Saving Water/ Lowering The Bill

For a while I had been using a dish pan filled with water to soak my dirty dishes before they went into the dishwasher.  My dishwasher is 10 yrs old and I do have to rince some of my really dirty dishes so they come out clean.

  Anyway, I have got away from the dish pan habit and have also noticed that our water bill has been higher lately too.  Whether this is from using a lot of water in the kitchen or not...who knows but I figure it doesn't hurt to be more aware of what we are doing :)  

This is my dish pan in use :)

I fill it with hot soapy water in the morning when I get up.  Put dirty dishes in it as needed through out the day.  When I start to prepare dinner in the evening I put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, empty the water and add new.  

Our dinner dishes then go in and any other dishes we use until bedtime.  Before bed I again add the dishes to the dishwasher and empty and clean out the pan and let it dry over night.  So far it is working well.  

Hopefully I can save a $1 or 2 on my water bill. Every little bit adds up!