This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Maybe it’s a generational thing, or maybe it’s just me but I feel like the days of registering for one set of dishes as wedding gifts with place settings for 12 is a thing of the past. Don’t get me wrong, we did register for nice dish-ware as well as china but we also had a great deal of dishes before we got married.

Mix & Match: Day-to-Day Dishes

Currently our day-to-day dishes are two different sets of black and white dishes. They are different brands and came from different stores. But I feel like they fit together really well. If I were to add another set to the group I think I’d go for all white. The majority of our house is decorated in black and white, so that’s why we went that angle with our dishes.

For the fancier stuff

For our serving-ware, the majority of it is white. I like the all white so that the food can stand out.

Plus solid white works for every holiday. I’ve been really tempted to get some red serving dishes for the holidays, but we have limited space. Also, when I started to think about our entertaining calendar, in the year that we’ve been home owners we’ve had people over for: birthdays, Memorial Day, Christmas, a few random Sundays, and Fourth of July. I suppose red would work for some of those. But the white also allows us to add fun napkins or tablecloths for decor. When we were shopping for serving ware, we looked for items that had a unique look to them but were also dishwasher safe. I don’t know about you, but I am not a fan of the day-after-party kitchenpocalypse.

Battle for the Best Dishwasher Detergent

We have tried several different dishwashing detergents on both our day-to-day dishes and our entertaining dishes. For the last few weeks we’ve been using the Finish All-In-1 Gelpacs in Orange. I really like them because they take the guess work out of doing dishes.

I found with our previous powdered detergent was leaving odd little crystal buildup on our glasses. I thought perhaps I was using too much, so I tried using less and then I felt like the plates weren’t getting clean. After a few rounds of that detergent algebra we decided on a whim to switch to the gel packets. After the first use I was a convert! Our plates seem much cleaner and there’s no more strange leftovers on the glasses. Although the packaging is super simple, it’s worth mentioning that you should keep them out of reach of young kiddos.

So, when I saw an opportunity to partner with Finish through #CollectiveBias for this campaign I jumped on the chance. I am always the type to share a new product that works for me, so the timing was perfect! I’m also curious to try out their dishwasher cleaner, because who knows the last time someone gave that thing a good cleaning!

Walmart is currently running a #SparklySavings Rollback special on the Finish dishwasher cleaners through October. Check the coupon below. (If you’re reading via RSS or email, you may have to click through to claim the offer).

How about you?

So, question… do you like the mix and match dishes idea? Or is your kitchen all uniform? Maybe we should do a #showmeyourdishes hashtag on Instagram because I’m oddly curious now.