Stacking a dishwasher is the sort of household task many of us do on autopilot.
Chances are, you've never given your technique a second thought - but maybe you should, especially when it comes to where you pop your cleaning tablet.
Because, people, we've been doing it all wrong.
To ensure your cookware and dishes get their sparky cleanest and to stop you from ruining any of your kitchenware, Choice Australia have put together a four step guide to stacking your dishwasher.
It's worth taking a look to see if you're doing anything wrong...
Mum completely transforms old kitchen and gives it trendy new look for just £38
1. Never put anything mad of wood, aluminium or copper in your dishwasher
Wooden utensils such as mixing spoons and chopping boards will absorb every odour and flavour coming off all the other dishes, so best avoid putting wooden items through a cycle.
Aluminium and copper are "reactive metals", meaning they're susceptible to corrosion, so things like non-stick pans are also best washed by hand.
Mum gets rid of huge red wine stain with £10 Body Shop cleansing butter
2. Don't bother pre-washing dishes
Hurrah, anything that saves us time and elbow grease gets the thumbs up from us!
While you should still scrape off all excess food before placing dishes in the dishwasher, your dishwashing tablets/detergent should have the power to get rid of surface stains.
But like we say, get rid of food scraps as these can clog your filter (which, by the way, you need to clean once a week).
Mum's genius one-step trick to getting burnt rice off saucepan WITHOUT scrubbing
3. Put your dirtiest dishes in the middle
Good dish placement can make the difference between clean dishes and dirty and dirty dishes.
Put plastics on the top of the shelf so they don't melt, and pop your glassware on the top also.
The spinning fan can sometimes miss the corners of the dishwasher, making the middle of stackable shelves/trays the best to place very dirty pots and pans. Also leave enough room around them so the hot water and soap can do their magic work.
Brits reveal the ten hidden costs of home buying - and the fees add up to £4,000
4. And do not put your dishwasher tablets in the dispenser
That's if they're a three-in-one or "multi tab", in which case you're better off putting them at the bottom of the machine.
They're not designed to be put in the dispenser because they won't be released in the same way a single brick tablet would.
The 3-in-1 tablets have a section to them that are meant for the pre-wash stage but the dispenser doesn't open until the main wash has begun, which defeats the object somewhat.
