I like sparkly stuff as much as the next girl.
But I’ve realized something.
Sparkles on coffee cups don’t work for me.
I’ve accumulated quite the collection of water cups and coffee cups and other totally useful stuff that just happens to have the name of a conference I’ve attended or a company I’ve worked with printed on its side.
I try to use these things, and generally do. Those water cups with straws are the teenager-accepted version of sippy cups when a bunch of boys comes over. No. They aren’t spill proof, but they lessen the mess considerably when someone kicks over his drink in the gameroom.
But as you know, I’m a huge fan of my dishwasher. I feel intense loving feelings toward it that a psychiatrist might want to analyze.
So an item that can’t go through my dishwasher has to be pretty special for me to keep it.
Sparkly things can’t go through dishwashers.
I’m just not willing to risk messing up my beloved machine with a stray fake diamond.
And I’m DEFINITELY not willing to handwash such a thing when I have six more (at least) that don’t have to be handwashed.
Not sure what a sparkly cup would look like? Here’s a picture cropped from an old post of another sparkly cup that met the same fate:
The photo below is of the more recent sparkly coffee cup that I forgot to photograph before I stuck it in the trash.
Ideally, I’d donate it, but I didn’t feel like washing it after using it as a vase for the bouquet my daughter caught at our niece’s wedding.
Just like I didn’t feel like digging it out of the trash for a picture . . .
But it’s sparkly! And hand washin’ ain’t that big of a deal ya know….oh hang on, I forgot my own rule for a sec there. All that glitters….
…is probably clutter.
Lol, Stella!! I like Tervis tumblers just because their glitter is inside the two layers!!
Someone just gifted me that same red cup. I hate reuseable straws so I’ll never use it. A friends kid used it and its still sitting next to the sink because its not dishwasher safe. I told my husband that I feel obligated to keep it but don’t want it. He said “when she gave it to you did you ask the slob-ladies question, ‘what would you like me to do with this in the event that I can’t use it?’ -that would solve this whole thing. -by the way, I love her.”
I told him I love you too, (and our house amazing since I’ve found you) – but I’m not sure you can ask that question when it’s a gift, so next to the sink it sits…….
I love everything about this comment!!!
I used to worry about not using gifts…until I realized, I wouldn’t remember if somebody got rid of something I gave them. I live in the house WITH my kids and the gifts I’ve given them, and I barely remember those. Don’t let what other people meant as a kindness stress you out.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cup with glitter. LOL…of course I never really look either. 😀
It would be great if I loved my dishwasher like you love yours but mine always deposits an ugly, hard to remove film on everything in it – no matter what I what products I use, so I hand wash everything. If I weren’t convinced it’s because of the icky well water we have here in this part of the country, I might have another installed but I’d likely have the same issue.
That said, everything I buy for my kitchen almost always has to pass the “how hard will it be to wash’ test. Will I need Q-tips or toothpicks to get into little grooves and crevices? Are there areas (like a hollow handle on an otherwise nice stainless steel frying pan) that will be impossible to get a cleaning tool far enough in to wash it?
For that reason, I hate plastics. I don’t understand why they can’t be smooth and easy to wash My combination blender/sort of food processor thing has lids that make me want to spit bullets because I my sponge or dish cloth to touch every surface. Surprisingly, the bi-level blades come apart, which I love, but the lids… Grr!
Kristy, we have hard water like you (or at least, like I presume you have) but I came across a tip lately that made me love, love, LOVE my dishwasher like Dana loves hers.
Try putting a cup of vinegar in the centre of your top rack – right side up of course! – when you do your load. Before starting the load I also swirl vinegar in any glass dishes that are on the top rack. And viola! No more spots or streaks, my dishes and silverware are so shiny – even my husband is impressed.
Doing this has allowed us another dishwasher time saver (which kind of breaks Dana’s rule, but I think she’d be OK with it!). We have an automatic coffeemaker which we setup at night and schedule for when we wake up, but we run the dishwasher overnight. So we bought a second coffee urn, filter and basket, and run the dirty one in the dishwasher overnight and use the clean one for the next day – no more washing by hand or exhausted waiting for the dishwasher to finish! But the water spots were so bad I thought I’d have to go back to washing it by hand. But the vinegar trick makes it come out spotless! Freeing ourselves from handwashing is huge!
Thanks to Dana’s blog, I’ve now started putting some things in the dishwasher even when they’re designated hand wash – like our fab-u-lous spatulas with wooden handles from Lee Valley Tools that we absolutely couldn’t live without. It’s only the wooden finish that is impacted. I figure that if we want another with pristine pretty handles we’ll go out and buy one as the need arises. So far, faded wooden handles hasn’t been the crisis my husband first thought it was.
I’m still giggling over the line about the teenage boy-approved sippy cups. Hahaha! Now that’s all I’ll be seeing when people (including myself) are carrying around reusable water bottles! I don’t think it would have occurred to me to think of it quite that way…
Same goes for clothes. If it’s not machine wash, tumble dry….
It would only take a second to wash something that could be used by someone who can’t afford to buy a reusable cup. And the sippy cups – how do you wash the straws anyway, to be sure they are clean enough for different people to use. Get a double walled stainless steel canister that has a top which allows you to have an opening wide enough to put ice cubes in, then the other part screws on and has a small opening to drink out of without a straw. It will keep water cold for hours and water marks won’t show, so into the dishwasher it can go.
I just throw the glittery and gold embellished things in the dishwasher anyway. Yes it comes off but sometimes it takes a lot longer than you would think, it may make it one wash or a couple of years. I get to enjoy it while it lasts.
Prime Reading sent me a link that led to your free book. Have been reading it and enjoy it.
Kristy K. James, Try running your dishwasher with Tang in the dispenser instead of soap. I think they still make Tang; it is the orange powdered drink mix. You know the ones the astronauts drank.I may be dating myself here. My mom used to put it in the dishwasher and it got rid of all the brown staining…..Okay, now I feel the need to go to the grocery store and see if they still make it. I never bought it for my kids to drink. My thought was if it took the brown stuff out of the dishwasher what would it do to their insides…haha.