If you spend enough time with another person, you’re bound to discover their little quirks and eccentricities.
For example, this weekend I learned that Becky brings her own washcloths on vacation with her – and sometimes leaves them behind when she goes. Becky learned that I am perfectly normal in every way. Which is unusual, I have to admit.
I’m used to this. It’s part of the fun of getting to know people better.
And yet, I was completely unprepared for what I learned Sunday morning as we were prepare to leave our borrowed house.
This is how I, and everyone I have ever known, loads a dishwasher:
Notice how you can’t see the little plastic spokes that stick up in the top rack? That’s because they are holding the cups upright and in place – like they’re supposed to do! Everyone knows that’s what those plastic sticky uppy spoke-like things are for.
Right?
This is how Becky loads a dishwasher.
Now, you might not be able to tell by the above pictures but her way is very different from my way. While I use the plastic sticky uppy things to anchor the glasses, she uses them as – I don’t know. Row dividers? Guidelines?
She puts the dishes between the plastic sticky uppy things. And? They don’t blow all over the place when the dishwasher runs!
I was stunned.
Flabbergasted.
I’d never known that this was done. Or even possible!
All this time I assumed everyone loaded the dishwasher the way I did. But, lo, no. Apparently there are two schools of thought on top rack loading.
So, Internet. I need you to tell me – tell us - who is doing it right?
You clearly never took Dishwasher Packing 101. Everybody knows that the tines are there to separate everything, not for you to put dishes on top of!
@avitable, have you ever loaded a dishwasher?
Sorry Britt, Becky definitely does it the right way. Or at least the same way we at the Bates/Lutgen household do…
@Hannah, dooode – we are FAMILY! You’re supposed to have my BACK! lol
I shall photograph my loading skills just for you… I think I am like Becky.
Those Sticky-upper things are good for keeping bowls and plates apart. Not necessary for cups in my house… Never really thought about it till this post though. Fun.
@Talina, please do! I am now insanely curious about proper loading technique.
ummmmm I do it your way, as does my mom and everyone I know.
wow. I now need to go re-examine everything I’ve ever known about cleaning.
@Rachel, ha! yes! I am not alone!
(Although, apparently we are a very small crowd among dishwasher users.)
Oooh, have to say I’m a Becky style dishwasher loader. Now the bigger question…silverware up or down in the basket? I’m a down girl because seriously, the thought of grabbing a knife blade…yikes, not so much. My parents are silverware up people. What do you do?
@Foof, I’m an up – because I assume they get cleaner that way.
I totally do it Becky’s way. I have always felt I could squeeze more cups and bowls in the top row that way. I strive for efficiency. (I rarely succeed, but I try!)
@Kirsten, I never have enough room on the top rack, so I might have to try just for that reason.
Becky’s way on the upper rack. Britt’s way on the lower rack with wine glasses.
How’s that for wishy-washy? (Pun intended.)
@Colleen, you put wine glasses on the bottom?? And they don’t break???
@Miss Britt,
Occasionally (one or two a year), but they are too tall for the top rack and I refuse to hand wash them. I buy a huge box at Costco and just replace as needed!
wait, what? i am winning this battle of dishwashing loading skills. woot!
p.s. i totally thought you were kidding about making this into a post. and for the record, in the second photo of “your way” i had done a bit of rearranging and you can clearly see a coffee mug in the correct (ha, correct!) position. you are trying to confuse the voting!
@hello haha narf, I told you I didn’t have time to do anything else last night so I figured NOW was the perfect time to find out the answer to this life changing puzzle!
and another p.s. I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TOLD THE INTERNET THAT I BRING MY OWN WASHCLOTHS AND DIDN’T EXPLAIN WHY!
sigh.
@hello haha narf – Well…tell the people why!
@Hilly, in a nutshell:
because she doesn’t want cooter juice on her face.
@Miss Britt,
@Hilly,
even worse than cooter juice (oh my fuck, i just typed “cooter juice”) would be to have the wash cloth touch my feet and the next day to use it again on my face. BLECH.
and i take a bunch of washcloths with me so i don’t have to bother my host every day for a clean one. i’ll pack the dry ones in my luggage to return home, but often leave one because it is wet.
issues. i have LOTS of issues. but we knew that already.
@hello haha narf – Do you buy tons of new washcloths every month? I don’t even LIKE washcloths, to be honest.
@Hilly,
i probably have over 50 washcloths, not that i actually count em. (having so many means that i don’t have to do laundry constantly!)
