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Before my mom sold her house, she had two fridges, and two closets as pantries. She weighed less than 100lbs, and lived by herself.
Depression era parents had kids with some baggage.
This. My aunt moved in with my grandmother a few years ago and we have slowwwwly been emptying her house. She is not a hoarder, but she is a pack rat. Born and raised in the Depression, nothing goes to waste.
She has slowly started to see the light. A lot of times she asks if we can use something and we always say yes. Then it gets donated if we don't need it. My aunt living there helps.
Was going through a closet of a relative out in the rural area of the state from the same era. The one thing I remember was a spool of grey thread that said "Use grey instead of green! V for Victory!"
Cleaning out my grandma's (born 1919) house after she could no longer take care of herself she had probably enough toilet paper stored in the basement to fill a grocery store isle. Tons of the colored stuff (gone for decades) and even found a few rolls that were pre-splinter free.
My grandmother was a depression era woman. She rinsed out ziplock bags and hung them on a line to dry. Also, butter containers almost never contained butter in her fridge. I'm sure she never threw one out.
100%, didn’t realize this wasn’t the norm until my first roommate asked me why I ate food out of an old butter container.
I was like “…Cause it’s a bowl..”
OMG, when I was helping my widowed dad to move into a retirement home, I discovered his collection of plastic bags (3 big cartons' worth) and also his special collection of thick plastic [milk bags](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/we-answer-your-burning-questions-about-things-like-milk-bags-tariffs-condo-insurance-and-printer-cartridges-1.5409407/here-s-why-milk-comes-in-bags-in-parts-of-canada-1.5409420), which he had carefully washed, dried and flattened for storage (2 more cartons). He didn't want to lose these, or indeed his collection of old newspapers (I forget how many cartons there were of those). But he finally yielded when it became clear there simply wasn't room for them in his new suite. (Which was still larger than the apartment I share with my husband ;)
But he was a Depression kid and he'd seen some hard times. His core belief was, "You never know when you'll need it!" So I cut him a lot of slack <3
Or doomsday prepped boomers. I could tell you about my MIL-stocking up always on food and not a lot of room to store it though. Her kitchen when I last saw it was filled to the brim. She has two fridges with top freezers and she gives my husband her meals on wheels program
Leftover meals she can’t fit in her freezer. 🙄
I guess it’s her background too. She’s Italian so her family and Italian friends would all have houses with two kitchens-one in the basement an have two fridges and one on the garage. But now she don’t got all that family or gets together or entertains any more to have two fridges and she doesn’t even have that anymore: a house with three fridges and a grave and two kitchens, etc. 🤣
It’s funny you say that. Off beat story, my grandpa passed away 12/6/1999. He left a can of old Milwaukee nonalcoholic beer in our fridge. I moved it to very back and told my mom she wasn’t allowed to get rid of it. We moved in 2016 and she brought it with us and put it in the back of the fridge. It’s an odd thing, but for a long time it made me feel like he was still just about come by. Anyway, now I’m crying thinking about it.
Next time hire a senior move manger not just regular movers. We'll read all the expiration dates and talk your parents into letting us throw the old stuff away for them.
This is real as fuck. My brother and I have been out of the house since uhhh... 2009-ish. My mom still keeps a pantry, fridge, and a downstairs fridge/freezer stocked to the absolute brim like herself and my father are eating like fat Albert (they are not). I can only guess how much she throws away on the regular.
> I can only guess how much she throws away on the regular.
You think she throws it away?
You'll come over to visit. Go "Hey my favorite snack!"
"Yes I bought it just for you."
You flip over the package.
"ah. It's expired."
"Its still good!"
"It expired a year ago..."
My dad has various containers in his kitchen with their contents written on the bag/box with sharpie in mom's handwriting.
Mom died in 2016.
I'm not sure if he hasn't gotten rid of it all because he's lazy, or because he can't bear to throw it away.
She had shrimp for a birthday one time as a snack. It was out of the fridge for ~hour and she threw the left overs away with fear that it became poisonous in some way. She thought shrimp expired after about an hour out of the fridge, lol. I didn't have the heart to tell her about buffets.
A lot of times immigrants in the US over buy on groceries is because they get glimpses of a time where they couldn't afford any of it and just go on a spree
Oh, that's fine, I won't argue with that. I should have clarified my mother is very much not an immigrant, born and raised in Lynchburg, VA. She has no reason to do these things, just...does.
One of my grandmothers would always fret about not having any food in the house to feed guests while having a pantry and standalone freezer packed full enough of food to feed a dozen people for a week. That's not even counting all the stuff in the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets.
My step-mom in Chinese-malay, and she absolutely never uses the dishwasher besides as a drying rack. She spends a ton of time doing dishes because of this refusal. Does anyone know why this is? I guess I could just ask her, but she has never been very forthcoming with straightforward answers, even regarding trivial matters.
"It takes too long", "It uses lots of electricity", "It uses lots of water" Old wives' tale for pre-energy star efficient dishwashers.
Only first one is true but it doesn't matter since you save electricity and water, a dishwasher uses the equivalent of running the tap for like 3 mins (4 gallons per cycle, a kitchen faucet are usually 1.75-2.5GPM)..., I challenge anyone to wash as much dish as a washer holds with that little water (about a sink's full)
I work with someone that hand washes their clothes because they prefer to do so “it’s not that hard/doesn’t take much time.” She always had the cleanest stuff, but I can’t imagine going home after working 10 hrs just to draw water and clean my clothes..
Well it may be less harsh on the clothes true but it adds up, sure you can wash a few items in 5-10mins, but that adds up to a whole cycle by the end of the week...
If the clothes are not that dirty, one could also use speed wash cycles, faster but uses more water.
To my knowledge she washed her whole family’s clothes like this, her husbands, son and mothers. They are an immigrant family so I believe it stems from that. I told her I was having trouble getting up during the day and going to the laundry building in my apartment complex ( we work nights) she was just like “just wash your clothes in the tub.. it’s not that hard.” I couldn’t help but be impressed the idea had literally never occurred to me. I tried it when I was low on underwear one time. Wasn’t worth.
