Homemade Dish Soap!

Someday I will not have to buy any ready-made cleaners because I will know how to make them at home all naturally.

That day is not today.

But – I am getting there.

I attempted my first homemade dish soap today. Not for the dishwasher (I have tried that – unsuccessfully – several times…) but for when I am washing dishes in the sink.

I found a recipe for a “Lavendar Dish Soap” that looked good on this site.

I had it up in my browser window for about a week before my dish soap was dangerously low and I needed to either go to the store or buy some, or make some! I had all the ingredients on hand so I went to work.

The recipe calls for making a gallon worth – but I really didn’t want to make that much not knowing if I liked it and I didn’t want to have to store a gallon of the stuff somewhere (out of reach of prying Bizz & BooBoo hands).

So I quartered it!

I used:

• A bar of Dr Bronner’s unscented soap (1/4 cup grated)
• 1/4 gallon (4 cups) of water
• 7-8 drops of sweet orange essential oil (I prefer a citrus smell for my dishes than a lavendar)

First I grated the soap that I would need

Then put the soap flakes and water over medium heat.

Once it boiled and simmered I removed from heat and let it cool for a little while, then I added about 7-8 drops of the essential oil and stirred well.

I let it cool for awhile longer, then used a funnel to put into an old dishsoap container I had, and I put the extra in an old maple syrup jar!

Now the verdict – how does it work????

Pretty good! It is a lot more liquidy (be careful when squirting it into the sink or on your sponge, lots comes out quickly!) then store-bought dish soap. I have used it several times for a quick washing of some plates and utensils and been completely happy with it.

Last night I used it for a sinkful of dirty dishes, one of the dishes was very oily from some olive oil I had used in a recipe and it made the dishwater rather oily. I noticed the dishes still had some oil on them after washing & rinsing. So I ran those under some clean hot water with some more soap on a sponge and it turned out fine. Probably next time I will use the advise on the site where I found the recipe and add some vinegar or lemon juice to the water if it is exra oily or greasy.

Looks like it should last me for at least a month or so and then I will decided whether to make this one again, or try my hand at another dish soap recipe.

Have you made any homemade cleaners?

How did you like them?

Have a beautiful day!

~Jesse

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**This post was shared on my Gather Page on 9/9/2011!