Liquid Dishwasher Soap |

It has almost been a full year since I quit my job to be a full time stay at home mom. It’s also almost been a year since my husband found out he was getting laid off, right after I quit my job. Naturally I started to panic, here we were taking a huge leap and what do you know, my worst fear was coming true. I started to look in to what we could do to save money on even the smallest things. Cutting back on bills like, Cable, watching our electric use, unplugging things ( I’m ALL about unplugging) Not using our Underground sprinklers.. Thankfully, we didn’t need them this year because of how much rain we’ve had & even Turning down the water heater..etc etc

I made our first batch of Homemade Laundry Detergent, that lasted me for about 10 months and recently I changed up the recipe and made our second batch, which I am LOVING!
I also made our own Fabric Softener and that has been so cheap,easy and has lasted us about 6 months at a time!
For the longest time we didn’t have a dishwasher, our almost 100 year old home just didn’t have the space near the sink, we started to discuss the option of a portable dishwasher after going a full year hand washing every dish. Y’all, judge me or not but seriously hand washing every single dish is annoying. I know, I know…first world problems, but its not fun when you’re the only one doing the dishes and the cooking. FOR REAL.
Around Mothers day my husband and I found a woman selling her gently used portable dishwasher, we went and checked it out & ended up taking it home that day. It saved us over $400! I have loved having a dishwasher back!
So now that we have a dishwasher, I wasn’t looking forward to spending money on dishwasher soap. Just like my Laundry detergent, I set out to make our own dishwasher detergent and I’m ready to share it with everyone!

You will need::

A Big pot for boiling
1 Gallon empty and cleaned milk jug
Funnel
16 cups of water – divided
(8 cups for boiling, 8 cups for cooling.)
1 1/2 Arm and Hammer WASHING Soda.
1/2 cup Liquid Castile Soap – Any scent, I just used unscented
1 cup Borax
7-8 drops Lemon Essential Oil
(optional)

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil, once at a boil remove from heat and stir in your Washing Soda,Borax and Castile soap. Mix well until everything is dissolved and let stand to cool. About 10 mins. Once cooled, stir in the next 8 cups of cool water and 7-8 drops of lemon essential oil.
Let your mixture sit and completely cool before transferring in to your jug.
Once stored and completely cooled the mix may gel up a little bit, just be sure to shake it before you use it. You will typically only need about 1 Tbs per load of dishes, however feel free to start with that and if you feel you need a little more then do so. If you run one load of dishes a day this mix should last you about 6 months or more.