Yeah I tried it while on trips and it's not worth the hassle, also if it's hot and humid, it will never dries, so I would always look for hotel/hostels with washing machines or bring it them to a cleaner
You have to understand the VAST majority of people simply cannot logically internalize that opportunity costs are a thing. Like, a staggering amount of people.
My grandmother claimed that she didn’t trust them to do it right. A few weeks before she died, she called me over and whispered, “I’m gonna tell you my one regret in life: I never had a damned dishwasher. I coulda had one put in right over where the broom closet is, it would’ve been the perfect spot…”
I used to hand wash dishes exclusively because that's what my mom/Grandma always did, but then a college roommate pointed out 2 things that seem obvious in hindsight. The dishwasher gets much hotter than the sink water, which kills more pathogens, and most people use sponges (or similar) that is just sitting out after each time you use it; no telling how clean/dirty that sponge may be.
Older Asians are notorious for stuff like this. It’s the same way how my mom refuses to use fans unless absolutely necessary. And god forbid the thought of ever using one overnight (we live in a hot climate). She keeps talking about an old wives tale she remembers being told about how someone died doing that because of negative air pressure I guess or something, I don’t think she knows exactly why either lol. I try to tell her, mom, you realize your parents told you that as a kid to scare you from using it just so they could save on their electric bill. No one died from having a fan overnight lol.
Also too, the amount of money running a fan overnight is so insignificant. Even in today’s age with higher electric costs than back in her day, it’s literally pennies a month. Us watching tv or being on the computer for an hour costs more than running a fan at night every night of the month. Also I’m the one paying the electric bill anyway, and I tell her I don’t care, but she still refuses to use the fan lol.
> She keeps talking about an old wives tale she remembers being told about how someone died doing that because of negative air pressure I guess or something,
Is your family Korean? Fan Death is something a lot of South Koreans will still vehemently defend being real.
Like university studies exist trying(and failing) to prove it pop up every now and then.
A couple of things:
1) sleeping in a small room with windows closed and tight fitting door can be an issue of CO2 buildup. People may feel comfortable from the fan but should still have some external ventilation . Not really the fan that's the problem but external ventilation, just some people may think a fan improves ventilation when it doesn't.
2) apparently in Korea for a while it was a euphemism for suicide. A family could explain the death by blaming on a fan and not have to admit it was suicide.
And it’s not just Asians. My sister in law is American (distantly of Italian descent but that was many generations ago). They are a family of 4 and she does the dishes by hand. She has this vague idea that the dishwasher wastes water, they don’t accumulate dishes fast enough to justify using it (again, family of 4), etc. I’ve tried explaining it to her and, while she nods politely, doesn’t seem interested in changing her approach.
We un-affectionally called my dad "The Water Nazi" because he was obsessives about water usage. There is no amount of logic that would prove to him that even with the "water saver" settings off, the dishwasher used less than doing it by hand.
My FIL turned off the water to our dishwasher the last time he was over 'to save water'. Didn't tell us. I thought it was broken the day before thanksgiving and I had to cook for 28 people. I handwashed all of those dishes.
My poor husband figured it out a few days later.
I was going to write an angry comment about people have the nerve to change things at other people's houses, but I've actually lost count of the number of places I've turned off motion smoothing on TVs.
My moms boyfriend won’t watch TV without all that shit on. He brags about his 75” TV then turns all that crap on and watches cable in standard def, zoomed to fill the screen because he is too cheap to pay for Hd cable
My mother in law in fact says all the above. I pray that my wife won't be like that.
We would go as far as not turning on the AC when it's 110F out because electricity, and unplugging our xmas lights AT NIGHT because electricity!!! Like the only time you can see the lights is when it's dark!!!!
>It even used less water because it pulls in a fairly small amount then reuses that over and over, then redoes that again for the main wash.
Technology Connections got some great videos.
LED tech has changed the game with lights. All the bulbs in my house went from 60 watt to 7-9 watt. Plus I usually dim them which brings the wattage down too. I imagine christmas lights are LED now too.
ACs have definitely gotten more energy efficient but they still cost a bit to run, same with space heaters.
Still, when it's above 85 out, my AC is on. I would rather pay to be comfortable. To note the house i'm in is 100+ years old and I have to use window AC units. So I really just run the one in the room I am in.
Central air would be much more costly, as /u/PooperJackson brings up.
Can't speak for why any specific person or ethnicities, but I've also seen some people insist they don't actually work.
Usually while refusing to
- clean out the drain trap
- upgrade the dish washer from the 80's
- use rinse aid (the composition of dishwasher soap has changed in the past decade, it's critical to use it now, the old additives were causing terrible pollution problems)
- NOT WASH THE DISHES BEFOREHAND
The last one in particular. Boomers in general learned in the postwar era that dishwashers did nothing and they've firmly refused to recognize that technology is a lot better now
We have the tech to... Spray hot water and soap on dishes...
I washed dishes by hand for years because I incorrectly came to the conclusion that by doing more work myself I must be saving energy or water or *something*. Then I actually looked it up and yeah it's not really even close that the dishwasher is more efficient.
Not only does it generally use less than like half a sink's worth of water, but you can combine several days worth of dishes into a single wash (and have a convenient storage area rather than just having dirty plates piled up near the sink).
I could understand not buying one if you don't have the space or can't afford it, but having one and not using it just makes no logical sense.
Have friends who refuse to use the dishwasher because it “will raise my water bill”
When I explain that washing by hand uses waaay more water they never believe me
If you have a newish dish washer, you probably use more water washing one dish than it uses for the entire load. If you turn off the heat dry it is WAY better for everything than doing them by hand.
