Homemade Dishwasher Detergent and Dish Soap

So  "No Grocery Week" also means no money spent on anything that can be lived without.  As mentioned in my "No Grocery Week", I did buy apples and bananas. I also bought toilet paper...and milk....and formula. Only the essentials necessary to get me through the week and as a child care provider that list of items are necessities. Although I was out of dishwasher detergent and the ingredients to make more, I figured I'd hand wash dishes for the week........until I started to run low on dish soap. Not to mention I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday and had tons of dishes. Time to alter some recipes to make do.

The dish washing detergent recipe that I finally found and like includes citric acid. I'm out of citric acid. Hmm....I do however have a few lemons. I made my recipe without the citric acid, added a tablespoon to the dishwasher, cut a lemon in half and squeezed! One of daycare helpers enjoyed this task. The powder I used was equal parts borax and washing soda. The dishes are clean. So I will be alternating between hand washing and using the dishwasher. My experience tells me that after a few days the detergent will cause the dishes to become spotty. Besides I'll run out of lemons quickly if I use the dishwasher twice a day.

 I haven't found a dish soap recipe that I love. I usually add a little of my homemade soap to a jug of store bought soap just so it last a little longer. One thing that I've found with homemade dish soap is that it's not good for soaking dishes. I have the habit of filling the sink with hot, soapy water and dishes and then leaving it to "soak" (even if there is nothing that needs soaking). It's my way of putting off a task. When I do this I find that as the soap sits and the water cools, an oily residue begins to develop. I don't have this problem if I wash the dishes right away. Solution? Wash the dishes right away. Really, it's that easy. The recipe I used was 1/2 cup grated homemade bar soap melted in 2 cup water, let cool and add 1/2 cup Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap. I added this mixture to the itty bitty amount of dish soap that I had left. It works. Last night I did have a crock pot that was in dire need of a "soaking" so I sprinkled baking soda on the baked on spots, let it sit for 5 mnutes, filled with hot water and let it soak while I washed the other dishes.

There. The dishes can still get done.