Top 3 ideas to reduce dishwasher unload time

Weekday mornings are bubbly, activity-filled chaos in most families. Normally, I take about 10-12 minutes to unload the dishwasher. I was able to bring that time down to 6 min and 40 sec using the following 3 techniques:

1. Reduce your walking distance

Reduce the number of steps – Before and After

• 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.

2. Take time to load similar items together

Spoons Knives Forks

• Organize similar things together – plates together, cups together, etc. Not only can you pack more dishes, you can also unload a whole lot easier by scooping out similar items together. This is especially useful in the cutlery drawer when you load spoons, forks and knives separately.

3. Batch unload to each kitchen shelf

Unload shelf by shelf

• Batch Unload based on kitchen shelf instead of dishwasher sequence. 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, closing it and moving 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.