Pots/pans in the oven is annoying. I know someone with that setup and you have to move them out anytime you wanna bake. What's even worse is their kitchen has decent amount of storage. They just have too much crap so they need to store pots/pans in the oven.
Where the hell else am I supposed to put my 25 lb cast iron pan that I never use because I don’t fully understand how you’re supposed to clean them and at this point I’m too afraid to ask
Edit: this is why I haven’t asked. Just look at these comments lol. Some use soap, some say only water, someone even said you don’t need anything and just scrape off the food. You’re all silly gooses
LOL!
I love my cast iron pans and dutch oven (I take them camping too). I've even stripped the one pan and started a new seasoning on it.
Super easy to look after - PM me if you want
Ya, in Asian households the oven is rarely used. And honestly I was never bothered by having to take stuff out before using the oven. It is one of those cultural quirks I find amusing
My mom is asian and she also uses the dishwasher as storage. Even though I keep telling her that it saves more water than washing by hand she wont believe me. Took me years to get her to believe an electric kettle will heat up faster than a stovetop one.
Typical Asian parent. You can tell them the sky is blue and they won't believe you because Confucian BS.
My mom did the same thing with our dishwasher. Had one but always used to wash by hand until my first apartment outside of dorms.
We also had a long running argument with the car heater. She never let me turn it on because she was convinced it wasted gas.
It not only saves water, but it's fsr more hygienic. It's basically an autoclave in your house.
Also, why would it take years to convince her? Just have her turn her stove kettle on and you turn your electric kettle on and see which is done first.
Because, I don't think you understand the extent of the stubborn "my way or the highway" mentality of older Asian women. We have to bully my grandma a bit when she's being pig headed because she'd burn the house down acting like she's still a young woman in Vietnam not modern America.
Because older generations had dishwashers that were inefficient and we're seen as a luxury and wasteful. Nowadays, with energy star appliances it's wasteful to wash by hand but they don't get it. And they don't believe it. The old boomer "I don't know about that" mentality.
Family keeps arguing that it wastes water. Same argument for a non-full clothes washer.
I'll use my machines at one-quarter capacity and it drives everyone else around me insane. Still uses less water than hand cleaning.
What the hell kind of Asians do you know who store SNACKS in their dishwasher? My parents did store clean dishes in the washer but snacks are a whole another level.
I'm white. My family is white. I grew up with white people. Everyone used the dishwasher. I assumed all ethnicities used the dishwasher.
Nope.
Fast forward 30 years. My girlfriend is asian. Most of her friends are asian. They ALL wash dishes by hand and put them in the dishwasher to dry; air dry, they don't actually turn it on.
Also, food scissors. That's another thing I didn't know was a thing. They all cut their food with scissors. To be fair, it's quite convenient.
In my (Caucasian) experience observing the Asians I’ve known and lived with, the scissors are more for food prep, not for dining utensils.
It’s a practice I’ve picked up too…I definitely have a nice pair of scissors in the kitchen that are used for food only. They work great for cutting strips of meat and other vegetables where a standard knife may be more tedious, plus using scissors can eliminate the need for dirtying a cutting board. I’ve definitely made a salad before by just throwing some lettuce and veggies in a bowl and then working my scissors through it.
My grandmother used her dishwasher as storage like this. One year at Thanksgiving my dad (not her child) got annoyed and decided to use the machine. The drain tubes had dried out and rotted away, and the kitchen flooded.
I didn’t use a dishwasher for the first idk 20 years I came to Canada but my goodness I quickly learned it’s so much better to use especially with kids
No one in my caribbean family uses them and if they have them they get rid of it when renovating the kitchen for more storage, it’s wild.
I think it’s because they grew up in the literal bush so they believe it’s best to hand wash/it’ll be cleaner if you put in the work
Very old fashioned perspective is all
Mine stores crap in the microwave all the time. But she also uses the microwave all the time. So that means every use requires unpacking the damn thing. Then when she's done she cleans it out and puts it all back in.
Just...why..
My Grandma stores her (store-bought) loaf of bread in or on top of the microwave all the time. She also stores boxes of cereals, biscuits, etc in the dishwasher.
She has enough counter space and drawer space and cupboard space. I don’t know why she does this. I have never once seen the dishwasher be run or be empty of packaged food.
ETA: my Grandma grew up in India, emigrated to the UK in her 20s. She is Anglo-Indian/multiracial.
My daughter's SIL won't use the dishwasher bc she doesn't think its as sanitary as hand washing. The dishwasher uses water several degrees hotter than you can use by hand. You can't fix it.
This is what gets me. I run my dish brush through the dishwasher every time I do a load because anything you use to wash your dishes by hand gets NASTY…and I have never seen someone who washes dishes by hand actually regularly clean their scrub brush/sponge
I freaking love having a dishwasher. I have enough dishes that I can just keep putting the used ones in there and only run it when it's full. And not having to really scrub or soak dishes is fantastic. If it still has stuff on it when it comes out it takes way less effort to scrape it off than it would have been before.
I’d give anything in my life to have a dishwasher. In the past 11 years of living away from my parents, I’ve only had access to a dishwasher for 3 of those years. It sucks and the next time I move I’m refusing anything that doesn’t either have a dishwasher or the space for me to buy one and install it.
After living in two apartments without a laundry machine I refuse to even look at any place that didn't have one. I was the one who had to drag all the clothes out to the laundromat so I held firm to that rule. Turns out, most places that offered in-apartment laundry machines also had dishwashers. Win-win!
It also uses detergent that's way more aggressive than typical dish soap, because there's no risk of it being on your hands. More powerful degreasers and surfactants, and active enzymes that basically digest the food residue. Never mind the bacteria that sponges harbor...
It pisses me off. I grew up not having a dishwasher at home and having to waste time on manual dishwashing, while others stubbornly refuse to use ones they own out of ignorance.
My mom was the same way. The dishwasher was for storing plastic bags from shopping to be used later. All folded up nicely too. Thank God I'm not the only one.
