Too Many Dishes

Everyone DOES NEED to eat, and dishes and utensils can make the job a lot easier (Imagine trying to eat soup without a bowl!), but why do people need to own more than one set of dishes and utensils per person?

Imagine there are two people using the same kitchen, but there are six bowls in the cupboard. What is going to happen to those six bowls? They're all going to end up in the sink! They won't be washed until the pile gets annoying enough, and then it will probably be the same person washing them every time, since one person's tolerance for filth is usually less than the other's.

Now if you had only ONE bowl, plate, fork and spoon per person, each person's equipment would have to get washed every time. There would be no need for an automatic dishwasher or even much discipline in getting the dishes washed. If a plate is assigned to you and you need one, you are going to wash yours when it is dirty. It could still languish in the sink for a while, but the dishes are never going to pile up.

This is yet another case where plenty is a bad thing. If you have more of anything than you need, that excess is probably going to contribute to some form of waste that gums up the whole works.

Parents, think this through: Each kid gets a plate, cup, bowl and utensils labeled with his name. There are no others in the kitchen. If the plate gets dirty or sits in the sink, you know who done it. There's no need for a dishwashing detail (except perhaps for cooking pots). Each person is responsible for his own. Even when all discipline falls apart (as it often does in most families), you're never going to have more than one set of dishes per person accumulate in the sink.

It's brilliant!

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Also see: Automatic Dishwashers]