Doing dishes, or my least favorite chore

We try to split chores in our household.  It only makes sense, since Working Dad and I both work full time.  Tpyically this is how it breaks down:

Him:
Trash, dishes, vacuuming (robot turn on!), fireplace, EG to school, helping out

Me:
Dinner, EG lunch, EG pick-up, sweeping, laundry, diapers.


We've always had a 'he who cooks shall not clean' rule in our house, but ever since we got a dishwasher I have refused to do the dishes.  I just couldn't stand it.  I grew up in a house where you scraped off the food, and put the dish in the washer.  That's what it did- it washed the dishes.  No need to scrub, no need to rinse, just open the machine and put them inside.

Since we moved into our new house, it hasn't been so easy.  First off I'll be perfectly honest.  Compared to Working Dad I suck at loading the dishwasher.  You know how all women are chastised that they shouldn't 're-do' the work their husbands do?  Well, he used to completely refill the dishwasher, since I loaded it so poorly.  This, however, wasn't the reason I stopped doing dishes.

After we would run a cycle, nothing would come out clean.  It would make me want to cry... tears would sometimes literally come down after all the hard work we did that meant nothing...cups with film, coffee cups with rings from tea left on them.  Don't even get me started on wine glasses.

So, Working Dad took over completely.  He pre-washed all the dishes, then put them in the dishwasher.  Then he had to unload it, because that was the worst part.

I begged for a new dishwasher.  From everyone I heard that I was expecting to much... that you had to rinse and scrub your dishes before you put them in.  I ask you, what is the point of a dishwasher then?  I waste of water and time?

Finally, we figured it out... Phosphate.

Our dishwasher's hadn't changed, but the detergent we put in them had.  This week we finally ran through our costco sized packages of soap and bought this:

And WOW did it make a difference.  It smelled horrible, but the moment I opened the dishwasher it was a miracle.  Clean... it was actually clean!  The glasses didn't look grimy or frosty, just clean clear glass.

No, bubble bandit didn't pay me.  Yes, it's a touch more expensive than what we used to buy at Costco.  But yes, it's totally worth it!