Because I can't possibly just look inside

Posted By: Adam 8 Comments
It is quite obviously beyond the scope of my abilities to open the dishwasher and inspect the dishes within. I will remember – usually 3 times out of 10 – if I was the one to load, add soap, and run it the night before, that it probably needs to be emptied; but beyond that I'm certainly not earning any points towards husband of the year. Megan's parents have a magnet that says "Dirty / Clean" that you can rotate to indicate the status. That won't work for us, because – and don't ask me how this is even physically possible, as I had never until this point seen a dishwasher without a metal face, but – ours doesn't. I guess it's plastic or something. My parents' last dishwasher had a lock that you engaged by sliding a lever from one side to the other – so the easiest way to tell was to pull on the door. If it won't open it, they're clean. Again, this won't work for us, because ours has a simple clipping mechanism that locks nearly every time you close the door. Surely it would be simple enough if it needed to be run every day and, therefore, emptied every day – the first one home would probably take care of them. But as it's just the two of us, the thing probably gets run every 4 or 5 days on average. So I turn to you, dear readers. Do you have any creative ideas for indicating when the dishwasher is clean? Ideally it would be something that could be in close proximity to the dishwasher itself – which is not really adjacent to anything except the sink and some cabinets. It would be dog and cat proof – anything below counter-top level that isn't strongly adhered to its surface is likely to be eaten by the dog, while anything high up is likely to be knocked down and batted around by the cat, and then eaten by the dog. It would also be something that would be easy to "turn on" while turning the dishwasher itself on – like the magnet – so that there is no excuse for forgetting.

8 responses to “Because I can't possibly just look inside”

  1. I think the key lies in using the magnet somehow. Is the fridge close enough to the dishwasher that you can just use the magnet on the dishwasher? If not, do you have a metal faucet on your sink that you can slap the magnet on? If you're going to the dishwasher, you're probably going to the sink and/or fridge too?

    (found through waking jonas)

    Chris

    Chris ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM

  2. <strong>Chris -</strong> The fridge is in the opposite corner of the room. The oven is close by (and metal!) but who looks at the oven when thinking about dishes? I don't know how well the sink would work. It's already pretty crowded up there with the soap, sponge, dish drainer, etcetera. I guess it might be viable to put something on the fridge right at my eye level that says, "HEY RETARD, HOW ABOUT EMPTYING THE DISHWASHER BEFORE THAT THIRD PIECE OF PIE? HMM?" -- but I don't really think that would fit well on a magnet, and even if I did notice it, I'd have to walk all the way to the other corner of the room.

    Adam

    Adam ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM

  3. I think Steve wins!

    Adam

    Adam ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM

  4. I lost the post I was putting together yesterday :p Here's try #2....

    1. Get suction cup with small hook (or 3M adhesive clamp).
    2. Take index card and write Dirty on one side, Clean on the other.
    3. Laminate card.
    4. If using suction cup, punch hole in card.

    When dishes are dirty, flip card to reflect as such.
    Velcro will also solve your problem.

    I actually have a good bachelor friend whose house and kitchen are huge. When he built his house he actually had TWO diswashers installed. Dishes never make it into cabinets. They simply take clean dishes out of one appliance and after their use, place the dirty dishes into the other. Ingenious, I tell ya!

    Ed

    Ed ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM

  5. <strong>Ed -</strong> That's the kind of creative thinking I was looking for! Great idea! The only problem I can see is that if the hole in the card is large enough that it loosely fits over the nub of the suction cup it would fall off when opening the door - and if it fit tightly, then pulling it off and on might stretch the hole and... the card would fall off. I may try to implement something with suction cups on opposite ends and sides of the card though. Thanks again!

    Adam

    Adam ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM

  6. You could just poke a really small hole in the index card, say with a pen tip, and if the hole gradually enlarges, just make a new one because normally index cards are sold by the hundred.

    Erin

    Erin ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM

  7. Doublesided tape a metal washer to the door. the magnet will cover it.

    Steve

    Steve ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM

  8. There you go!

    Ed

    Ed ~ Aug 4, 2008 at 9:56 PM