This Popular Dishwasher Hack Promises to Give You Dry Dishes in 5 Minutes

Washing and drying the dishes can be a chore even if you have a dishwasher. The dishes have to all be rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher, and then when it is done, they often still need to be dried as you unload. It seems like there’s endless steps each and every cycle, and that’s beyond the actual part where the dishwasher does its washing!

But Instagram’s favorite internet mom/grandma, Brunch With Babs, has a tip that is both easy and saves tons of time. In the video, Babs opened her dishwasher after a wash cycle  to reveal still-wet dishes. She remedied this by draping a terry cloth towel on the door of the dishwasher so that the towel is folded partly on the inside and partly on the outside of the door of the dishwasher. 

She then closed the door, waited five minutes, and the dishes were dry. No need to hand dry them one by one. I imagine this works because the towel added to the dishwasher works to  absorb some of that moisture and steam trapped in the dishwasher, helping to dry the dishes.

Of course, there are other ways to reduce steam and excess moisture inside the dishwasher. You can try opening the door of the washer a little to let the steam out after the cycle has completed, or even play around with dish placement inside the washer so that everything is strategically tiled, leaving less opportunity for water to pool in any one area. This hack, however, seems to be the easiest and most straightforward option of all. But fair warning: if you’re piling in a bunch of plastic containers or dishes, you may not garner the same results.

At any rate, it’s all rather brilliant in concept but simple to do — which is my favorite kind of kitchen hack. I wonder if Babs has any timesaving tips for washing dishes for those of us who don’t even have a dishwasher. I’m listening!