Dirty Dishes

The past few months, we have had to put up with a white film on our dishes. Some wiped away with a rag, but most of my dishes are permanently etched with this white chalky, gritty gunk. We thought it was our dishwasher (since we didn't know how old it was and it came with our house), so we got a new dishwasher, which the installation of it is a whole other headache of a story. But with my shiny new dishwasher, things did not improve. So we thought it was the hard water build up in our over-15-year-old water heater, which was giving us little hot water at a time. We wound up going out and getting a new water heater, the cost of which made me cry. Our hot water now lasts longer, costs less and looks great, but our dish washing problem not solved. We were seriously debating on whether or not we should invest in a water softener, when my Dad emailed me this article: http://www.deseretnews.com/mobile/article/700069155/Going-green-leaves-gunk-on-dishes.html Thank you, Dad. I was so relieved that it was not just us and it could be solved with a little detergent change and some vinegar. It does amaze me that the detergent change could cause so much heartache and the expensive solutions we tried, that didn't even work. I am just glad we found out about it before we went out and spent more on the problem. P.S. The story of our new dishwasher. My dad came over to put it in while David was at work. Luckily, James was here to help him, because as it turns out the people who re-did the kitchen counters did not do it right (surprise, surprise, since everything else in the house was done WRONG). They had to unscrew the counter top, cut boards, lift the counter almost an inch and slide the boards under the front and back, then screw the thing back in. Then, they were able to slide in the dishwasher. The old dishwasher was a little smaller and they took the insulation off to get it to fit in, and it was not secured so every time I opened it, it would fall forward. I am loving my new dishwasher that is installed correctly.