Use this free clean dishwasher printable as a quick way to see if the dishes in the dishwasher are clean or dirty.

Knowing when the dishes were clean or dirty was definitely a problem at my house, so I created a clean dishwasher printable sign for our dishwasher.  Now, we can tell at a glance if the dishes are clean or not.  The sign solved that problem at my house, so I’d like to share my free clean dishwasher printable with you, too.

The problem.

I guess our clean/dirty problem is because only one of my kids is assigned to empty the clean dishes out, but everyone loads their own dirty dishes in the dishwasher.  The issue was that if the un-loader didn’t get to them right away, someone else, not paying attention, would load their dirty cereal bowl and spoon in there with all the clean ones.  And then Mom got that little tic in her eyelid again…

So, to save my eyes from getting any more crow’s feet, I created a sign to hang on the dishwasher. That way we would know at a glance whether the dishes were clean or not.

Here it is:

Here is what I did:

First, I printed out the sheet on our color printer.  Then I cut out the red and green rectangles and glued them on each side of a 3×5 index card.

Next, I laminated the card using wide clear packing tape. Then I made a hole at the top with a hole punch.

Finally, I attached a Command hook to the front of the dishwasher and the card now hangs in plain view.  And because it is brightly colored, everyone notices it.

The important part, though, is to remember to turn the card over from green back to red, once you empty the clean dishes out. So it is ready to be reloaded with dirty ones. 🙂

This has stopped accidental loading of dirty dishes in with the clean. It’s also a good reminder for my unloader that she needs to unload it – pronto!  Otherwise, the rule is that if there are now dirty dishes in the sink because the clean dishes haven’t been unloaded yet, the un-loader has to load those dirty ones from the sink into the dishwasher, too.  So, that is usually good incentive to get the dishes unloaded quickly!

Below is the printable so you can make your own.

Free hanging printable for dishwasher

Update: We recently moved to a home with stainless steel appliances.

And I am happy to report our dishwasher printable is still going strong!

The only difference is instead of attaching a Command hook, we simply use a clip that has a magnet.

See?

So no matter what exterior your dishwasher is, you can still hang that tag on it!

Want to know how to clean the inside of your dishwasher?  Or how to keep all your stainless steel appliances sparkling clean and fingerprint-free?

Check out those cleaning tips and more in this post: 10 ways to really get your kitchen clean.

Here’s to making dishwasher duty a little bit better!

~ Pam  🙂