How I unload my dishwasher in 6 min 40 sec

Weekday mornings are bubbly, activity-filled chaos in most families. Some days if I wake up later than I wanted, I take one look at the dishwasher and express anger at that inanimate object. Not only is my mind trying to optimize questions like what easy dish options do I have? Do I have time to use the pressure cooker? Will my other daughter like the dish? …. I have to unload dishes too!!

Fear not, let us use data and organization as our tools to simplify the process. Normally, I take about 10-12 minutes to unload the dishes. I was able to bring that time down to 6 min and 40 sec using the following 3 techniques:

Reduce your walking distance

• Rearrange the kitchen shelves to keep the most frequently washed items (in my case cups and plates) right near the dishwasher. Earlier I used to keep them across the room which required 5 steps one-way to store the dishes. So, the additional 10 steps for every 3-4 cups that I carry would soon add up to a few extra minutes.

Load it up neatly – makes for easier unloading

• Organize similar things together – plates together, cups together, etc. This is a pet peeve of my husband, who gets annoyed by my, “just load it up and get ‘er done” attitude. He has been able to pack more dishes into the dishwasher by packing them neat and organized. This also helps the unloading process easier since I can scoop them out all at once instead of fishing around. This is especially useful in the cutlery drawer when you load spoons, forks and knives separately.

Batch unload to each kitchen shelf

• Earlier, I would just mindlessly empty the dishwasher right to left, top to bottom sequentially. If a kitchen shelf housed cups and plates, first I would empty the cups (top drawer), then do a bunch of other utensils, then empty the plates (bottom drawer). I would go to revisit the same shelves over and over. At the end of all the unloading, all the kitchen shelves would be open like a scene from a ghost movie. Instead, I found that I was able to save a lot of time by opening a single shelf, unloading all dishes that go in that shelf, close it and move on.

So, having done all the above changes, I was able to unload my dishwasher in about 6 min. What is your unloading time? Do you have any tips to unload the dishwasher quickly? Please share your thoughts and ideas that other readers can relate and learn from.