I load it Becky’s way. I think it’s because it seems to hold more dishes that way. Also, you can’t put a short glass on the sticky-uppy things, they’ll fall over.
@Nikki, that’s TRUE – they DO fall over. And yet it never occurred to me that the solution was to take them off the sticky-uppy things.
@Miss Britt, My husband has an entire system for the silverware. All of the small forks together, big forks together, etc. He yells at me for “not following the system!” if I put something in the incorrect slot. He reasons that this way it’s easier to just grab them and put them away when they’re clean.
Yep, I am like Becky but my hubby loads like you do.
@Talina, tell your hubby some woman on the internet said “you’re right!”
I load my dishes like Becky. It gives me more room.
Now I’m curious…why does Becky bring her own washcloths? And when I type her name I feel like I’m talking about myself in the 3rd person…weird.
@becky, I can’t believe so many people know this and it was completely foreign to me.
She brings her washcloths because she has ISSSSSUUUUUES.
@becky,
i wash my face with the washcloth. then later in the shower that same washcloth is going to touch my feet. the next day? i want a clean washcloth on my face!!!
Sorry Britt, Becky’s way is the right way.
You can fit way more into the dishwasher. Try it. It’s life changing!
@Mindee, man, the things you learn on the Internet.
My SIL loads like Becky. I load like you. I’ve always had the sneaking suspicion that I was doing it wrong, though.
@Faiqa, when you come over tonight we’ll make Becky give us lessons.
@Faiqa,
you do NOTHING wrong. ever. you are perfect.
although you certainly load a dishwasher “differently” than i do. meanwhile, i don’t even have a fucking dish washing machine…i am the dishwasher!
@hello haha narf, wait just a damn minute. Why does *SHE* get to be perfect?!?!
It’s because she’s pretty, isn’t it?
@Miss Britt,
clearly you are pretty so if you start loading the dishwasher differently then you will also be perfect. so there. pffffffffft!
Becky is…
@Tori, awesome? Quirky? Much taller than me?
When it comes to top racks, I gotta go with Becky.
(I was in such a rush to post that I didn’t even bother to check if someone else was witty enough to come up with it. Lemme check…)
WIN!!!
@B.E. Earl, hehehehe – you were the first to make the connection!
Sorry kitten, I do it Becky’s way. The rows house the glasses, all neat and orderly. I’ve never even thought it was done the OTHER way! My sister’s dishwasher looks exactly like mine, and subsequently Becky’s, as well!
@Hilly, what in the HELL??! How is it possible this is the first I’ve ever heard of this?!?
@Miss Britt – I dunno but damn, have you seen how many times “Becky” appears on this page? It’s kinda ooky!
I wash my dishes by hand because there is no dishwasher in the kitchen.
And when I say “I wash” I actually mean my Mother because apparently I ‘don’t do it right’ or something.
@Sarah, washing dishes by hand SUCKS.
I’m with Becky.
When I travel out of the country, I take older (about to be trashed) washcloths and leave them behind. (Usually, when out the the country, I don’t see washcloths and I need them.)
@Gary LaPointe, Becky travels a lot so I suppose she has run into that before, too.
I’m with Becky on the dishes.
Washcloths: When I travel out of the country, I take older (about to be trashed) washcloths and leave them behind. (Usually, when out the the country, I don’t see washcloths and I need them.)
Sorry Britt, Becky is correct. I think you’ll also find you can get much more on the top rack when you load it correctly…
@Chris, I think “correctly” is a little harsh…
Yep, I’m with Becky on this one.
@Catherine, apparently, you’re in good company.
Sorry Britt – another vote for “Becky’s Way”.
You can fit so many more glasses and coffee cups in that way.
As for cutlery I’m an uppie.. I never put my good Wusthof sharp knives in the dishwasher anyway.
RMB
@borysSNORC ™, I don’t have any good sharp knives – Wusthof or otherwise. I need new knives soooooo badly. I’d be willing to wash them by hand even!
Um, Becky’s way here too.
It stops the glasses from smashing against other glasses. With the other (your) way they’re just too loosy-goosy and move about more freely and take up too much room. Besides all drinking glasses aren’t the same height.
Causing even more smashups with other glasses because they move more than the regular length drinking glasses.
@Mattie, see, and I always assumed the plastic things were to prevent smashups!
Britt, you seem to have a lot more in common with my wife than I originally thought.
Becky FTW.
@LeSombre, because we are both AWESOME, you mean?
