heheheehehe Ash! I love having a dishwasher, ours needing replacing a few months back and while we were without one for a few days we were grumpy LOL

What type of dishwasher is it? - I know the dish drawers are better with powder, but the normal ones are better with tablets - we use the finish powerball ones and have never had a problem with getting everything clean. We got some free Coles tablets once, they are crap

Some Tips
  • Definitely rinse all the food off and stacking it properly is important so the water/jets can get to all the dishes. DH is a terrible dishwasher stacker and it drives me bonkers as if anything comes out dirty its usually as a result of his poor packing LOL.
  • Dont put those melamine kids bowls/cups (not dishwasher safe) or kids stuff in there that has glittery or brightly painted logos - they tend to fade very quickly
  • If you have tomato based sauces in plastic containers, I find sometimes these dont wash well, better to rinse in hot soapy water first
  • Use a good rinse aid - your glasses will be streakfree (we use the finish one)
  • We usually clean our filter every week or so - I use an old toothbrush to give it a good scrub out, helps keep the dishwasher and the dishes clean
  • There are dishwasher deodorisers you can buy, they do smell nice (lemon/lime), but I find the smell penetrates DS's drinking cups so his water used to taste a bit like them, I dont use them any more!
  • We do use the finish dishwasher cleaner on a heavy cycle every month or so to give the dishwasher a good clean out
  • We bought a few extra utensils eg tongs etc as found we would need them again before the dishwasher was full and take them out dirty and handwash them. This was a good investment!
  • Most things are dishwasher safe, but I've always used the rule that if its something a bit special and I am unsure I'll not put it in


Hope that helps