Days #122 & 123- Only 57 more days! (& Liquid Dishwasher Detergent- Again)

Just cannot believe that this year is almost over. Crazy. Lee asked how much longer she has to suffer left of Biology- just 57 more days I told her. Then it’s on to Geology- her choice (right now, that is- could change in a short time).

Here is Fox’s work:
Bible: Reading Deut. 32, John 8; verse Romans 12:1-6; Who Am I?, read 68-75, did pages 45-55 in notebook; Saints & Heroes pages 1/2 Coligny (drawn illustration)
Math: Saxon Algebra 1, correcting Lesson 4 problems and Lesson 5, all problems
English: Jensen’s Grammar Test 4; Progeny Press, The Bronze Bow, Chapters 1-2 study guide work
Logic: -
Science: Creek Edge Press Task Card #7 (gears and belts), activities 1-4 (used books How Things Work and The New Way Things Work)
History/Geography: Hands of a Child Asia Note Pack (animals); Story of the Romans chapter 4 & 5 (written narration), A Journey Through Learning notebooking pages

And here is Lee’s work:
Bible: Reading Joshua 9, Romans 4; verse Colossians 3; Esther Commentary
Math: Life of Fred Advanced Algebra Lesson 9 & 10
English: Excellence in Literature (still working with Around the World in 80 Days); Utopia; History of English Literature chapter 52; Progeny Press, The Screwtape Letters, working on Letters 1-4
History/Geography: Western Civilization, finished essay on witchcraft trials in France
Current Events
Foreign Language: Greek Level 5, Lesson 14-15
Government/Civics: Whatever Happened to Justice? chapter 36
Science: Biology, chapter 8 (reading outline and in book)

So now that I got that out of the way- how about some liquid dishwasher detergent. Remember I tried some –goodness, it’s been awhile –but I wasn’t happy with it? No? No matter I’d like to forget sometimes, too.

I received some liquid castile soap from my wonderful mother-in-law not long ago but I have an issue with it. It is unscented and supposedly great for sensitive skin- where’s my issue? It burns when I use it. I feel like it is scorching my skin off. I’m really not sure why –perhaps it just wasn’t ‘cured’ long enough? I know with lye soap, you must let it cure –or it burns. Anyway- it has sat in my bathroom the entire time. I have used it more than just twice to make sure I wasn’t just being a sissy. Nope. It burns. No more using it for cleaning me so how about for dishes?

I’m just about out of liquid dishwasher detergent so I decided to try it again –making some that is.  I’m going back to Angie’s recipe, with some of my own additions of course.

I want it to be thicker than hand washing dish soap so I tried to lessen the amount of water. It’s a bit like the hand washing dish soap I made before. Then I added in some borax (for scrubbing). And of course, I had some leftover 7th Generation dishwasher soap to mix it with.

Here are the ingredients (but not very accurate measurements):

• Liquid castile soap (perhaps 1 – 1 1/2 cups)
• borax (possibly 1 cup)
• vinegar (I think I put almost 1 1/2 cups, or maybe 2)
• tea tree oil (just a bit)
• lavender oil (uh, I accidentally poured way more than wanted)
• glycerin (I had perhaps 1/8 – 1/4 cup)
• leftover dishwasher soap (couldn’t have been more than 1/4 cup)
• water to fill 42 oz container

Just mixed it all together in a large mixing bowl and poured into the old 7th Generation container (used a funnel). It is more liquid than I was hoping but I’m not sure how to thicken it. That is one reason I decided to go ahead and use the glycerin- which I’ve really no idea if it helps that or not! 

Wish I had some batteries for my camera. The concoction resembles what was in the container originally- just thinner. I will have to wait until the dishwasher is full to use it. I worry that the mix will suds too much. But the vinegar seems to cut that down some (at least that is what I attribute it to); one reason I used so much.

I tried to measure and document my process so that I could do it again if it works…but you can see how well that worked. Eh…old habits die hard.

Do you know of any recipes that work for stubborn, old dishwashers and/or hard water that are easy to make? Share please!

Hand washing Dish Soap- Homemade

I did a post a while back about my homemade liquid dishwasher soap. Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be a winner for our dishwasher. At this point in time I am honestly unsure if it just that we have hard water, that the dishwasher is a reject …or if it is my soap that is the reject. Either way, I decided that now isn’t the time to be running the dishwasher anyway. The other day it was 91*F in my house….

I purchased some old fashioned homemade soap to use for my laundry soap and decided I would try using it for dish soap as well. The soap can be used for hand soap so I figured, what could it hurt to try?
The recipe I used for making the dish soap was a cross between this (#2) and this.
Here’s what I did:
1/2 bar old fashioned soap, grated
2 cups water
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp glycerin
1/8 tsp tea tree oil
1/4 tsp lavender oil
and whatever was left in my Seventh Generation Lavender Floral & Mint container (perhaps 1/4 cup)
I melted the grated soap in the water on medium temperature. I added the vinegar and oils and let it cool. When it was all done cooling, I poured it into the container. Then I poured in the glycerin (I hadn’t thought about using it at first but since I saw it in the second recipe, I figured ‘why not’). I shook it really good to mix what was still in there with what I made. It was fairly runny at first; too liquid. As it has set, however, it has become thicker.

So here is what it looks like:

  

I did shake it before pouring into this little glass cup to make sure it was mixed but that created bubbles. Here is a photo of what the water looks with the soap in (sorry it is a dark photo!):

It doesn’t suds like soap is ‘supposed to’. But who says it has to? The bubbles aren’t what get the dishes clean. Old habits die hard…It turns the water translucent and foggy…but it doesn’t suds.

The next photo is of a glass that was washed, rinsed, and then left to dry on its own. I do have hard water though.

I think if I want it to be spotless, I will have to make up some vinegar rinse water or dry them by hand.

I did  try this in my dishwasher (because it is low/no sudsing) and it seemed to do fine. Perhaps this could be my liquid dishwasher soap?? When it cools off (A LOT) then I will give it another try