I’m so with Becky, and I’ve been trained by an expert (well ok, my dad, who considers himself a dishwasher expert and will reload the whole damn thing if someone so much as puts a fork in the wrong place).
@Vic, you can get TRAINING for this kind of thing???
I have been living such a sheltered life.
Right, now we are talking. The answer you are looking for is that both techniques are good, but the optimum, is to operate an conglomerate.
The sticky up things do indeed generally act as a lean-to for glasses and ceramics. However I believe – as well as the children being our future – that you can also use ‘a run’ for holding plastics/beakers up, either side of the glass/ceramic channels.
So mine goes, from left to right, G/C – P/B – G/C – G/C. And as the glass ceramics have a natural curve, you can ‘nestle’ one’s plastics between them, while still optimising a ‘sticky up point’ to maintain the lighter material products upright.
End this comment.
End all comments.
Good night.
Vienna.
@SingleParentDad, I have obviously not been taking my dishwashing seriously enough.
I really don’t want to endure The Wrath of Britt, but I see from earlier comments that by the time you get to me at #29, you’ll be tired, so…
I load like Becky. Hence, Becky’s way must be the right way.
I don’t like my glasses or mugs or whatever flopping around like caught fish on those sticky-uppy things. It just seems so precarious.
Please don’t smack me.
@Dawn, you have no faith in me!
I asked because I wanted to know the answer to a very important question:
WHO ARE MY REAL FRIENDS??
That’s all.
Oh, and by the way, regarding flatware:
All cutlery faces up and out of the cutlery bin, except for knives which go down.
@Dawn,
NO!!! all flatware goes face down because when you unload clean dishes you don’t want to grab where someone would eat to remove the fork from the damn holder. the handles need to stick out so that you can keep your fingers off of someone’s spoon!
(when did i get passionate about dishes? wtf?)
@hello haha narf, OMG! Good point! (no knife pun intended) I didn’t think of that. Now I need to put all my clean cutlery in the dishwasher — the correct way — because everything is now infected. Is a woman’s work EVER done????
I do it Becky’s way. They spokes are there to hold up bowls and such, not to go in the middle of a glass.
@Karen, well there should be a sign or something!
Not that she needs anymore validation, but Team Becky here =)
And cutlery? Knives down, the rest up.
P.S. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d scan for you the manual that came with my dishwasher that shows photos on “how to load a dishwasher”.
@Nancy, dishwashers come with a manual?!?!
Hmm, I never thought of it that way. I think I have a different dishwasher model.
Mine’s 14 years old and in high school.
@whall, mine is 9 and thinks chores are stupid.
Becky’s way is the way I do my loading.
It gets more in.
@Kristin, you could have MENTIONED this to me before!
Love ya, Britt, but Becky’s got you on this one.
@kapgar, yeah, seems like hands down, huh?
I load like Becky. First, I wipe the bullets with a clean cloth, then check each one as I insert them in the magazine… wait. We’re talking about guns and hit lists, right?
Fuck.
Then I still load like Becky. Sorry, hon!
@Coal Miner’s Granddaughter, dude, you’re scaring me.
I load like you, Britt. My sister loads like Becky. Also, I load from front to back and my sister loads from back to front.
I dunno who is right, but hey, as long as the dishes come out clean, right??
@Cissa Fireheart, I do front to back as well.
Becky! I just got a new dishwasher and have been posting pics of it loaded – because when you are dishwasher shopping, that is the important picture one needs to make a decision, but the MANUFACTURERS do not post them! So I did…anyway, here’s mine…
http://vhmprincess.blogspot.com/2009/01/pic-of-washer.html
I load my dishwasher like Becky does. Which is not a ringing endorsement at all, but you asked!
@Dave2, I did ask – and while maybe not a ringing endorsement, the entire INTERNET seems to be agreeing with Becky.
Who knew?
I load like Becky does.
@Jules, it seems that a lot of people do.
Sorry sweetie, I’m with Becky on this one!
@catnip, damn you people!!!!!!
I do it Becky’s way, my mom does it your way. You can fit more dishes in the rack with Becky’s method.
@AJ, I am going to have to test that theory, I think.
I do it Becky’s way (heehee!) and I’m actually quite obsessive about how our dishwasher is loaded. I will unload the entire dishwasher just to reload it correctly.
You get way more items in the dishwasher when you wedge stuff between the sticky-uppy things.
@steen, Becky is too! She unloaded my dishwasher at my house and reloaded it!