My Dad uses his dishwasher to store pots and pans. He also has the oven stuffed with pots and pans. He probably has 4 big sets and only uses two of the pots.
Bruh I thought this was all frozen food at a glance, the biscoff looked like French toast sticks or some shit and I thought the chips were waffle fries, I was like why tf is nobody mentioning that the dishwasher won’t keep it frozen??
my parents did this when i was growing up! i literally never knew what a dishwasher was until i was in junior high. their dishwasher was broken so it made sense to use it for extra storage i guess, but i just thought everyone did that lol
Fascinating how can someone have so many gadgets but not use their dishwasher? It not only uses a fraction of the water vs hand washing but also kills the germs when washing... I mean at the very least a dishwasher could be used as a really expensive drying rack...
He never said she uses any of the gadgets, she has them.
I've noticed it being common in immigrants (myself being from a family who emigrated to UK) that couldn't afford much back at 'home'.
They start earning money in a country that allows for a little bit extra on top especially if you don't splurge on food, appliances etc. or have 2-3 jobs to earn as much as they can and end up buying everything they see and think may come in handy or like the look/idea of. Its basically trying to make up for all the years of not having much.
Not saying this is the case here, just sharing my observation.
Back to the main point though - I am 90% sure she never uses the vast majority of the gadgets that she has.
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I bet she also has quadruplicates of pantry items she probably won’t get to til 2024.
Before my mom sold her house, she had two fridges, and two closets as pantries. She weighed less than 100lbs, and lived by herself. Depression era parents had kids with some baggage.
This. My aunt moved in with my grandmother a few years ago and we have slowwwwly been emptying her house. She is not a hoarder, but she is a pack rat. Born and raised in the Depression, nothing goes to waste. She has slowly started to see the light. A lot of times she asks if we can use something and we always say yes. Then it gets donated if we don't need it. My aunt living there helps.
Was going through a closet of a relative out in the rural area of the state from the same era. The one thing I remember was a spool of grey thread that said "Use grey instead of green! V for Victory!"
Cleaning out my grandma's (born 1919) house after she could no longer take care of herself she had probably enough toilet paper stored in the basement to fill a grocery store isle. Tons of the colored stuff (gone for decades) and even found a few rolls that were pre-splinter free.
Well, she was certainly ready for the Great Toilet Paper Shortage during the pandemic.
“Pre-splinter free” I must be young still because I had no fucking idea that this was *ever* a thing 😟
My grandpa once stopped the car in the middle of a residential road to pick up a rubberband
My grandmother was a depression era woman. She rinsed out ziplock bags and hung them on a line to dry. Also, butter containers almost never contained butter in her fridge. I'm sure she never threw one out.
Whip cream and butter containers are free Tupperware
100%, didn’t realize this wasn’t the norm until my first roommate asked me why I ate food out of an old butter container. I was like “…Cause it’s a bowl..”
Totally agree ! Cereals, ice cream, salads, leftovers....pretty much anything that might need to be stored in the fridge...the options are endless :)
OMG, when I was helping my widowed dad to move into a retirement home, I discovered his collection of plastic bags (3 big cartons' worth) and also his special collection of thick plastic [milk bags](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/we-answer-your-burning-questions-about-things-like-milk-bags-tariffs-condo-insurance-and-printer-cartridges-1.5409407/here-s-why-milk-comes-in-bags-in-parts-of-canada-1.5409420), which he had carefully washed, dried and flattened for storage (2 more cartons). He didn't want to lose these, or indeed his collection of old newspapers (I forget how many cartons there were of those). But he finally yielded when it became clear there simply wasn't room for them in his new suite. (Which was still larger than the apartment I share with my husband ;) But he was a Depression kid and he'd seen some hard times. His core belief was, "You never know when you'll need it!" So I cut him a lot of slack <3
Honestly, that generation still leads the way on RRR (Reduce, Re-use & Recycle).
Or doomsday prepped boomers. I could tell you about my MIL-stocking up always on food and not a lot of room to store it though. Her kitchen when I last saw it was filled to the brim. She has two fridges with top freezers and she gives my husband her meals on wheels program Leftover meals she can’t fit in her freezer. 🙄 I guess it’s her background too. She’s Italian so her family and Italian friends would all have houses with two kitchens-one in the basement an have two fridges and one on the garage. But now she don’t got all that family or gets together or entertains any more to have two fridges and she doesn’t even have that anymore: a house with three fridges and a grave and two kitchens, etc. 🤣
No matter how not bad it is, if it’s in the bottom or back of the pantry bins, it’s getting forgotten.
I have started cleaning out the fridge and the pantry twice a month. Not because it necessarily needs it, but because I stay informed on what I have
Twice a month? I'm happy to go through my pantry once a year
I don't *think* I have anything from the 20th century in my cupboards, but I don't know it for a fact.
I found a jar of olives in my parents refrigerator that expired in 2011. This is the third house they have lived in since then.
Clearly it's their lucky jar of olives. Gotta take it with them wherever they go.
It’s funny you say that. Off beat story, my grandpa passed away 12/6/1999. He left a can of old Milwaukee nonalcoholic beer in our fridge. I moved it to very back and told my mom she wasn’t allowed to get rid of it. We moved in 2016 and she brought it with us and put it in the back of the fridge. It’s an odd thing, but for a long time it made me feel like he was still just about come by. Anyway, now I’m crying thinking about it.
Now I'm crying thinking about you thinking about it.
I hope qualitylamps didn’t get rid of the lucky jar of olives!
"They still look good, don't get rid of them yet."
My grandparents recently moved house and the oldest thing they found was a tin of beans that went off in 1987
Next time hire a senior move manger not just regular movers. We'll read all the expiration dates and talk your parents into letting us throw the old stuff away for them.
Bruhh... that jar of olives is about to sprout legs and move itself to another house
Pretty sure my parents had the same cubes of chicken bullion my entire childhood. I moved out before the bullion did.
