I have often wondered why people wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.

And why clean the house before the housekeeper comes to clean?

My niece-in-law is like that, and I truly do not understand it. I visited her recently and watched her clean the dishes after dinner, soap and running water, and then put them in the dishwasher.

When I asked her about it, she said that she didn't want to clog up the dishwasher drain. So I asked her why she didn't just scrape off the dishes and then stack them in. She said it just felt cleaner to her that way--not washing them first would feel like she was putting dirty dishes away.

It's especially confusing since she's always going on and on in her journal about the importance of water and not wasting potable water unnecessarily.

I suppose a similar reasoning would apply to pre-cleaning her house, maybe.

Oh. Clear as mud.