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We wash in a sink of soapy water....

You're making me feel gross though. lol

That's how we always washed dishes growing up without a dishwasher! One side filled with hot soapy water, the other side filled with rinse water. Sometimes if we were doing a ton of dishes or something was particularly gross, we'd empty out the soapy water and start over, but generally that wasn't necessary.

It's like a bath for your dishes. Do you feel like your kid isn't getting clean when they're sitting in a bath of soapy water? Presumably their grime is floating in there with them!

DH washes dishes this way, but I feel like it's a waste and since he's not much of a scrubber, things don't get as clean.

I have a dish pan that I put a few inches of soapy water in. I wash things in order from cleanest to dirtiest (glasses first, then plates/utensils, then pots/pans last). I let things soak for a bit in soapy water, then I scrub them outside of the water, then rinse and dry.

I think as long as your rag/sponge is fairly clean (like...unlike DH you don't leave it soaking wet in the sink to grow mold. Ugh, I trash so many sponges!) then it's not as gross. The only things I'll leave soaking for any length of time are pots and pans. And I rinse most things before they go in the dish pan so it's not like tons of crud is floating around in the water.

@sorrycharlie: If I can just add a disclaimer that IT'S ALL MY HUSBAND. I would put everything in the dishwasher if I had my way.

Before we had a dishwasher, we'd use the "in the sink" method. I'd always start with the cleanest dishes, and work my way towards the dirtiest/greasiest.

@sorrycharlie: See, DH needs you people to tell him he's crazy for hand washing dishes when we have a dishwasher. He refuses to wash anything plastic. Which is... like everything we own/use on a regular basis.

Both, depending on where I am. My MIL does the one side of the sink with hot water and rinse in the other side, so I do that there. At home when I handwash, I wash in the air and rinse.

It saves water if you wash them all, stack them in the sink, and then rinse them all at once, but generally my sink space is all accounted for.

I do have a dishwasher, FWIW. I just hate running it every day so I wash my pots and baby dishes in the sink every night.

I have a dishwasher now (thank you Jesus!), but in our old house I had to hand wash. I would fill one side of the sink with water and soap, then let all of the dishes soak for a few minutes while I cleaned the counters and stuff (soaking meant I didn't have to scrub). Then I'd take each dish out and wipe with a soapy sponge, and place it in the empty side of the sink. When all of the dishes were wiped down, I'd rinse them and put them on a towel beside the sink.

FWIW, I worked at a restaurant in college and they used the soak method. It was according to the health code. There were two sinks full of water-one with soap for washing, the other with clean water for rinsing. The dished were dipped in the soapy water, then the clean water, then they went in big drying racks.

When I was nannying, the family didn't like me to waste water leaving it running, so I had to do the sink thing. And in middle school my ex-stepdad was the same, so I had to do it if he was home. But it totally grosses me out, so I never, ever fill the sink if I'm doing them in any other situation. I'm the one paying for the water at my house anyway! And we do have a dishwasher, but I still scrub them most of the way to keep guck out of it.

I rinse anything that's particularly dirty or greasy then wash everything in a sink of hot, soapy water. I wash glassware, cutlery, plates then pots etc, in that order. I've never had an issue with germs or getting sick!

I have a dishwasher, but for the things I have to handwash, I do neither. I get everything wet, then I turn off the water. Then I go through and soap as many dishes as I can. Then I turn the water back on and rinse those dishes, then turn off the water, soap, rinse. It's how my mom always did it, and I think it's a great way to save water!

I wash "in the air". We have a dish washer but only use it when we have a ton of stuff.

I wash them in the basin when I'm doing a lot of dishes. I get what you're saying about it being gross though.

My husband does the "in the air" thing and our water bill is insane. He also rinses LO with clean water from the tap when he gives her a bath because he feels that he's just putting grime back on her!

@ineebee: that's what I do too

DH does it you way, I think it takes a lot longer! We have a dishwasher but we're weird and use it as a big drying rack.

I have a dishwasher, but this is the first one I've ever had (when we moved here when I was 24). I will do WHATEVER it takes to not have to hand wash something, LOL. But when I do, I wash them in the air.

@Adira: Ha ha I've always loved baths myself BUT do think it is a little gross to rinse all the grime off your body and then soak in it.

I put all the dishes in the hot soapy water because I feel like it helps them get cleaner when they start soaking before I have to lay a hand on them. Then I rinse one at a time but now I will start stacking them and rinse them all at once to save water! Luckily we've had a dishwasher for the past few years so we don't need to hand wash much.

@Baby Boy Mom: @Mrs. Tiger: Doesn't it make so much sense to wash dishes this way? I hate having the water running while I'm soaping everything!

Back before we had a dishwasher I always did it "in the air". DH's family did it "in the sink" which I felt was really gross cuz you have to clean out the sink after. Blech.

When we moved in together, I insisted on "in the air" method LOL.

When we got married, we put "Get a dishwasher" in our vows.

Done and done.

@.twist.: We don't put plastic in the dishwasher either. I did growing up, DH didn't. Then I lived without a dishwasher (in different places) for about 8 years, and now I use the dishwasher, but try not to run it more than every 3-4 days. So I hand wash most big things, as well as any plastic.