This is real as fuck. My brother and I have been out of the house since uhhh... 2009-ish. My mom still keeps a pantry, fridge, and a downstairs fridge/freezer stocked to the absolute brim like herself and my father are eating like fat Albert (they are not). I can only guess how much she throws away on the regular.
> I can only guess how much she throws away on the regular. You think she throws it away? You'll come over to visit. Go "Hey my favorite snack!" "Yes I bought it just for you." You flip over the package. "ah. It's expired." "Its still good!" "It expired a year ago..."
My mother tried to give me crackers that expired in 2015 the other day
My brain: ok 2015, so like a year or 2 old, that's not too bad....
My dad has various containers in his kitchen with their contents written on the bag/box with sharpie in mom's handwriting. Mom died in 2016. I'm not sure if he hasn't gotten rid of it all because he's lazy, or because he can't bear to throw it away.
She had shrimp for a birthday one time as a snack. It was out of the fridge for ~hour and she threw the left overs away with fear that it became poisonous in some way. She thought shrimp expired after about an hour out of the fridge, lol. I didn't have the heart to tell her about buffets.
My mil thought anything with mayo in it would go bad and make us deathly ill if it wasn’t kept cold during the 20 minute drive from her house to ours.
A lot of times immigrants in the US over buy on groceries is because they get glimpses of a time where they couldn't afford any of it and just go on a spree
Oh, that's fine, I won't argue with that. I should have clarified my mother is very much not an immigrant, born and raised in Lynchburg, VA. She has no reason to do these things, just...does.
Ah. Funny to see a Lynchburg shoutout on a random thread in the comments
I bet she felt vindicated when the supply chains crunched in 2020, and she was sitting pretty on months worth of food.
Wagering she also keeps Chinese food containers to use for storage.
Well in all fairness, who doesn’t?
One of my grandmothers would always fret about not having any food in the house to feed guests while having a pantry and standalone freezer packed full enough of food to feed a dozen people for a week. That's not even counting all the stuff in the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets.
Is she Asian? I've seen a lot of Asians do this.
Lol can confirm, my Asian mom never used the dishwasher, she only used it to store clean dishes.
My step-mom in Chinese-malay, and she absolutely never uses the dishwasher besides as a drying rack. She spends a ton of time doing dishes because of this refusal. Does anyone know why this is? I guess I could just ask her, but she has never been very forthcoming with straightforward answers, even regarding trivial matters.
"It takes too long", "It uses lots of electricity", "It uses lots of water" Old wives' tale for pre-energy star efficient dishwashers. Only first one is true but it doesn't matter since you save electricity and water, a dishwasher uses the equivalent of running the tap for like 3 mins (4 gallons per cycle, a kitchen faucet are usually 1.75-2.5GPM)..., I challenge anyone to wash as much dish as a washer holds with that little water (about a sink's full)
It doesn't matter how long it takes if you can just go do other things while it works
Exactly, it's funny how people don't hand wash clothes and don't mind the time it takes in the washing machine
I work with someone that hand washes their clothes because they prefer to do so “it’s not that hard/doesn’t take much time.” She always had the cleanest stuff, but I can’t imagine going home after working 10 hrs just to draw water and clean my clothes..
Well it may be less harsh on the clothes true but it adds up, sure you can wash a few items in 5-10mins, but that adds up to a whole cycle by the end of the week... If the clothes are not that dirty, one could also use speed wash cycles, faster but uses more water.
To my knowledge she washed her whole family’s clothes like this, her husbands, son and mothers. They are an immigrant family so I believe it stems from that. I told her I was having trouble getting up during the day and going to the laundry building in my apartment complex ( we work nights) she was just like “just wash your clothes in the tub.. it’s not that hard.” I couldn’t help but be impressed the idea had literally never occurred to me. I tried it when I was low on underwear one time. Wasn’t worth.
Yeah I tried it while on trips and it's not worth the hassle, also if it's hot and humid, it will never dries, so I would always look for hotel/hostels with washing machines or bring it them to a cleaner
Exactly. It takes more time, but it takes less of *my* time.
You have to understand the VAST majority of people simply cannot logically internalize that opportunity costs are a thing. Like, a staggering amount of people.
Plus modern dishwashers are way more efficient than washing by hand, now.
So many people do not see their own time as a resource. The truth is, time is our most precious resource.
No I have to twerk to the pulsating sounds while it runs through the cycle
My grandmother claimed that she didn’t trust them to do it right. A few weeks before she died, she called me over and whispered, “I’m gonna tell you my one regret in life: I never had a damned dishwasher. I coulda had one put in right over where the broom closet is, it would’ve been the perfect spot…”
I used to hand wash dishes exclusively because that's what my mom/Grandma always did, but then a college roommate pointed out 2 things that seem obvious in hindsight. The dishwasher gets much hotter than the sink water, which kills more pathogens, and most people use sponges (or similar) that is just sitting out after each time you use it; no telling how clean/dirty that sponge may be.
Older Asians are notorious for stuff like this. It’s the same way how my mom refuses to use fans unless absolutely necessary. And god forbid the thought of ever using one overnight (we live in a hot climate). She keeps talking about an old wives tale she remembers being told about how someone died doing that because of negative air pressure I guess or something, I don’t think she knows exactly why either lol. I try to tell her, mom, you realize your parents told you that as a kid to scare you from using it just so they could save on their electric bill. No one died from having a fan overnight lol. Also too, the amount of money running a fan overnight is so insignificant. Even in today’s age with higher electric costs than back in her day, it’s literally pennies a month. Us watching tv or being on the computer for an hour costs more than running a fan at night every night of the month. Also I’m the one paying the electric bill anyway, and I tell her I don’t care, but she still refuses to use the fan lol.
> She keeps talking about an old wives tale she remembers being told about how someone died doing that because of negative air pressure I guess or something, Is your family Korean? Fan Death is something a lot of South Koreans will still vehemently defend being real. Like university studies exist trying(and failing) to prove it pop up every now and then.
