If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know that I used an automatic dishwasher for the first time in my life a few days ago.

I only have about ten plates and bowls, two cups, and a handful of eating utensils to wash anyway, which isn’t much and wouldn’t take long to do it by hand, but I decided to test out the dishwasher, both for the experience and because my apartment started charging an extra flat fee of $10.75 for water and sewage this year.

A few things to keep in mind when using the dishwasher:

Don’t put plastic stuff in there. I don’t exactly know what happens inside the dishwasher after I close it, but after the cycle was done, I opened it and all the plastic containers I put in there were all over the place. One of them was hanging off a fork, another flew up to the top compartment, and another fell to the bottom near the spinning blades (of death).

The soap that you use in the dishwasher is different than the one you use to wash your dishes by hand. I fortunately already knew this, but one of my Twitter followers reminded me (even though he was two days late). If you’re curious what happens if you do use regular soap in an automatic dishwasher, have no fear, Jenna Ezarik already did it for you and vlogged about it a little less than a year ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHlDj_KTNGQ

My experience was a tad bit more successful. A few of the plates on which I ate rice came out a little dirty because apparently dried rice doesn’t wash off very easily in automatic dishwashers. But other than that, I’m glad I used this dishwasher and saved ten or so minutes of my life.