If you’re not reading Alina Tugend’s “Shortcuts” column in the New York Times, you should be—she gives us good reasons not to do things we don’t want to do. In March, she debunked the myth that we have to wash our dishes before we put them in the dishwasher:
…[F]or the most part, everyone I spoke to said pre-rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher was not only unnecessary, it wasted thousands of gallons of water and could actually result in dirtier dishes.
Um, thank you. I had a feeling they called it a dishwasher for a reason. Now? I’ll gladly volunteer for some dish duty.
Tugend’s latest revelation is that the 3,000-mile change is a complete hoax. It seems Jiffy Lube had us fooled:
Oil chemistry and engine technology have improved to the point that most cars can go several thousand more miles before changing the oil, Mr. Reed said. A better average, he said, would be 7,500 between oil changes, and sometimes up to 10,000 miles or more.
So, don’t worry about that oil change just yet. Instead, when you hit 3,000 miles, keep driving.
Driving habits, more than mileage, should determine your oil change needs. Highway drivers require less frequent changes, while stop-and-go drivers might need to lube up a little sooner.
When you do finally change your oil, this is still a big no-no: