better living in five minutes a day #16:make your dishwasher work for you

The air in southern California is a lot better than it was when I was younger, but we still live in a major metropolitan area, and our house dust here is sticky and grimy.  Some stuff needs a bath rather than just a dust.

Also, I'm very lazy about dusting things that aren't furniture.  And hand-washing things.

So about once a month or every six weeks, I do a weird dishwasher load.  I just walk around the house and grab stuff that is dirty and dishwasher-safe*, and throw it in. (I don't do food-related items in this load.) Here's an example of the types of things I throw in the dishwasher periodically instead of dusting or handwashing:

• Plastic bathroom trashcans
• Plastic drawer organizers
• Thick ribbed plastic drawer liners (you buy it in rolls and cut it to size . . . it specifically says "dishwasher safe" on it . . . the one in the cupboard under our trashcan is always disgusting, and the one in the utensil drawer gets grubby, too)
• Glass candle votives (pop the wax out first by putting the votives in the freezer for a few minutes)
• Ceramic, glass, or stoneware flower vases, pitchers, and other decorative items
• Storage containers from the craft room (canisters, colanders, jars, etc.)
• Storage bowls
  
• Plastic lemons :)

*I determine this by putting it in the dishwasher. If it gets ruined, it wasn't dishwasher safe. :D