Rasky,
I use to do that too, until I took advantage of a 20% off and free shipping sale. I bought the pad washer with the Grit Guard in it. Heaven! Now whenever I use one pad or 6, a spin into the bucket, a spin to dry it off, wa la! Clean pads.
I think I ended up paying like $85.00 total.
Worth every penny.
Plus my wife ain't p o'd at me for making her kitchen sink smell like wax.
Before I bought the machine though, I sprayed the used pads with Dawn Power dissolver, dipped the pad in a bucket of water, tilted a Grit Guard kind of sideways in the bucket, and used my rotary to spin it clean on the grit guard. I ended up with damp inner thighs, but it made the whole pad cleaning ordeal fast and bearable.
Then I saw the $85.00 deal, and now there's no looking back.
(I looked it up - Universal Pad washer. I see it at places on the net for $101 plus shipping.)