11 Things to Put in the Dishwasher

For the past 10 years, I have owned a dishwasher.  And now, I can’t imagine my life without one. 

At first, I was clueless on how to load my dishwasher.  lol  I guess I wasn’t truly clueless.  I was just hesitant because I thought I wouldn’t do it right and the dishes wouldn’t be cleaned properly. 

Long gone are those days of worry and hesitation.  I’ll put just about anything in the dishwasher now.   Here’s a few of the things I have put into a dishwasher.  Of course, most things I would recommend on the top rack only.

1)  Bottles and sippy cups – I bought some of the dishwasher baskets.  I put the sippy cup valves, straws, and all the pieces in the dishwasher.  It’s great for sanitizing.

2)  Teething rings – Yes, I know the package says not to do this, but I did it anyway.  I put them in the freezer too.  I guess I can be a hard core rule breaker sometimes.  (haha Not really.)

3)  Toys – You know how babies like to chew on everything.  It didn’t take me long to get tired of handwashing all the toys.  I just starting throwing them in the top rack.  I only messed up one toy.  It was one with a mirror finish.  Of course, you should never put battery powered toys in water.  (duh)

4)  Bibs – I bought some plastic/vinyl?  bibs for my kids because I was tired of the cloth ones having food leak through them.  The vinyl bibs are so great.  I got them at Wal-Mart.  They have snaps so that you can form a pouch at the bottom.  They hold a lot of liquid, this I can tell you.  FYI – after repeated dishwasher use, the prints do wear off the bibs. 

5)  Lunchboxes – Another item that I tested.  I was so sick of the rotten lunchbox smell.  I had to try something. 

6)  Sponges – Kill the nasty germs on the sponges.  They’re so gross!

7)  Brushes – This goes for cleaning brushes and hair brushes. 

8)  Cutting board – This is another kitchen item that is crawling with bacteria.  The dishwasher can help with this sanitation issue.

9)  Oven filters – I’m talking about those metal mesh filters that get filled with grease.  The scalding hot water from the dishwasher helps to break up the grease.

10)  Car parts – I’m talking those plastic pieces inside your car such as your cup holders and such.  Over the years, I’ve got some pretty good deals on vehicles, but mainly because they were so nasty.  The dishwasher helps to break off the nasty stuff.

11)  Trash can lids – It doesn’t take long for these to get dirty and germ infested. 

I recently bought a new humidifier and noticed that the new thing now is for the companies to promote that the pieces are dishwasher safe.  I haven’t tried it yet though.  I just spray mine with bleach water or vinegar water and rinse. 

I’ve also heard of people putting shoes and clothing into the dishwasher.

How about you?  What do you put in your dishwasher?

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image is mine