To the dear soul who found my blog searching for How does soap box open on dishwasher:
I want to help.
Doing dishes is hard. It’s a chore nobody likes. A dishwasher is meant to make that job easier, not harder. And it breaks my heart to think that you came to my blog looking for an answer, and got none.
Let me walk you through it, dearest (go ahead and bookmark this page in case you need help with it again).
First, you need to open the dishwasher. That’s the big door on the front. Mine is black. Yours might be white, or stainless steel, or covered with wood to match your cabinets. It might even be old-school Harvest Yellow or Avocado Green. That’s okay. Dishwasher diversity is a good thing. Don’t be a hater; embrace it.
Once your dishwasher is open, look at the inside of the door. There you should see the soap dispenser, or as you put it, the soap box.
Gently push the little blue lever (again, yours might be a different color),
and the lid will spring open. It’s almost like magic!
At this point I like to shout abracadabra! or voila! or, if I’m feeling particularly Kansas-y, yeeeee-haw! Vocalizing my excitement doesn’t help the dispenser to open, but it makes the moment much more enjoyable. Feel free to borrow my exclamations, or you can come up with your own. It’s okay to get caught up in the moment. No one will blame you for your excitement.
Now don’t forget, after you’ve added your soap, to close the lid. Dishwashers are strong-willed, independent machines. They like to decide for themselves when to add soap to the wash cycle. Arguing with them about it won’t help. Trust me on this. Dishwashers are stubborn as mules. Since mine cleans my dishes without complaining, I long ago conceded this area of housewifery control. I highly reccomend you do the same.
I hope this helps you in your quest, and that you somehow find your way back to my blog and to this post.
All the best,
Mynniesue
Myndi Shafer 
OMG I just spat out my morning tea onto my keyboard. Thanks Myndi! 🙂
ROFL!!!!! Glad I wasn’t drinking anything.
What I need to know is how to put in the JetDry stuff that is now called Sparkle. I ended up with a whole lotta blue all over the kitchen floor. Don’t think any made it into the dishwasher.
ACK!
OMG, that is hilarious!!!! Thank you so much for a good laugh! The things some people Google…
HAHAHA. HEEHEEHEE. SNORT! And you even included a meaningful, philosophical thought about embracing “dishwasher diversity”.
Thanks for this, Mynniesue!
You are so funny! I agree that a tutorial on dishwashers is a Must-READ in these complicated times. One little caveat…you mention “stubborn as mules.” That got me to thinking that you need to read my post about mules. You might be surprised about our long-eared friends! Keep up the good work, Myndi! http://www.jodileastewartblog.com/2012/01/05/mules-dont-drool/
What a fun post! But I’m glad you didn’t find the search term “how to unplug a toilet”. That would make for some appetite-suppressing photos 🙂
Lovely fingernails, by the way!
Ha! I’m not touching THAT tutorial with a twelve-foot pole!
Could you do a post about how to open a new box of Cascade (the powdered stuff) without ripping off a fingernail? That little metal spout thingy gets me every time…
Ouchie! I make my own detergent, so I’m afraid I’m the wrong person for that tutorial… 🙂 Maybe use a butter-knife? Good luck!
Your searcher sounds like me. I can enter, say, “University of Texas football teams” and be directed to a bunch of entries about Toltec temples or abominable snowmen. Google is not exactly perfect in matching results to searches.
True dat! 🙂
Ohmyfreakinggawd, you are hilarious! Don’t forget to close the lid. Brilliant.
LOL! This was hilarious! I suspect the poor soul searcing for this was using a computer at the library, where they don’t have to turn it on. Now if you could only tell me how to get my dishwasher to stop depositing dirt and crud that *wasn’t there before* onto my glassware!
I actually have a theory on this! I’m not convinced the little silverware basket allows all the grime from the utensils to dissolve, so if I have a particularly dirty load, I generously splash vinegar over them before I start the load. Seems to do the trick!
I think there is a good chance that it was dad who searched that! You wouldn’t believe the amount of questions he has asked about his dishwasher. It is clear he never, ever used the dishwasher when mom was here.
Bahahahaha!!!! Hilarious!
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!! Hysterical. I love it. Totally made my day girl…rock on!! WAHAHAHA!!!
Good lord, girl, that’s how I feel about your post today! Still cracking up over it!!
LOL! So glad I already finished my tea before reading this – hilarious! 😀
Fab post, Myndi. And timely! Hubby and I have been discussing dishwashing all morning. 😉 In our case, our hands do the grunt work. Is it true that the water needs to be super hot in order to really get the gook off??
I can relate – we lived for several years in a house w/o a dishwasher. I don’t miss that. 🙂 Super hot water helps get the gook off, but I think it’s more about killing any germies that may have gathered on the dishes. They don’t like the heat. Thankfully, if you REALLY scrub, you can have the same effect as heat – friction kills germs, too. A little trick I learned from a friend who lived in Zimbabwe for a long time – they didn’t always have access to hot water. 🙂
ROFL!
We’re going to miss you when that baby comes. I’ve never laughed so hard as I do when I read this blog. My DH had a nervous breakdown over the washing machine and the hundreds of different type of detergents we have here in the UK: liquid, liquid gel, liquid tabs, high concentrate liquid, powder, blocks, balls etc etc. Add in things like whiteners and water softeners and tumble dryer balls etc., and he lost the will to live. We won’t talk about water temperature for woolens and delicates because I’ll cry.
Great post, Mindi!
I’ll miss you guys too! Don’t worry – I doubt I’ll be able to stay away long.
Oh, man, the variety of soap is astounding, isn’t it? Who knew there could be some many variations on the stuff that cleans our undies? 🙂
You make it sound so easy! maybe I’ll have a go (one day when my dog’s sick of doing the dishes)
So if I google “How do you pull stuck toast out of the toaster?” will you do a post on that, Myndi?
I love your sense of humour!
HA! Loved it, Myndi! Now if the vacuum would just run itself! Oh yeah… Roomba. I think my poor dog would have a coronary with that thing running around, though. Makes me think of Mrs. Jetson. 🙂
Oh, the Roomba. I don’t trust ’em. Robots in general. They kindof scare the tar out of me. Perhaps I’ll have to blog about my irrational fear of robots. 🙂
Delightful. Coming to detente with one’s dishwasher is always a good thing. 🙂 Love the tip about pouring vinegar over the silverware.
Vinegar is miraculous. 🙂
My husband would probably die from embarrassment if he knew I was sharing this, but in his defense, his mom never let the kids help with the dishwasher or washing machine growing up because she said they didn’t do it right. So when he went out on his own, he didn’t know the difference between dish soap (that you use to wash dishes by hand) and liquid dishwasher detergent. He used the dish soap in the dishwasher, and the dishwasher literally filled the tiny kitchen with suds. I can guarantee we’ll be teaching our kids (when we have them) how to use the household appliances so they don’t suffer the same trial by fire 🙂
LOL! My hubster would do something similar with the reasoning that “It’s all soap, right?” *giggle* Silly boys. Oh, man. Our boys already know how to operate all those things. Our washing machine has been broken more than once because of the trial/error involved, but no way in HECK am I going to send them out in the world without knowing that stuff!