dishes? Which method do you think allows you to use the least amount of water while still effectively getting your dishes clean?

Without a doubt most dish washing machines are inefficient. I wash by hand, soaking and doing the soapy wash in a large bowl of very hot water. The sink is much larger than this bowl, so I put the plug in and fill the sink, outside of the bowl with hot water to dip the dishes in, hence rinsing the soap from them.

Using the water hot removes the need to towel dry. The heat makes the water evaporate and so this method is more hygienic too.

Actually britjojo, dishwashers are almost always going to be more efficient than washig by hand. A dishwasher uses less watter than you use when you fill up your sink.

Now for even better water and energy savings, you can use an energy star product which will use alot less than a typical dishwasher. But no matter what way you cut it, dishwashers use less water and energy than washing by hand.

We never use dishwasher. In our own little way, we wash our dishes all together to avoid opening the faucet more often. And the water that I used for washing the dishes is the one I use for cleaning the sink.

When washing dishes you are concerned with more than how much water are you using.  You are also concerned about the germs on the dishes. Using your dishwasher kills any germs that may be on the dishes and is recommened if someone in the household has a cold or the flu.

I never knew that a dishwasher didn’t waste more water than an open faucet!  Wow, that gives me reason to actually use it then.    No, normally I just use the faucet.  I have a bad habit of leaving the water on the entire time I’m washing dishes unfortunately, but if you turn it off everytime your not using it to wipe/soap up your dishes, that does save some water.