Which is hysterical because she’s not exactly “domestic” in any other way.
@Miss Britt, Haha, me neither. My main pet peeves in the kitchen are:
1) the dishwasher stacking
2) leaving a sponge IN the sink, usually floating in water fused with food stuff — GROSS.
3) stuff caked onto the counters, especially given the five or six towels littered around the kitchen
Sadly… these are all things I wind up having to take care of regularly. But to call myself domestic? HA. HAHA. HAHAHAHAHHA.
what’s a dishwasher?
kidding.
i do it Becky’s way. at least i think…
@ali, you probably have people for this, don’t you?
You all have dishwashers. I am jealous. I have a big pile of plates waiting for the dishwashing fairy to come.
@topchamp, I told my husband the dishwashing fairy and the laundry fairy died in a car accident the night we got married.
Yup, Becky’s way is the right way. Allows you to fit more in the dishwasher, thus allowing you to run the dishwasher less frequently, thus conserving water, thus saving the planet! (Well, maybe not really, but it’s as good a reason as any!)
@C, so Al Gore does it Becky’s way too?!?!?
i do it Becky’s way…although i used to do it your way until my parents got a new dishwasher and the instructions explicitly said do NOT put glasses over the prongs, it causes scratching.
also, for what it’s worth, Martha Stewart warns against using the dishwasher prongs…she says put the glasses between the prongs.
@Kris, I should have known Martha would have the answer.
That makes it officially The Right Way.
To add to the poll… I load it Becky’s way…everyone else in my family loads it your way, and my husband puts plastic cups and bowls on the bottom rack. Clearly grounds for divorce, wouldn’t you say?
I actually think they do it on purpose in hopes I’ll not ask them to do it anymore because I usually end up re-loading it the ‘right’ way.
@~jtm, ok your husband is clearly CRAZY.
Yeah, sorry, I *would* do it Becky’s way if I had a dishwasher… *sigh* What I wouldn’t give for a dishwasher…
@Shelby, oh man, I’m sorry. I have lived without a dishwasher as well. I know your pain.
I gotta say, I do both. first I put all the coffee mugs between the tines, and then all the sippy cups on top of the tines. With three adults who drink coffee all day, and two kids who won’t re-use a sippy cup (even for a refill of the same juice) it’s important to use every inch of space on the top rack. I also put my glad ware any which way, because dishwashers don’t account for them. So often my top rack looks like a modern art sculpture with everything so tight that the first dish out seems to unlock the rest.
@Allyson, gladware is the bane of my dishwashing existence.
I am with Hola hoho Snarf on this. The way to properly maximize the space is to place them in the rows that separate the glasses.
Undoubtedly your way leads to wasted space and therefore will result in a waste of water and energy in having to run the dishwasher more often OR requiring an excessive amount of glassware in the cupboard.
@NYCWD, so global warming is MY fault?!?!
I load my dishwasher in perfectly OCD rows in between the sticky-up things. Tall glasses on the left, short glasses on the right, coffee cups in the middle.
Which is not saying that Becky has OCD.
@Little Miss Sunshine State, ok that is just CRAZY, lady.
My dishwasher’s manual said to NOT load things onto the tines. So I load the top rack as Becky does.
@Tuli, I had no idea that dishwashers came with manuals on how to load. Seriously.
BECKY DOES IT CORRECTLY.
Thank you, Becky. I love you.
@Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry, you people are changing my life here today.
I put the dishes in whichever way allows me to maximize space. It varies depending on what I’m washing.
I like silverware facing DOWN. So that when the kids unload the dishwasher, they are grabbing the handle and not the part that I put in my mouth.
@Corey, I do silverware down also. At least I’m getting THAT right!
Yeah.. Becky does it right. You get way more stuff in there that way!
@S, and I need more stuff in there!
My rack is like Becky’s (all puns intended)
@Just Me, and mine is so, so not. At all. (Puns still intended)
I do it like Becky. I think it’s more efficient.
@Sarah, it probably is more efficient and I had never known it was an option before now.
Y’all are changing the world today.
Yup, I do it Becky’s way too…
xo
@Princess of the Universe, I am starting to feel very alone…
I’m a Becky… loud and proud. But it took me YEARS to figure that shit out…
As for wine glasses? I hand wash them because the dishwasher always gives them spots where the water pools in the two days it takes me to unload the dishwasher.
