Make 32oz of Your Own Liquid Castile Soap for $1.00...Apologies to Dr. Bronner

Here's another thing I did over the holidays. I read about how to do this on another blog, so I'm kind of a poser on this one, but in case you haven't read this blog, I'll tell you how I did it myself. I did it more quickly and my result is more concentrated (i.e. the same consistency as Dr. Bronner's) than hers.

The key ingredient is Kirk's Original Coco Castile Soap (or any castile soap for that matter, Kirk's is just the cheapest I've seen). I found this at the Walmart in Central, SC in a three-pack for $3.00. (For people in Seneca, it's not at our Walmart, I checked.) You could also check Big Lots periodically, as they get organic/natural stuff from time to time.

Sorry, Blogger put my picture in sideways:

As you can see, there are no harmful sulfates or weird-to-pronounce ingredients:

I know it's not as exotically ingredient-ed as Dr. Bronner's. In other words, if jojoba oil was the selling point to you of Dr. Bronner's then...buy Dr. Bronner's. Otherwise, if you are all about the saving of money, continue reading...

With a Dollar Tree grater, I grated the entire bar of soap and shoved it into an old 32oz. empty bottle of Dr. Bronner's.

Then I boiled 32oz. of water and poured the boiling water into the bottle. In a few minutes it was all dissolved. (Learn from my mistake: Maybe don't shove the soap shavings into the bottle. Maybe just dissolve the 32oz. of water in a separate non-melty container and let it cool before pouring into the bottle...Because look what I did to my bottle!)

Oh well, even though the bottle is warped, the formula works just like Dr. Bronner's! You can use it in place of Dr. Bronner's in any of the homemade soaps and shampoos on my or other people's blogs.

The End

Make Your Own Dish Washer Soap

Why this is a good idea:

1. Cost Effective - In fact, if you have all the stuff from Making Your Own Laundry Detergent, then you only have to buy table salt, white vinegar, and lemon juice! (About $1.00 each, but you should have them already, because they are staples.)

2. Health Conscious - Think of all the dish soap you've consumed over the years. Companies fill soaps and detergents with supposed filler "inert ingredients" that doctors and scientists are constantly finding cause cancer and crap like that. With this recipe, the only ingredients you are accidentally ingesting are salts, vinegar, and lemon juice. 

3. Really Works! - It does. Basically, you make two mixtures: a powder one and a liquid one. 

Let's get started.

The Powder - Use equal parts Borax, Baking Soda, and Table Salt. You also need a small container to mix them in. I use a little fruit snack cup I got from Chick-fila one time.

(Some people on other websites combine all the ingredients and store them like that, but I have read a bunch of accounts that these ingredients harden together when left to their own devices. 

Mixing them each time isn't hard, so I do it. Do as the Spirit leads.)

**UPDATE** Since posting this, I have been using this detergent for a few months now, and have combined all three ingredients into one storage box. I haven't had them congeal yet, and I'm not sure why people have ever had this problem. Anyways, combining them is way easier than making this mixture every time.

The Liquid - Some bloggers claim that the powder mixture is enough to clean their dishes, but most sites have commentators freaking out because of this film all over their dishes. To alleviate the film issue, you need only two more ingredients: white vinegar and citric acid. Pour them in equal amounts into the rinse well of your machine. (One lady on one website used lemonade packets for the citric acid, but many readers complained that the lemonade turned everything yellow. 

Just use lemon juice, people!!!)

You can store these two liquids in one bottle and keep that bottle under the sink.

Your two mixtures go into your machine as follows:

The end. Your dishes come out like this:

I don't rinse my dishes particularly well or anything and have had just as much success, if not more, as I used to with Cascade. 

So there, "The Man"!!!

Costs of Things and Where to Buy Them:

1. Borax - $4.00 - Dollar General

2. Baking Soda - $0.50 - Aldi or Dollar General

3. Table Salt - $1.00ish - Aldi

4. White Vinegar - $1.00ish - Aldi

5. Lemon Juice - $1.00ish - Aldi

6. Small Container - Free - Chick-fila

Total: $7.50ish for months of detergent. 

Not swallowing harmful chemicals: Priceless.