The Day The Dishwasher Died

Its the first day of the school holidays and I've come down with a cold.

Just. Perfect.

I did, for a few foolish hours, decide to go natural and beat it with Ease a Cold.  Then my nose wouldn't stop running and I had to cook dinner, and the thought of cooking with tissues shoved up each nostril was Too Much To Bear, so now I'm dosed up on the heavy duty ColdnFlu tablets.

So much better.

At the end of last week we had Miss Nearly 8s birthday party.  A cupcake extravaganza which I shall post about tomorrow (if I haven't DIED in the meantime).  Every year, about a week before Miss Nearly 8s party, an essential piece of home equipment fails.  Last year it was the oven and this year its been the dishwasher.

This led to much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

HOW? (I asked the Universe) HOW? can I survive without a dishwasher?

Hubs, on observing the state of his wife, made an emergency call to our fix-it guy.  He lives close by and dropped in an hour later.

The verdict was this: The circuit board has shorted out, the dishwasher will not heat, it will cost $450 to fix it. A new dishwasher will cost you $600, you may as well get a new one.

In simple terms the circuit board needs a spot of solder on it, but the best option is to get a new dishwasher??

What the??

We're supposed to just throw it away?

Even worse, this problem with the dishwasher not heating is apparently a "known problem." If its a known problem, why is there not a cheap easy known solution?

It took us aback, and made us think about the resources which are being wasted, the empty pointless consuming which we are expected to buy into, and it made us think about money.

And the upshot of all this thinking was that... and this is something I never ever thought I'd write... we will be going dishwasher-less from here on.

I thought I needed it.  I thought it was making my life so much easier.  But three weeks in, and I'm not missing it that much at all.

The kitchen in tidier - no dirty pots waiting to go in the next load, no dirty plates stacked waiting until someone unloads the thing.  Washing up, drying and putting away happens in 20 minute bursts throughout the day.  The kids help.  They think its fun.

Yes, its more work. I'm not saying that we've taken an easier option.  But I don't mind it.  Its the better choice.