Altoona, IA - Doin' the Dishes

We are lucky that we have a washer/drier combination in our RV. Sure saves a lot of time and money. We can do a load in the evening, dry it for about 20 minutes and then hang it up to dry fully over night. I the morning, we can fold it and put it all away. But, what it saves most of all is the hassle of trying to find a clean laundromat. Most of the laundromats in campgrounds are ok and some are quite nice and clean but we’ve found some in towns that are just awful. You look inside and wonder what in the world did the last person wash? their pet’s bedding? tarps? the entry rug? Even though the tub might appear clean, there are sections around the top that trap the worst dirt and lint and hair and other yecchies. Now, how am I going to clean it up enough for my clothes? Yecch. So, yes, we’re lucky to have our very own washer-drier.

We do not have a dishwasher, however. Well, let me rephrase that. Gary might have a dishwasher but I certainly do not. I AM the dishwasher. But, on the other hand, I have seldom minded that. My first rule is: if you can see it, you have to wash it. But, it you can stack everything in the sink and cover it, and you can’t see it, you DO NOT have to wash it. I don’t want dirty dishes on the counter - since they can be see from all over the house. (And, boy, I never knew that I had an amazing ability to stack more dishes that I ever thought possible in the sink.) Usually by the end of dinner in the evening, we have more than enough dishes that I have to wash. So I move into my zen mode and just do them. I’ve heard others say that you should be ‘in the moment’ and be one with the dishes. Nah, that’s not my trick. I figure that washing dished is purely physical and my mind can go anywhere I want it to. I can be hiking the mountains in AZ, I can be thinking about where we want to travel next, or my mind can be on such mundane things as making a shopping list for tomorrow. It’s my time, it’s my moment and my mind can go where it wants.

The other reason that I don’t mind doing the dishes is that I love to see a project done. How often in life do you get to stand back and look at something that is done? Most projects are in mid-stream, begun but not yet finished - kind of like life. Gary does the laundry and it’s the same thing: it’s done, clean, put away. It’s not something sitting on his desk that needs to be finished but he’s waiting for something or for time or for a call back from someone. It’s done, done, done.

(By the way, when I say that Gary has a dishwasher, I don’t mean to imply that he has not volunteered to do the dishes - just as I volunteer to do the laundry. But we divide those two tasks this way and we let the other do his or her task.)

But, back to the dishes. Recently, I read an article about how washing dishes is a great stress reliever - if you do it mindfully. The article says that you must be ‘in the moment’ and focused on smelling the soap, feeling the water temperature and touching the dishes. It was a research project at Florida State University with 51 students washing dishes. The test group that could wash dishes ‘mindfully’ ‘upped their feelings of inspiration by 25% and lowered their nervousness levels by 27%.’ (Were they really that nervous about doing the dishes? Were they afraid that the suds would bubble up and get them?)

Interesting, I do just the opposite. I’m not really ‘in the moment.’ I am not smelling the soap, I am not feeling the water temperature. I will admit that I do feel the little itch on my nose when my hands are full of soap but that’s an annoyance not a stress reliever. I am definitely not in the moment, I am somewhere else (not so far away that I don’t get the dishes clean). But I feel the same feeling of stress relief and the same feeling of well-being that the ‘mindful’ people must have felt. Mundane tasks have that effect.

Hmmm. Time to take out the trash.