Salad spinner changed my life. It is also a great kid entertainer ( my son loves it) and you can buy one that has a plain plastic bowel and use the bowel for a salad bowel (if you want to justify the space it takes up)

I wash by immersing in water (same trick as PPs--let gravity get the dirt off), and then I drain in the colander and let the colander sit in my dish rack for a couple hours.

OXO makes a smaller one that is for small salad abd herbs, works great for a small space.

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Salad-Spinner/dp/B00005QB5U