The Dishwasher Debate

When Joey and I bought our first house the appliances were outdated to say the least. Within the first year and a half of living there, we replaced the stove, fridge and dishwasher. The stove came first because I turned it on to bake cookies and it locked like it was on the clean setting and we actually had to pry it open, so I couldn't cook anything else until we bought a new one and happened within a month of moving in. The rest of the house was great.........I guess they just didn't think updating appliances was as important as the new carpet.


But, back to my story, since I had never owned a dishwasher before, I was super excited that our house had one. I was excited to be able to stick my dishes in there and have them come out sparkling clean.........well if I rinsed them really well (read basically washed every crumb off but didn't have to use soap) they came out clean and I guess they sparkled, I can't really remember.
Back then I had no idea that dishwashing detergents weren't created equal. I bought the big container of store brand powder thinking I would be set for quite sometime and man was I wrong. The GreatValue was lost because that stuff was terrible - all my dishes had a weird film on them and I was already nearly washing them before I put them in the dishwasher so I decided to shell out the big money (we were newly weds, so I use big money with that in mind) I bought the big box of Cascade (when will I learn that you don't buy the big box when you are trying something new). You know what - same results - weird film, basically washing the dishes before I put them in.......not really sure what the benefit was of the dishwasher, except it stored the dishes out of sight.

Then I found these little guys - and they are amazing. No weird film, no need to completely wash the dishes before I put them in........ahh I was in heaven, this is why people own dishwashers!!
So then, I noticed the other day when I bought some the price had really jumped (I know everything is higher, but I thought nearly a $1 was a lot for a little box of tabs) so I thought since I loved the Electrasol tabs, I would surely like the Electrasol powder...........right. And since I have a much newer dishwasher now, surely that wouldn't be a factor because everything comes out sparking clean (even the baked on brownie residue).

Since it was the same brand, I assumed it would work just as good and I'd save my self a few dollars...............note to self - Rachel you DO NOT LIKE POWDERED DISHWASHING DETERGENT - don't buy it again, you really don't save yourself any money, spend the extra $1 and get the tabs you know and love.