Hubs and I are increasingly aware of the number of useless plastic bottles we throw into the recycling every week. Not to mention that most of these made-for-you cleaning agents are meant to keep costs low for the company, but consumers and the environment end up paying much more than anticipated - exposure to toxins, chemicals, and other not-so-goodies.
This being said, our family has started to make a lot of our own cleaning agents. I started by replacing my shampoo and conditioner (Hubs has yet to join me on this one - and regrettably, he misses the smell of Herbal Essences in my hair), we then made our own laundry detergent, we tried a few items like homemade "Drano" and Carpet cleaner - with mixed results, and now, we are onto DIY dish liquid.
So, I am using this recipe from ThriftyFun. I can't find octagon soap anywhere in Portland. So, I have replaced octagon soap with Kirk's Pure Castile. Make sure that you are using the ounces of soap required for the recipe and not just replacing bar by bar. Not all bars are created equally - I had to use three Kirk's bars for two Octagon bars. You can also use Zote (1 Zote bar = 2 Octagon bars) - which I know my friends in Georgia can find. It is a Mexican soap and can be found most easily in areas with larger Hispanic populations.
It took about 10 minutes to make. Cost next to nothing....and I'll be left with 4.5 QUARTS of dish liquid. I'll post results as soon as I have actually tried it.
Cool! Can this stuff be used in a dishwasher?
ReplyDeleteThis recipe is specifically for hand-washing. BUT there are several recipes for homemade dishwashing detergent (for the machine). Here are a few:
ReplyDeletehttp://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/washing_dishes_for_pennies
http://diynatural.com/simple-effective-jabs-homemade-dishwasher-detergent-rinse-agent/