Friday, April 4, 2014

Making Soap in a World Without Part 5 of 5 - Money Saving Laundry/Dish Soaps


DISHWASHER LIQUID SOAP

 

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. 
Mix in a milk jug or other container: 
  • 2 tablespoons Washing Soda (not baking soda.  Washing soda is made by cooking baking soda at 300 for 40 minutes)
  • 2 tablespoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons liquid Castile soap
  • 20 drops of essential oil or 1/2 cup lemon juice (or any other citrus you may have)
 Pour the boiling water over the dry ingredients and shake to mix.  When mixed fill the rest of the way with warm water.


LIQUID DISHWASHING SOAP

  • 1 1/4 C boiling water
  • 1/4 C (tightly packed) grated (homemade) soap
  • 1/4 C castile soap
  • 1-1.25 Tablespoon washing soda (made by heating baking soda at 300 for 40 minutes)
  • 10-30 drops essential oils (optional)
     
In a pint jar, (with a homemade dispenser top), combine soap flakes, (an old-fashioned lye soap works well), and boiling water.  Stir with a fork until all flakes are dissolved.  Add super washing soda and stir.  Add castile soap.  Stir.  Allow to cool and add essential oils of your choice.  I like to give it a shake or a stir every now and again.  Over time it gels up a bit, (especially if I add too much super washing soda), and I like to shake things up a bit to keep it all incorporated.  Also, we have noted that if our house gets too cold, the soap gets super thick, so if you keep your house cold you may want to use less super soda.

Recipe courtesy: 


Homemade Liquid Dish Soap
Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup grated soap (I used Dr. Bronners Citrus Castile soap)*
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/2 Tbs vegetable glycerin (optional: used as a hand moisturizer)
  • 10-20 drops of tea tree oil (anti-bacterial) if you like the smell you can add more if not add the lesser.

Directions: Grate bar of soap. In a saucepan add water and 1/2 cup grated soap. Over low/medium heat gently heat without bringing to a boil until all the soap has dissolved. Add in vegetable glycerin and stir well. Place in a jar. After cooling for a short time (30 minutes to an hour) add in tea tree oil and allow to set up for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
Side note: I used the citrus kind for the smell and because citrus helps cut grease! I usually hate the way liquid castile feels on my hands after I wash them, but not when I made it like this! Also, other types of non super lathery soap should work too (like ivory), although I have not tried that. Important note: do not add vinegar or lemon juice to this because castile soap and acid cancel each other out and you will get a bad product. You can use vinegar as a rinse aid though!

Thats it!!! Wasn’t that easy? You maybe do like 10 minutes of work and the rest of the time its just setting up. Your results should be much more like normal dish soap consistency (is calling it snot like super gross?)! I use it in a soap pump and it works great. You may have to shake it up a little before you use it. But it shouldn’t clump and separate like the last recipe!!!
This recipe will not create lots of bubbles! Just because there’s no bubbles doesn’t mean that its not working thats just how castile soap works! This is the only thing the bothers my husband about this soap. I think he will get over it after seeing how much money we save!



 Happy Homesteading!!


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