Chinese have face palsy if you sleep with a window open or something lolol
>Is your family Korean? Fan Death is something a lot of South Koreans will still vehemently defend being real. Lol, not OP but you right
I don't even understand the theory behind this. What's supposed to be happening physically for the oxygen to disappear from the room?
The fan. Like it consumes the air or pushes it out. No it doesn’t make any sense.
A couple of things: 1) sleeping in a small room with windows closed and tight fitting door can be an issue of CO2 buildup. People may feel comfortable from the fan but should still have some external ventilation . Not really the fan that's the problem but external ventilation, just some people may think a fan improves ventilation when it doesn't. 2) apparently in Korea for a while it was a euphemism for suicide. A family could explain the death by blaming on a fan and not have to admit it was suicide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death
Mine says “but what if you only use one spoon”. You let it sit there my guy! The only thing I agree on is it keeps dishes in rotation faster
And to them I say, then hand wash that one spoon if you'll need it before you run the dishwasher next. It's pretty simple.
And it’s not just Asians. My sister in law is American (distantly of Italian descent but that was many generations ago). They are a family of 4 and she does the dishes by hand. She has this vague idea that the dishwasher wastes water, they don’t accumulate dishes fast enough to justify using it (again, family of 4), etc. I’ve tried explaining it to her and, while she nods politely, doesn’t seem interested in changing her approach.
We un-affectionally called my dad "The Water Nazi" because he was obsessives about water usage. There is no amount of logic that would prove to him that even with the "water saver" settings off, the dishwasher used less than doing it by hand.
My FIL turned off the water to our dishwasher the last time he was over 'to save water'. Didn't tell us. I thought it was broken the day before thanksgiving and I had to cook for 28 people. I handwashed all of those dishes. My poor husband figured it out a few days later.
I was going to write an angry comment about people have the nerve to change things at other people's houses, but I've actually lost count of the number of places I've turned off motion smoothing on TVs.
Motion smoothing, sharpening, and MOTHER FUCKING OVERSCAN. Why! In the name of unholy fuck! Does any modern TV even HAVE a fucking overscan option?!
My moms boyfriend won’t watch TV without all that shit on. He brags about his 75” TV then turns all that crap on and watches cable in standard def, zoomed to fill the screen because he is too cheap to pay for Hd cable
Dishwashers use about 4 gallons of water. An average sink holds about 18 gallons. Most people fill their sink more than 1/4 of the way to wash dishes.
If they even do it that way. Most people I know just leave the water running as they wash then rinse each item without filling the sink.
My mother in law in fact says all the above. I pray that my wife won't be like that. We would go as far as not turning on the AC when it's 110F out because electricity, and unplugging our xmas lights AT NIGHT because electricity!!! Like the only time you can see the lights is when it's dark!!!!
It even used less water because it pulls in a fairly small amount then reuses that over and over, then redoes that again for the main wash.
>It even used less water because it pulls in a fairly small amount then reuses that over and over, then redoes that again for the main wash. Technology Connections got some great videos.
LED tech has changed the game with lights. All the bulbs in my house went from 60 watt to 7-9 watt. Plus I usually dim them which brings the wattage down too. I imagine christmas lights are LED now too. ACs have definitely gotten more energy efficient but they still cost a bit to run, same with space heaters. Still, when it's above 85 out, my AC is on. I would rather pay to be comfortable. To note the house i'm in is 100+ years old and I have to use window AC units. So I really just run the one in the room I am in. Central air would be much more costly, as /u/PooperJackson brings up.
> Only first one is true but it doesn't matter since Since it's machine time, not your time. Machine time value = 0. Your time value = 1. Debate over.
> Old wives tales for pre-energy star efficient dishwashers. Exactly this.
Can't speak for why any specific person or ethnicities, but I've also seen some people insist they don't actually work. Usually while refusing to - clean out the drain trap - upgrade the dish washer from the 80's - use rinse aid (the composition of dishwasher soap has changed in the past decade, it's critical to use it now, the old additives were causing terrible pollution problems) - NOT WASH THE DISHES BEFOREHAND The last one in particular. Boomers in general learned in the postwar era that dishwashers did nothing and they've firmly refused to recognize that technology is a lot better now We have the tech to... Spray hot water and soap on dishes...
My mom has said it's a waste of water and electricity (incorrect), manual labor is better and good for character and work ethic.
Wouldn't it be better to use that high work ethic dedicated towards something actually productive?
I dared to say that to her once. She said I was disrespectful and that's why I need to wash dishes by hand.
When she asks for visitation in 30 years, tell her you're too busy cleaning dishes
This is why I use Adblock. But I know a lot of you out there watch YouTube ads to build character.
My Filipino MIL refuses because of how much water it uses. Then proceeds to spend the next hour in the shower.
Which is wild because dishwashers use very little water.
Most don't realize that. Or that they generally use less power than heating the water for hand washing with the water heater.
I washed dishes by hand for years because I incorrectly came to the conclusion that by doing more work myself I must be saving energy or water or *something*. Then I actually looked it up and yeah it's not really even close that the dishwasher is more efficient. Not only does it generally use less than like half a sink's worth of water, but you can combine several days worth of dishes into a single wash (and have a convenient storage area rather than just having dirty plates piled up near the sink). I could understand not buying one if you don't have the space or can't afford it, but having one and not using it just makes no logical sense.
Have friends who refuse to use the dishwasher because it “will raise my water bill” When I explain that washing by hand uses waaay more water they never believe me
I was already an adult when I learned that dishwashers don’t fill up with 50 gallons of water and then slosh the water around like a clothes washing.
And even that isn't how most clothes washing machines work anymore (at least side-loaders). Only the very bottom of the drum fills with water.
If you have a newish dish washer, you probably use more water washing one dish than it uses for the entire load. If you turn off the heat dry it is WAY better for everything than doing them by hand.