(This is probably why I’ve taken to drinking wine out of juice glasses. Well, that and it cuts down on those pesky refills…)
@PaintingChef, I am 29 and feel like I am having my eyes opened for the first time.
Sorry babe, Becky. The tines are supposed to hold the stuff in place so it doesn’t wing around the dishwasher when the spray hits it. You can also fit more things in and they’ll be cleaner.
I know all of this because we just got a new dishwasher and there were INSTRUCTIONS. Who knew? They should teach this in high school…
@Finn, they probably did teach this in highschool and I was too busy worrying about who I was going to bum a ride home with after class. Heh.
We use a combination of the two, actually. Becky’s method works the best for us, but my wife and I have a 1.5 year old. And that means lots and lots of bottle accoutremen – little tops, rings, squishy rubber things, and so on.
And, as the top is generally tightly packed with a rainbow of sippy-cups, the spokes work perfectly for those.
By the bye, we’re a silverware up family, with the exception of knives – they go down – because I can absolutely guarantee the very first time a knife goes up is my first hospital visit in a long, long time!
@michael, the big knives I actually lay in the top rack to avoid any accidents. We’re an accident prone bunch in our house.
As others have said, I use a combination of methods. Glasses I load like Becky. Lightweight plastic cups need to be anchored, and I use the “plastic sticky up things” to hold them in place.
@S, if I didn’t have a POS basic model dishwasher, I’d have one of those arm things that come down and lay on TOP of the plastic, lightweight cups.
I’m sorry but I’m still trying to get over the fact that people have actually read their dishwasher manual.
Anyway, I load it Becky’s way but the little cheapie plastic cups for kids and baby bottles go on the prongs, wedged strategically so that they don’t flip. Nothing pisses me off more than having those suckers flip and get full of grimy water – especially because they usually slosh all over the clean dishes. Big serving spoons are placed in between rows of the cups. And gladware and tupperware are just wedged on top, any which way.
As far as silverware goes, I separate forks, spoons, butter knives and sharp knives – everything goes up but the sharp knives.
@Sheila (Charm School Reject), read? I didn’t even know there WAS a dishwasher manual.
I load like Becky.
I have a whole dishwasher tutorial if you would like me to demonstrate. My mother has dishwasher OCD, so I got a daily earful on how to load the dishwasher.
Also, I load the sippy cups on the tines between the glassware.
@kim, you have a TUTORIAL!?!
Yes. Please share.
A post about loading the dishwasher. And engaging the masses. Becky’s way is indeed more efficient. Sorry, toots. But seriously, is this not why we had kids??
@DeannaBanana, yeah. I know. Tell me why I ever bother to use my freaking brain?!?! Because this? Is insanity. And slightly depressing.
By the way – weren’t we supposed to have lunch today? I forgot your china box! Damn it!
I have to admit that I had never had a dishwasher before we moved into our current rental, so I’m no expert…but I do it Becky’s way.
@Tracy, so even a beginner is doing it better than me.
I am failing womanhood. Clearly.
I’ve got to go with Becky. I load my dishwasher that way…and I’m completely anal-retentive. Just ask my hubby, I always find the need to reorganize the racks after he’s done loading it. It’s really kind of pathetic, come to think of it.
@Mrs. Schmitty, OK – you people are nuts. REloading a dishwasher?!?!
You have too much time on your hands. Come to my house and I’ll give you something to do.
I so have to go with Becky on this one. It just feels more organized.
I do, however, put bottles ON the sticky uppy things.
@Betsey, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to the old way after this.
Um, not sure it even matters at this point, but I also do it Becky’s way.
We are changing the world, one Britt at a time!
Haha
@Sybil Law, well – MY world anyway.
I think both ways are right. As long as the dishes get cleaned. That is really all the dishwasher is for…
So what I am saying is that I do it one way and my 13 y/o does it another and I can’t let it bother me because the dishes are clean. Sigh.
@themuttprincess, damn straight.
I am on Team Becky. But if I need to wash cups that are too tall and need to wash them on the bottom rack, then I do use the spokey things.
@daisy, maybe you should buy shorter cups. Problem solved!
@Miss Britt, I really don’t have that many big cups. I was just trying to give you a point for your team.
@daisy, DAMMIT!! AND I RUINED IT!!!!
I’d have to same I’m like Becky…!
@Krystle, another vote for Becky. Man!
I have no clue, but I’m pumped that our new apartment has a dishwasher. The old one we were in didn’t, and dishes took WAY too long.
