Right now I’m eating soup. I love soup. All kinds of it. I could eat it every day.

Not stews so much though.

There’s just so many wonderful things to eat, but you can only consume so much in one day!

Dirty dishes are a disturbing side effect of eating. They stack up unbelievably fast. I just throw them in the sink until I run out of pots and pans and have to finally wash them (and no, I do not have a dishwasher). What a pain. I just got done doing my “monthly” dish wash, and I’m so glad that’s over with for a while.

But I have formulated some principles and guidelines, which, if adhered to, make a remarkable reduction to the dishwashing load. Being as benevolent and gracious as I am, I shall pass them on to you.

1. Use paper plates. I use Chinet premium strength, they’re very stiff and durable yet economical. What could be faster than just throwing it away when you’re finished eating? No plates to wash!

2. Use styrofoam bowls. I use the Hefty 20oz. (I’m eating out of one right now), don’t mess with anything smaller. They’re just not worth your time, you do nothing but constantly get up and refill the bowl! These 20oz.’ers are strong and also microwave friendly.

3. Use plastic cups. I use the Jack Frost (made by SOLO) 16oz. clear plastic party cups. I would really prefer something bigger, but I like the clear and also I had to strike some economical middle ground. The bigger ones tend to be more expensive. Note: You may notice in my cornbread picture that my iced tea is in a real glass. That is pure photo op, I never do that. I thought about getting a real plate too, but just couldn’t convince myself.

4. Use plastic spoons. As much soup as I eat, if I used regular spoons I’d spend all my free time washing them.

5. Use plastic knives. I really don’t use a knife too often, but when I do it’s sure nice to just throw it away when I’m done instead of washing it.

6. Use plastic forks. See number 5.

The response you often hear to these six points of brilliant common sense is usually along the lines of “That’s a waste of money.”

Hogwash! Is your time worth nothing ! And really, figure the cost of these inexpensive items and calculate how much time you spend doing dishes you wouldn’t have to do. I’ll bet you’d find that you’re saving cents an hour! That’s just not worth it in my book.

One of my ideals for this cutting edge medium was to keep my posts fairly short. But I find that’s hard to do on a subject I feel such passion about.