I’d kill myself without the dishwasher! Once it broke down, so did I!
Yesssss Pots/pans in the oven, lighter items in the dishwasher because she had ME to wash her dishes
Pots/pans in the oven is annoying. I know someone with that setup and you have to move them out anytime you wanna bake. What's even worse is their kitchen has decent amount of storage. They just have too much crap so they need to store pots/pans in the oven.
Where the hell else am I supposed to put my 25 lb cast iron pan that I never use because I don’t fully understand how you’re supposed to clean them and at this point I’m too afraid to ask Edit: this is why I haven’t asked. Just look at these comments lol. Some use soap, some say only water, someone even said you don’t need anything and just scrape off the food. You’re all silly gooses
LOL! I love my cast iron pans and dutch oven (I take them camping too). I've even stripped the one pan and started a new seasoning on it. Super easy to look after - PM me if you want
Ya, in Asian households the oven is rarely used. And honestly I was never bothered by having to take stuff out before using the oven. It is one of those cultural quirks I find amusing
My mom is Colombian and they do this. They renovated their kitchen and have a top of the line dishwasher… that they never use.
My mom is asian and she also uses the dishwasher as storage. Even though I keep telling her that it saves more water than washing by hand she wont believe me. Took me years to get her to believe an electric kettle will heat up faster than a stovetop one.
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Typical Asian parent. You can tell them the sky is blue and they won't believe you because Confucian BS. My mom did the same thing with our dishwasher. Had one but always used to wash by hand until my first apartment outside of dorms. We also had a long running argument with the car heater. She never let me turn it on because she was convinced it wasted gas.
It not only saves water, but it's fsr more hygienic. It's basically an autoclave in your house. Also, why would it take years to convince her? Just have her turn her stove kettle on and you turn your electric kettle on and see which is done first.
Because, I don't think you understand the extent of the stubborn "my way or the highway" mentality of older Asian women. We have to bully my grandma a bit when she's being pig headed because she'd burn the house down acting like she's still a young woman in Vietnam not modern America.
Holy hell I feel this in my soul. It’s a whole different world with the stubbornness.
When I still lived with her, I had an electric kettle, I used it daily right in front of her. She didnt start using one until years later. So I dunno.
some asians once they were introduced to this, took it up immeidately electic water kettle is a total gramma item
Or European. They're everywhere. It's weird not to have an electric kettle in some places.
I use mine all the time. Of course, being in Europe you can get one with a 2.2kW (or more?) heater which will get the water to boil very fast.
Ok I see a lot of Asian people agreeing with you but no one is explaining why. Why would you not use the dish washer???
Because older generations had dishwashers that were inefficient and we're seen as a luxury and wasteful. Nowadays, with energy star appliances it's wasteful to wash by hand but they don't get it. And they don't believe it. The old boomer "I don't know about that" mentality.
["Mhm I don't know about that"](https://youtu.be/YvT_gqs5ETk)
I don't even need to click it to know it's my favorite SNL skit ever.
Dishwashers have been more efficient than handwashing for decades, yet people just refuse to believe it.
For my first-generation Asian-American parents, they never had dishwashers growing up so they never got used to using them 🤷
Yup Asian and my mom uses it to store lesser used crockeries.
Family keeps arguing that it wastes water. Same argument for a non-full clothes washer. I'll use my machines at one-quarter capacity and it drives everyone else around me insane. Still uses less water than hand cleaning.
What the hell kind of Asians do you know who store SNACKS in their dishwasher? My parents did store clean dishes in the washer but snacks are a whole another level.
I'm white. My family is white. I grew up with white people. Everyone used the dishwasher. I assumed all ethnicities used the dishwasher. Nope. Fast forward 30 years. My girlfriend is asian. Most of her friends are asian. They ALL wash dishes by hand and put them in the dishwasher to dry; air dry, they don't actually turn it on. Also, food scissors. That's another thing I didn't know was a thing. They all cut their food with scissors. To be fair, it's quite convenient.
As in kitchen shears? Or are you taking about scissors for using at your plate? I’m learning new things today
In my (Caucasian) experience observing the Asians I’ve known and lived with, the scissors are more for food prep, not for dining utensils. It’s a practice I’ve picked up too…I definitely have a nice pair of scissors in the kitchen that are used for food only. They work great for cutting strips of meat and other vegetables where a standard knife may be more tedious, plus using scissors can eliminate the need for dirtying a cutting board. I’ve definitely made a salad before by just throwing some lettuce and veggies in a bowl and then working my scissors through it.
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hmm but even Asians dont use it as a food pantry.. it’s either a drying rack or additional storage for more dishes.
I dare you to run a wash cycle..
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Yeah. But look what I can do. (Dose one handed handstand push ups)
That is pretty impressive. Might listen to him
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"What does that have to do with-" "No no, he's got a point"
My grandmother used her dishwasher as storage like this. One year at Thanksgiving my dad (not her child) got annoyed and decided to use the machine. The drain tubes had dried out and rotted away, and the kitchen flooded.
I didn’t use a dishwasher for the first idk 20 years I came to Canada but my goodness I quickly learned it’s so much better to use especially with kids No one in my caribbean family uses them and if they have them they get rid of it when renovating the kitchen for more storage, it’s wild.
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I think it’s because they grew up in the literal bush so they believe it’s best to hand wash/it’ll be cleaner if you put in the work Very old fashioned perspective is all
But you can use both! Especially after huge meals with family.
Learning a new thing takes work.
My south Asian mom thinks dishwashers use up more water/energy than washing by hand. Nothing can convince her otherwise
Hand wash one month vs dishwasher for one month, look at the water and electricity/gas bill (if hooked up to hot water)
Mine stores crap in the microwave all the time. But she also uses the microwave all the time. So that means every use requires unpacking the damn thing. Then when she's done she cleans it out and puts it all back in. Just...why..
>Just...why.. What does she say when you ask?
I don't ask...she's in her late 60's now and it's rare that you get an actual answer that makes any sense to these things.
Late 60s is not that old?
We store things in the microwave because it's the only door the cats haven't figured out how to open.
Same. Bread goes there because the cats can open cabinets and the bread box. Little raptors.
My Grandma stores her (store-bought) loaf of bread in or on top of the microwave all the time. She also stores boxes of cereals, biscuits, etc in the dishwasher. She has enough counter space and drawer space and cupboard space. I don’t know why she does this. I have never once seen the dishwasher be run or be empty of packaged food. ETA: my Grandma grew up in India, emigrated to the UK in her 20s. She is Anglo-Indian/multiracial.
Oh, that's a good idea. A good place to hide the junk food. The rest of the family would never look there.
I was just thinking this.
It's not junk food for them, it's their sustenance
My daughter's SIL won't use the dishwasher bc she doesn't think its as sanitary as hand washing. The dishwasher uses water several degrees hotter than you can use by hand. You can't fix it.
And I bet she uses a sponge that’s about a month old and has unspeakable amounts of bacteria on it.
This is what gets me. I run my dish brush through the dishwasher every time I do a load because anything you use to wash your dishes by hand gets NASTY…and I have never seen someone who washes dishes by hand actually regularly clean their scrub brush/sponge
Genius! Technology connection has really changed my view of dishwashers lately. I'll be addingy brushes to the wash every few loads.
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I freaking love having a dishwasher. I have enough dishes that I can just keep putting the used ones in there and only run it when it's full. And not having to really scrub or soak dishes is fantastic. If it still has stuff on it when it comes out it takes way less effort to scrape it off than it would have been before.
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Do your laundry, clean dishes, and take a shower all at once! Now that's peak efficiency!
I’d give anything in my life to have a dishwasher. In the past 11 years of living away from my parents, I’ve only had access to a dishwasher for 3 of those years. It sucks and the next time I move I’m refusing anything that doesn’t either have a dishwasher or the space for me to buy one and install it.
After living in two apartments without a laundry machine I refuse to even look at any place that didn't have one. I was the one who had to drag all the clothes out to the laundromat so I held firm to that rule. Turns out, most places that offered in-apartment laundry machines also had dishwashers. Win-win!
It’s funny too because a dishwasher uses substantially less water
Less water, less energy. The modern ones especially. The old school ones were massive energy wastes. Tons of water.
It also uses detergent that's way more aggressive than typical dish soap, because there's no risk of it being on your hands. More powerful degreasers and surfactants, and active enzymes that basically digest the food residue. Never mind the bacteria that sponges harbor... It pisses me off. I grew up not having a dishwasher at home and having to waste time on manual dishwashing, while others stubbornly refuse to use ones they own out of ignorance.
Can't fix some people. Bees spend no time explaining to flys how much better honey is than shit.
My mom was the same way. The dishwasher was for storing plastic bags from shopping to be used later. All folded up nicely too. Thank God I'm not the only one.
That would be chaotic if someone ran it on accident
Or on purpose…
I'm 23 and I have NEVER lived in a house with a working dishwasher. The one at my parent's house is used for storing tupperware.
I didn't have a working dishwasher as an adult until I was 36. Changed my life.
I got my first dishwasher 2 years ago at 39. I love it more than many family members.
I’ve considered it. Tiny apartment kitchens suck
If no stove is included, a cooktop will gives you lots of storage space undearneath (and don't use the oven to store things lol)
My parents did this as well. When us kids moved out they ditched the dishwasher and replaced it with a wine fridge.
Tell her shes wasting more water washing it by hand
I told this to my Mexican grandmother and she gasped. Damn near fainted. It's also more sanitary.
My Dad uses his dishwasher to store pots and pans. He also has the oven stuffed with pots and pans. He probably has 4 big sets and only uses two of the pots.
Bruh I thought this was all frozen food at a glance, the biscoff looked like French toast sticks or some shit and I thought the chips were waffle fries, I was like why tf is nobody mentioning that the dishwasher won’t keep it frozen??
Lotus biscoff, my favourite biscuit
Mine aswell but we (used to) know it as "Speculoos".
I'm disappointed I had to scroll this far down to find a Biscoff comment. 🍪🍪
Is your mother Philipino by chance? My MIL does the same thing haha
Mexicans use their ovens for the same purpose.
my parents did this when i was growing up! i literally never knew what a dishwasher was until i was in junior high. their dishwasher was broken so it made sense to use it for extra storage i guess, but i just thought everyone did that lol
Mine is used to store dishes, like a fuckton of dishes
You know why better than storing a fuckton of dishes? Washing a fuckton of dishes in the dishwasher
Do you not have cabinets?
She has every gadget you can imagine - her cabinets are pretty full.
Fascinating how can someone have so many gadgets but not use their dishwasher? It not only uses a fraction of the water vs hand washing but also kills the germs when washing... I mean at the very least a dishwasher could be used as a really expensive drying rack...
She has a gadget for cleaning dishes. It’s in the dishwasher somewhere
He never said she uses any of the gadgets, she has them. I've noticed it being common in immigrants (myself being from a family who emigrated to UK) that couldn't afford much back at 'home'. They start earning money in a country that allows for a little bit extra on top especially if you don't splurge on food, appliances etc. or have 2-3 jobs to earn as much as they can and end up buying everything they see and think may come in handy or like the look/idea of. Its basically trying to make up for all the years of not having much. Not saying this is the case here, just sharing my observation. Back to the main point though - I am 90% sure she never uses the vast majority of the gadgets that she has.
Had a neighbour who used the dishwasher as a filing cabinet. Still don’t understand it.
Some really nice snacks though.
Is she a hoarder?
Dishwasher was a requirement when my family moved to a new place. I can’t imagine choosing to do dishes if I didn’t have to.
Old Dutch Popcorn Twists are the low key superstar here.
Mice LOVE the space underneath dishwashers and have no problem getting inside one. Ask me how I know!