Forever Starts Now

Cheery_Daff

Lemon balm make a nice tea 😊 maybe for headaches? But I might have just made that up 😂😂

Karmacat

Lemon balm grows like a weed around here (literally - in the cracks between the patio stones) and the main plants look after themselves with very little trouble.

starnac

That's good to know. Thanks KC. 

I know I had planned to buy Lemon grass when DH builds our outdoor eating area as it apparently keeps away bugs but I definitely bought lemon balm on purpose. Never mind. It smells lovely every time I walk past it. 

I'm spending today catching up on a few bits workwise and having a tidy of the house as housework has been slipping. The dishwasher is on using free electric. Speaking of which, does anyone else have a dishwasher? We've never had one but when we moved in here, they'd left one in the kitchen so we've been using it. It just seems like a complete waste of time and water to me. We are a family of 4 and it's a normal sized dishwasher, however, I try to run it only when it's full to conserve water and electric, but before it's full, we have no more cutlery and end up having to handwash bits and pieces anyway. Am I using it wrong?

Karmacat

I have a dishwasher and I wouldn't be without one now - even though I do roughly rinse things before they go in.  It's not the highest powered one, and things came out with bits on, so ...

That seems very unusual that you're a family of 4 and don't use enough to make a full dishwasher load.  Is there lots of stuff that you don't put in there, like your pans?  Do you have very little cutlery?  Over the years, dishwashers have used less and less electricity and water, they're very sound, environmentally speaking.  

starnac

No we don't put pans in there. Just plates/bowls, cutlery and mugs/glasses. Maybe that's where we are going wrong? Like I said, we've never had a dishwasher before just hand washed everything after each meal. So it's all new to us. 

I hand wash saucepans, lunchboxes and water bottles. Most of our snacks are either bulk bought and decanted into portion sized Tupperware or handmade and stored in plastic tupperware type boxes, so all of those are hand washed as I'm worried about the plastic melting in the dishwasher. I'm the only one at home most of the day and I use the same mug all day and my water bottle. DH usually makes lunch for everyone when he gets up in the morning and puts it in a lunchbox, even mine, in case I'm out around lunchtime. So it's mainly breakfast plates/dishes for the kids and tea items. 

Put like that maybe I don't have enough cutlery?!

Thanks KC. Very useful having a think about it and thanks for the info on environmental impact. Really appreciate it.

EssexHebridean

Most even vaguely "recent" tupperware style containers should have the "dishwasher friendly" symbol on the bottom Starnac - well worth checking. I even throw the chinese takeaway style tubs through ours and they come out fine - generally speaking your "everyday" programme is likely to run at about 45 or 55 degrees so nowhere near hot enough to melt plastic, but there are some older plastics which aren't really advised to be dishwashered I think.  Our pans and good knives don't go into ours, but most other stuff does - I definitely wouldn't be without it even though our current one is a slimline one, I'm looking forward to a full sized one in the new house! 

Absolutely loving your save on the meeting too - thank goodness for the WhatsApp chat eh! 

starnac

Well I am learning things today. Thank you. I felt a bit stupid reading my post back but I'm glad I posted it now. I can start using the dishwasher better now. Thank you both

Karmacat

For the plastic stuff, put it on the top shelf - I just googled "how to use your dishwasher" and believe me, there are millions of people asking the same question  

The other thing is what tablet you use?  I use all in one - I asked my sister, she's had a d/w for many years, I only got one in 2010.  She said "five in one", which nowadays is called something like "all in one" - glass cleaner and whatnot is included.  I only ever use supermarket own  

starnac

We buy supermarket own. I will check which one it is. Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it

starnac

Morning.

Thank you all for the dishwasher talk yesterday. I am trialling the plastics today. We have some sturdy plastic tubs we use for lunchboxes and some old takeaway tubs that we decant snacks into. The sun is out and the solar panels have almost finished re charging the battery, then I can put the dishwasher on. 

How sad my life has become

I have the piano tuner coming this morning after moving the piano from one house to the other. I hope he's not here too long as I have to go to work once he's done. I have told them I'll be late but I have a few things I want to catch up with my colleagues over so the early I get there the more chance I'll have to go through my list lol! 

DD has been off on a DofE expedition yesterday and today. She is due home about 4pm then both kids need to pack and they are off to my mum's for the weekend as they have an INSET day tomorrow. DS has been having a count down since my mum told him the plan last Sunday! He was very excited going off to school this morning. 

Right I need to go brush my hair before the piano guy turns up. Hope you all have a lovely day