3 Reasons to Toss Your Dish Wand (Once and for All!)

In recent years, a new kitchen staple has arisen: the dish wand. This tool makes dish washing much simpler and less gross. I’ll be honest, I hate washing dishes by hand because soggy food is nasty. The dish wand does all the hard work for me! From scraping food into the garbage, to mashing it down the garbage disposal, to squirting just a little more soap on a spot instead of my own elbow grease. As much as I’ve loved the dish wand, I’ve had to let it go. Here’s why:

Germ-Infested: Do you know what is the number one source of germs in your home? Your kitchen sponge! (WebMD.com). According to HomeFoodSafety.org, the best advice they have for dealing with your sponge is to clean it frequently, by microwaving, and to replace frequently. They even say that after 2 or 3 uses, your sponge may be teeming with bacteria! The best place to store your sponge is in a dry location, but if you are like me, I stored mine on one of those racks that holds the wand in place and lets all the dirty water drip down and coagulate. After considering this, I couldn’t let the convenience come before my health standards.

Costly: I am cost conscious, so I used those dish wand sponges until they were not scrubby anymore. If I had “replaced frequently” as is recommended, I would have been spending around $100 a year on sponges! Follow my math: Replacing twice a week=$1.99 (current price of Scotch Brite on Amazon.com) x 52 weeks= $103.48! There are sponges available that are even more expensive than this! I probably went through at least two or three actual wands too, because I broke the soap button. I can’t even calculate the how much extra soap I use with the wand, but I know instead of using one squirt in my dish water, I used multiple.

Wasteful: 104 kitchen sponges a year is a lot, especially considering many are not quickly biodegradable. This brings me to my overuse of soap. Instead of being patient and letting the hot water and soap break down the food by soaking, I just squirted more soap on the area and scrubbed harder, wasting time and money. Literally, money down the drain.

All these things considered, I am so excited that Norwex has just come out with new attachments for their Bottle Brush! You can have all the benefits of the dish wand without the highly disposable, costly, and germ-y aspects. Not only that, but you can choose which attachment you use for specific jobs. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten my dish wand stuck in a water bottle! Now, I can just put on the long extension attachment. In place of my dish wand, I switch to the other attachment. All of these attachments are made from ThermoPlasticRubber, a durable material that won’t wear away or harbor bacteria like the nylon bristles. Slip on the Enviro Sleeve or the Enviro Sleeve with Scrubber to tackle tougher jobs, while still maintaining a clean tool. The BacLock™ in the Enviro sleeve will self-purify within 24 hours so it is ready for your next round of dishes. These attachments are also dishwasher safe so you can quickly clean these tools too!