Soap and More Soap

Anyone else having trouble lately getting their dishes clean? I thought it was just me, but I've recently learned that products with an ingredient called phosphate are being banned throughout the country due to the damage being done to waterways. From personal experience, and from the research I've done, phosphate-free products are not worth the money you spend on them! My dishes come out cloudy and dirty looking. Ugh. I hate dirty-looking dishes; I want my dishes to sparkle! I cannot find any dishwashing detergents at my local store that still have phosphate in them - they've all been removed, so even my old standby Cascade and Finish brands are giving yucky results.

Because dishwashing detergent is expensive, I've decided not to buy it anymore if it doesn't work anyway. So, I've been experimenting with homemade dish detergents. I'm going to keep experimenting until I (hopefully) find the solution that gets my dishes really clean again! In the meantime, I've tried 3 or 4 "recipes" and my favorite so far cleans as well as my Cascade is cleaning now (so not great, but not too bad) and is MUCH cheaper than Cascade. So, for what it's worth, here is the recipe:

• Put 1 T. Borax and 1 T. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda in the detergent compartment of your dishwasher
• Fill up the rinse aid section with white vinegar

That's it. Again, not as good as my Cascade used to be, but at least as good as it is now.

Meanwhile, I'll keep experimenting and let you know if I come up with something that works better! And if any of you have tried something that works really well, I'd love to hear about it!

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Also, I just made another year's worth of laundry detergent for my family. Remember when I told you about that? Anyway, because I had the main ingredients left over from last year, and I made a double batch this time around, I paid $2 for a year's supply of laundry detergent! $2! I love that. And now that I have been using the detergent for almost a year I can officially say that I LOVE IT!

By the way, this time I tried something a little different (by accident - ha ha! I guess I can't count)... I added only half the amount of water I was supposed to when it came time to mix it all together in the 5 gallon container. But I really like how it turned out! Instead of a liquid soap with blobs in it, it came out as more of a smooth gel. In other words - I made it concentrated! I've been adding 1/4 c. to each laundry load and loving how my clothes are turning out. And it's much easier to store because there is so much less of it . . . I might make it 'concentrated' from now on! Ha ha ha! Give it a try if you're interested.