@Stephanie, I remember my first dishwasher. It was HEAVEN for a good year afterwards!
I do it Becky’s way… BUT, if there is room, between the bowls and the cups, I put the kids’ little plastic-type cups on the sticky-uppy things. Genius, I know.
@Melissa, Becky puts the plastic cups between the glasses as some kind of packaging buffer.
Sorry, I’m on Team Becky. Reading this has made me realize I have ocd about this. I re-arrange everything my husband puts in and I get more than mildly annoyed when people put utensils up (except sharp knives, which go down).
@Laurin, maybe you should come over to my house and give me a demonstration. You know, if it will help you sleep at night.
@Miss Britt, Oh, but then I would have to re-fold all of your towels my special way.
I do it the way that you do. Then I met the hubby who does it the way Becky does. So we do it two different ways.
@Donna, ha! Yes! Thank you!
I am not alone!!!
Ummmm Becky. All the way. Sorry sistah. And please send Becky here in 17 days. I will need help with other life/home things. My sons would love her!
@Karen Sugarpants, yeah, kids ADORE Becky. Shocking, I know.
Wow the internets loves dishwasher loading debate.
Sorry Britt – Becky is so doing it right. You can fit way more that way. And it just looks so much nicer.
@Lee the MWOB Queen, it DOES look nicer.
And yeah. Who knew the Internet was so passionate about dishwashing??
…shakes head sadly…
I would have at least thought Jared would have straightened you out by now. I blame him, unless he thus far has managed to avoid the dishwasher entirely. In which case, high five for him.
BTW, I’m sure I could get Brian to give you a training course. He’s an OCD dishwasher rearranger too, shocking, I know.
@Appalled, I never thought to ask if Jared does it differently. And he DOES load the dishwasher, too…
I’m going to have to test this out tonight.
(Please don’t tell your mom I am so hopelessly undomesticated.)
Becky’s doing it ‘right’—my dishwasher has special trays that hold stemmed glasses.
If it’s any consolation Brad used to do it the way you do *giggling*
@ Miss Becky—I’ll lay in a supply of washcloths
@Turnbaby, because YOU clearly do not have a shitty ass builder grade basic model dishwasher that some MORON installed when they built your house.
Ahem.
@Miss Britt, No it’s pretty fancy but also frustrating as the new everyday plates (Lennox Butler’s Pantry) I bought when I moved are TOO BIG to fit in the drawers.
yeah
In our house we do it both ways. My husband is more likely to do it your way, and I am more likely to do it Becky’s way. But if someone (him) has already filled up half the dishwasher, I am more likely to continue the way he began. And if there are really tall glasses, I do it your/my husband’s way too. Right now I’d just be happy if my dishwasher didn’t leak and wasn’t constantly breaking.
@radioactivegirltori, I haaaate our dishwasher. But at least it isn’t leaking.
Sorry but I am with Becky. We use the tines(sticky up things) to separate bowls and tupperware lids but put cups to the side of the tines as ato sepaarate rows. Plus you can fit more this way! Sorry! This may not be the correct way but it is how we do it.
@Kim, I am going to have to plan an extensive experiment to test this “you can get more in” theory.
@Miss Britt,
Oh please try it. I am a very busy Mom and Grandma pf 2 who only crams so much house work into one day! I am all for getting it done as quick as possible. Let me know how it turns out for you!
My husband does it your way, but I do it BOTH ways. It just depends on what I’m loading!
@Lisa, does that make you dishes ambidextrous?
I load my dishwasher EXACTLY like Becky. The “sticky uppy things” (hee!) are too tall for most things, and they are in a neat row as opposed to offset along the way. I believe these “sticky uppy things” are to hold the glasses from clinking together when the dishwasher runs. (They clink if you put them on the “sticky uppy things.”)
I don’t know which way is really right. But I do know that the latest dishwashers that have the pull down racks for wine glass stems clearly expect the washer to be loaded Becky-style.
As long as the shit comes out clean, whatever works is the right way.
Ciao.
@Jaime, I’ve never noticed mine clinking. But I am obviously CLUELESS about dishes! lol
Obviously Becky is on to something but I too use the sticky uppy things to anchor the glasses.
Tonight, I will try Beckey’s style….
@Josie, that’s what *I* am doing tonight, too!
Okay, I’m just dog-piling on the Becky Bandwagon, but I do it this way too.
Britt, I’m am dying laughing at the image in my head of you standing in front of your dishwasher tonight, totally paralyzed!!!
