Dishes in drainer aka household blindness

amother

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 10:02 am

Posting here instead of chitchat to enable anon posting.

Wondering if this scenario is universal cuz my fam can't be unique:

Clean dishes are dry or almost dry in dish drainer. Family member wants to eat or drink something, doesn't take dishes from drainer, instead takes dishes from cabinet. Then washes new dishes, puts in drainer, dripping all over formerly dry dishes.
I'm not talking about wanting to eat toast or cake and taking a dry dish from cabinet because dish in drainer is wet and will make toast soggy. I'm talking about taking a dry mug to get a drink of water or a dry bowl for salad or soup.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that dishes are washed, many wouldn't even bother putting them in sink let alone wash them. But why? What is the fascination with dishes in the cabinet? Dishes in drainer are clean. Maybe cleaner than dishes in cabinet because washed more recently. Person has just made extra and completely unnecessary work for someone aka me. I now have to wait for dishes to dry all over again, or dry twice as many, and put away twice as many as before. Why don't people THINK about what they're doing and how it affects others?

amother

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 10:12 am

amother [ Blonde ] wrote:

Two words
Plastic plates

Thanks, but I'm not asking for a solution. I'm asking if this is a common phenomenon. And BTW I'm extremely opposed to profligate use of disposables. They're acceptable when you're feeding a crowd and don't have enough real dishes to go around, or in situations where real dishes are impractical, such as picnics and on the road, but that's it.

amother

Blonde

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 10:37 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Yes, this is normal. That’s why I switched to plastic. Didn’t want to be busy with policing in the kitchen

amother

Oak

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 10:41 am

amother [ Chartreuse ] wrote:

Why? I use on average prob about 7$ a week on papergoods. Cups, plates, bowls, and cutlery. Best 365$ I spend all year.

We spend on disposables too. I feel a little bad about environmental impact and try to mostly use for milchigs since our dishwasher is fleish but it is much better for my mental health--dh doesn't help with dishes but he'll clear disposables and my kids are too little to help.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 10:41 am

There are too many clean plates in your cabinets. There should never be more than 2 plates and sets of silverware for each member of the family. One set meat, one dairy, so that means every person only gets to use one plate, and if they want to use it again they have to wash it.

The rest should go into storage for when you have company. After you clean up from having company, make sure the extra tableware goes straight back into storage.

That's the only way I can keep dishes from piling up in my sink!

No clean forks? Time to wash one. Very Happy

amother

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 11:01 am

amother [ Chartreuse ] wrote:

Why? I use on average prob about 7$ a week on papergoods. Cups, plates, bowls, and cutlery. Best 365$ I spend all year.

Do you really want to read a manifesto on why I object to use of disposables?

amother

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 11:09 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

I like it! Though the issue isn't dirty dishes, but wet ones. B"H dh washes the dishes he uses, but then he puts them dripping in the drainer and gets the dry or nearly-dry dishes that are already in it wet all over again. I could towel-dry my dishes and leave nothing in the drainer to get wet again, but that's my point: dh is thoughtlessly making more work for me. Towel-drying dishes is needless work, and so is putting away two sets of dishes when I could be putting away just one.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 12:01 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Sorry, your DH is definitely dish blind. Cool

You're just going to have to catch the dishes as soon as they are dry, and put them away before he can get them all wet again.

Do the dishes just before bed, get up in the morning, and put them away. They can dry overnight, and be safe from DH's dishwater drippings. Even if he gets a midnight snack, they'll still be ready to put away by the time you get up.

Either that, or buy a dishwasher. It's for shalom bayis, so it's a good investment. Wink

amother

Seafoam

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 12:08 pm

Hmmm did you point it out to him?
I used to have a pretty similar issue, but it would be more like refills going in a new plate, etc and dishes constantly piling up for me. Once he started doing the dishes more often he started first looking on the counter or in the sink vs taking one from the cabinet, as it's now another dish for him to wash.
He did insist we buy plastic though, and whenever he serves himself something (like cereal and milk, late night snacks, etc, not actual meals) or serves our child he'll put it on a plastic plate. He said it's not fair that he has to do extra dishes because I don't like plastic usage. When I serve, or when he's serving me, it's on dishes.

thunderstorm

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 12:12 pm

How about the phenomena of putting the garbage by the door , where it’s blocking the person from leaving the house unless they take the garbage with them. Somehow in my household they WALK OVER the bag and out the door. It’s not only one individual doing this. It actually amuses me.

Last edited by thunderstorm on Tue, Aug 11 2020, 12:12 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Emerald

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 12:12 pm

amother [ Chartreuse ] wrote:

Why? I use on average prob about 7$ a week on papergoods. Cups, plates, bowls, and cutlery. Best 365$ I spend all year.

Paper or plastic? Where is it so cheap? And you really never use real dishes?

amother

Oak

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 12:36 pm

thunderstorm wrote:

Yup. Or grumble about how I blocked the door 🤦.

zaq

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 3:23 pm

thunderstorm wrote:

Is this a different manifestation of the same disease called "household blindness" or is it a different condition called "trash blindness"?

Woman: Hmm, as long as I'm going to the grocery, I'll take the bottles to return to the store, drop off the trash, stop at the letterbox on the corner and mail these tzedaka checks, and collect today's mail from the mailbox on my way back in. Should I pick up the dry cleaning? Nah, that's in the opposite direction.

Man: I'm going to the grocery to get a beer. See you later.

amother

Gold

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 4:00 pm

So much, zaq.

Dh likes to have an empty dishwasher. So he unloads it. But he doesn't remember where to put everything, so he leaves it on the counter.

Op, my solution would be to just not put anything away. Dishes live in the drainer. If you want one and it's wet, dry it. That especially works for me for frequent-use things like cups and bowls.

soap suds

Tue, Aug 11 2020, 6:32 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

what youre describing is very normal male behavior.

No, it’s not. Normal male behaviour would be to take a clean plate from the cabinet and leave it in the sink, dirty. No water dripping over dry dishes.