dirty soap?

Do you live in one of these states?

Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

If so, welcome to the "Help! Our dishwasher soap sucks!" club.

I did read something about phosphate being banned in dishwasher soap. It causes grass to grow in the wetlands or something. I also read reviews about how the dishes come out seemingly as dirty as when they went in. I didn't pay much attention though, until it affected me. I ran out of my giant container of dishwasher soap last week and had to buy more. The label was a different color but it still contained extra bleach so I bought it anyway. My bad.

It's true. It's gross. It's a problem.

I feel like an addict looking for some illegal product in the icky side of town. I'm cruising the outlet shops for my old product, the version that really does work. This new stuff works as well as the home-made stuff does or at least a bad version (for those who actually like their homemade version) . Otherwise I'll be making illegal buys on the net...you know...like the people who still buy their cigarettes on the net across state lines hoping not to get caught.

The bottom line is...I have people who are not cute little babies from my body eating off my dishes. That's why I buy the dishwasher soap with added bleach. I don't (and can't) share germs with people who don't share my dna. Did I ever mention that grumpy and I each have our own tube of toothpaste? It's a flaw I know but that's just how it is. So when my dishes seem as dirty coming out as when they went in, all I can see is that instead of nice clean germ free dishes what I'm supposed to be using is dishes that are now covered with every different germ that went in...equally...all mixed together. Gross and ick. Why pay money for soap if you don't get the benefit of soap? Why not just run it with plain water? It comes out the same.

I'm using paper at this point. My 2 options are to find my old product or switch to a commercial brand from Cash and Carry. See, they got to opt out because everyone knows that restaurants aren't expected to reuse dirty dishes. hmph. I'm not going to either. Off on my treasure hunt!!