@Bonnie B., that’s exactly how it went down!! lol
Wow, hot topic.
I actually use a combination — I load the cups on the outer row like Becky, but then I still put other cups on the tines in the gaps between the cups in the first row. Not sure I’m explaining that very well, though….
@Ren, come to find out, that’s how Jared does it too!
My wife gave birth to two dishwashers (and more recently, a dishwasher in training). I don’t know exactly how they load the dishwasher, but I can tell you based upon the results that however they do it is the wrong way.
@Steve, I have a similar problem with my dishwasher unloader.
I’m with Becky, and so is Good Housekeeping. I happened to catch them doing a show on loading the dishwasher (don’t ask), and she said everything loaded facing down NOT on the sticky-uppy-things.
You’ve been schooled. Not by me – by Good Housekeeping. Send them your letters.
@Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing], and Martha Stewart too. DAmn.
I do it like Becky. I bet she’s super cool like me too.
@Heather, Queen of Shake Shake, she IS super cool like you.
Wow. I load like Becky. And I rearrange when someone (namely hubby) loads wrong. And I CANNOT STAND for silverware to be up. My exact thought was “how do you unload the silverware without touching the eating end?” when I saw you loaded them up except the knives. And then Becky answered confirmed the right way to load the silverware is down. I rearrange that when needed as well. Sorry. I’ll have to remember to take washcloths with me. That’s a really good idea.
@Wendy, maybe it’s because I have two little kids – I just assume someone’s fingers have been all over anything I’m putting in my mouth.
I am sorry to say that Becky and I, we are one. I’m an in-between-the-tine-er.
@Emily, an “in-between-the-tine-er”. LOL. I like that!
You’re not using your head, Britt. My son in law, my oldest daughter, my husband all hate the way I load the dishwasher…..they say I failed ‘dishwasher 101″….and as a result they don’t let me do the dishes. ;o) ;o) ;o)
@Momma, I went two years without doing dishes once after Jared and my dad sat around making fun of how I did them.
Another vote for Becky’s way here. And if someone else doesn’t load it correctly (glasses on one side, bowls on another), I’ll re-do it the “right” way. It’s a sickness…. LOL!!!
@mikkie, I suppose as sicknesses go.. it’s not the worst one you could have.
Becky’s way, unless the cup has a critical tipping angle less than 30°, in which case I use the spoke to maintain the cup in an upright position.
@SciFi Dad, oh. Yes. Um. Of course.
I actually do it both ways.
@Zandor, I’m just going to go ahead and count that as a check in MY column. I need it!
Sorry to say Britt, you would be voted off the island at my house.
You friend Becky on the other hand? Totally partnering up with her!
@Darla, can’t I just be voted to the living room??
It depends on how much stuff I have and what glasses were used… The smaller plastic cups go on the outside and the flap goes over top – that way they don’t flip out.
Silverware – Knives pointed down – everything else is up… another question – do you sort your silverware – all spoons in one section, forks in another etc ?
(And I’ve been known to reload the dishwasher – but I try really hard not to do that, because as long as it all gets clean it okay.)
@Fantastagirl, I need a dishwasher with a flap.
Becky. She wins.
Britt, what the HELL are you thinking? Come to my house, that damn thing gets loaded eleventy hundred times a day. You will get lots of practice in the ways of loading the dishwasher Little Grasshopper.
@Kelley, better yet, how about you come to MY house and you can throw in a “how to fold towels properly” lesson at the same time!
You’re wrong. Becky’s right.
@Nobody™, hey, the dishes get CLEAN. So, I’m only half wrong, I think.
I definitely do it the ‘Becky’ way, and stick stuff all over the place as long as it fits in between the rows:) My mom however, if around at the moment, will unload and reload the dishwasher if things are not up to her ‘standards’.
@Ashleigh, I need someone to come over and reload my dishwasher for me every day.
Becky’s way is too anal to me. I’m down with the Britt stick-it-on-the-spindle.
@Deb on the Rocks, wooooo hooo! Someone finally sides with me!
I load Becky-style.
@Musing, you and everyone else, it looks like.
I’ve never really taken note of how I load the dishwasher…just throw stuff in…and I’m now disturbingly excited to unload my dishwasher later to find out. Because I need one more thing to be compulsive about. Thanks for that.
Seriously? This many people being this invested in how we load our dishwashers? So awesome and hilarious!!!
