Confession of a stay-at-home mom

I have a confession to make.  For those of you who know me well, you know that I have always hated emptying the dishwasher.  I think it stems back to my childhood (as all things do, ha ha!).  As one of our chores growing up, we had "dish week."  We had to do all the dishes when it was our turn and I really, really hated it.  I don't know why, but I'd rather wash them then put them away.  I have the same problem with laundry.  So, for the last 13 months I happily gave up my dishwasher.  I used it 3-4 times the entire year and only after we had a lot of company and the dishes were piled miles high.  One day, Isabella even asked me what the dishwasher was since she hadn't seen me use it for a long time.  It really didn't bother me since our dishwasher is so low-end that you really have to scrub your dishes well before ever putting them in the dishwasher.  I figured if I was already scrubbing them, might as well throw in some soap and get them clean.  

There was one problem.  I was missing this.

Clean counter tops.  We have a large family so it takes two dish racks to dry all of our dishes.  I lost a lot of counter top space and the kitchen always seemed to be cluttered.  I have enough problems managing the piles of stuff I and the kids create, so one more area of clutter was just too much. 

I confess.  We got back from vacation and I started using the dishwasher.  At first it was going to be just until I got everything unpacked and put away -- saving me a little time here and there.  And then something magical happened.  I didn't really mind emptying the dishwasher so much.  It only takes a couple of minutes and my counters get cleaned up WAY faster and much less clutter!   I do feel a little guilty.  I know I was saving water and electricity not using it.  But, for now less clutter wins out!  I can always go back to hand washing when I get tired of this I guess.  Or start making my kids do it more.  Not sure I'm ready for the broken dishes though!