"Water" skipping ...

... just like throwing a small flat rock such that it skips on a pond X number of times before sinking, water skipping (TM?) is figuring out how many times you can sling water and get various uses out of it, until it runs out of reuse, and sinks into the ground.

For example, we dumped an old standard (giant) dishwasher built into our cabinetry for a Farberware portable (countertop) dishwasher; it uses less power, and infinitely less water than the old one. So, 1.3 gallons is what we're "skipping" ...

1st skip: 1.3 gallons into the portable, and our 1st round of dishes (cups, bowls, plates, silverware) gets washed. The water then drains into a tub that fits our sink.

2nd skip: as this water is already heated a bit, and has (organic) dishwasher soap in it, we then wash any remaining cooking implements (pots, pans, etc.) that don't fit into the portable. All dishes are done by this point ... my daughters are cheering me on, as they haven't had to wash dishes since this new routine.

3rd skip: if no major food particles or grease, we then either flush a toilet with the water (and counting stops), or if no toilets needing flushing ...

Alt 3rd skip: water is poured onto landscaping and other items needing watering.

So, up to 3 skips of the "water" out of the above! This is one of the ways we keep water use down to a minimum ... as we haul water, water reuse is key.

Any other creative water skipping routines out there?

BTW, to whomever it was with the brilliant idea of saving the wire racks out of the old dishwasher, and mounting them into sliding shelves of the cabinetry to create "drying" racks ... thanks!

That's a brilliant way to save water while still getting to use a dish washer. Manually washing dishes to save water gets old pretty fast!

I love skipping stones. It's something I did as a kid and now do with my kids whenever we're on a lake edge that has the right kind of stones. My parents made me do the dishes for years and it was the cause of most fights with my younger sister as we had to do it together. When I left home, my parents bought a dishwasher! I owned one for years but when we lived in tropical Asia, it wasn't a thing. So I went back to washing up by hand. I've read the pros and cons, and one thing rarely mentioned, is the social aspect of clearing up together. When I'm doing it on my own, I'll put a podcast on or just get lost in my thoughts. I think these 'values' get lost in the resource / water use conversations. My wife hates doing the dishes. I think the solution you have could work for me, we could both be happy. Great concept of skipping - an alternative view on reuse.

Update on the counter-top dishwasher ... we purchased a german-made model. Works great, but we noticed it had a 3-part wash/rinse/rinse cycle, consuming about an hour of electricity in the process; early on, we cut out the electric "drying" phase.

As we wash dishes by hand with only a wash/rinse cycle, we found that we could stop this little dishwasher right after the first rinse cycle, saving even more water, and more electricity.

Dishes are reasonably clean after just the wash/rinse cycle. We just set a timer, and stop it right after it drains the rinse water into our capture sink bucket. Nifty ...

Still working on using just "harsh language" on the dirty dishes (no water/electricity at all), but haven't found the right word combinations yet ...

I'm apprehensive about using dishwasher water in the sink. The composition of dishwashing detergent for hand use is very different from that used in machines. Part of the reasons dishwashers can do such a good job is that they use washing soda, which chemically alters fats - including in the skin!

I'm no chemist ... but early on, when beginning to think about grey-water and its application around the 40 acres, we switched to more bio-degradable versions of soaps and cleaners.

Always a challenge to find the very best bio-degradable whatever, but for this little dishwasher, we use "open nature" dishwasher gel. It's free of everything, according to the label, so I have no idea what is left to clean with, but things do come out clean.

When the heated water from the dishwasher lands in the capture bucket (purchased to closely fit the sink), the water gets a shot of hand dishwashing soap for the next round of pots/pans, on the premise that the dishwasher gel is shot (not much cleaning power left at that point).

I am the chief bottle-washer around these parts, so I'll keep a close eye on my hands (and read up on this issue) to see if the skin is reacting to the open nature dishwasher gel.