@Patti, apparently the dishwasher is the heart of America. LOL
I saw you quoting Step Brothers over on Dad Gone Mad. So, I followed you to your blog home and find out I’m loading my dishwasher all wrong?! I’m with you on the sticky uppy anchor things. We’re clearly a minority, but that doesn’t matter when we’re clearly right.
(and the cooter juice on the washcloth comment…hilarious…i feel the same about towels, always fearful i’m drying my face on the same place i dried my bunghole the previous day)
@OTC, I should warn you, my blog is not always this educational.
Your friend is cleary not retarded. And um you….sorry honey but one can put WAY more dishes in the dishwasher if one uses it as your friend Becky does. In a house with six people eating three meals a day, this is VERY important.
@Shawna, I think, having been schooled on the proper way now, I’m going to have to buy more dishes!
Hah. I do it Becky’s way primarily, but a bit of your way always sneaks in, lovely Britt.
Check out the photo I took just for you, just now:
Top Rack
So there ya go. You’re both right. Says me!
Heh.
@Sarcastic Mom, can I tell you how much I love that you are sending me dishwasher porn?
I load the dishes the same way Becky does. It creates more room, so you can fit more in.
Which goes a long way in creating the illusion of a clean house, lol.
@Amber, I’m all about illusions of clean.
I’m with Becks!
@Nix, dang it! Not another one!
This is a conspiracy!
Sorry, Britt! I’m with Becky on this one.
I feel like this is a trick question. Because loading wise, of course Becky is right. I mean, adoy.
But then she has wooden spoons in the dishwasher and everyone knows that that’s wrong and Unamerican.
Becky has it totally right. Of course, my husband always does the dishes so I avoid the dishwasher. Except to clench my teeth when I see him washing every dish with soap before he puts them in. Turns out, this actually caused our dishwasher to malfunction recently – - YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO WASH THE DISHES FIRST! Ooops, that was a rant.
What about the sheets on the bed thing – - do you put them on upside down so the pretty side shows up when you turn it over the blanket?
I’m a little of both. I load the “becky” way until it’s full and then stick plastic kid cups on the “sticky-up things” to maximize the amount I can get in there!
Uhh, I’m not really sure. Our dishwasher is broken so it’s been ages since I’ve loaded one. I did dishes for my boyfriend’s mom and I can’t remember how I loaded the dishwasher.
I think both ways are right, it just depends on your preference.
I also usually use them as row dividers but every now and then I put something on top of a sticky thing. Depends on how it fits into the dishwasher.
@Viviane, you seem to be in good company!
I think that there are models that encourage using the tines as holders and others that use them as row dividers. My current uses them as row dividers, my last dishwasher was the other way. Took some getting used to. In my current one if you stick the tines in the glasses they will fly around and break! My sweetie would put the glasses in and I felt like and OCD freak reloading it all the time. But whatever, the shoe fits or the glasses break.
I have to agree with Becky on this one Britt. That’s how I load my dishwasher, and the glasses stay put. With two little ones in the house, we’ve got plastic cups galore and if they are put in the dishwasher the way you did them, on the tines, then they end up flying around on me and I’ve had a few fall down to the bottom and melt against the heating element. Not fun to clean up let me tell ya!
When you figure it out, let me know because I still have no idea on how to load a dishwasher
oh my- i use the sticky-uppy things as guidelines except for when the cup is to large to fit along side THEN i put them in the cup.
but seriously? what is with people putting bowls on the top rack? eww.
[...] week, I paid a visit over to Miss Britt’s blog and she was writing about something that really got me thinking, which is NOT easy to do. [...]
Oh my word! The comments were hilarious!
First time I have read your blog, but certainly enjoyed the back and forth.
I am pretty sure that the sticky uppie things are the guides. I fit everything in between and it packs pretty tightly, hence I never have anything move. So um, Becky’s way! So sorry!
Silverware is an up and down kinda thing. The book (ahem) says put some up, some down and then they won’t “spoon” together and not get clean.
Hugs,
Marie
I do it Becky’s way, unless the glass is too big, then I do it your way.
I stumbled across your blog while googling the proper way to load a dishwasher, which my sister and I debated today. I load it your way. I think that the other way, my sister’s and Becky’s way, is definitely wrong… when done that way, I’ve found quite a few plastic cups right side up filled with disgusting dish water residue. Yuck. That never happens my way. You’re right!
Um, and did you know that the forks/knives/spoons/etc are supposed to be business end UP? Yeah. Martha corrected me on that one last year, and y’know what? Totally cleaner now. Oy.