Homemade Dish Soap

An easy recipe for homemade dishwashing detergent... cleans your dishes and smells great doing it!

I make all my own homemade dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent and personal hygiene soaps (shampoo, shower gel, homemade liquid soap, the works) and my monthly grocery bill has gone down by about 25%.

This is a quick, easy homemade dish soap recipe. It cuts grease, kills germs and gives your spirits a lift every time you use it! And, if you want a scent other than citrus, I've included a couple other disinfectant aromatherapy blends you can try.

By the way, this recipe is formulated for hand washing dishes in the sink. Click on the link if you're looking for liquid or crystal homemade dishwasher detergent recipes.

Homemade Dish Soap Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Soap Flakes (see directions below for making soap flakes)

• 1 1/2 cups hot boiled Water
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Glycerin
• One of the essential oil blends below

Directions

1. To make soap flakes, grate a bar of unscented natural soap using the coarse side of your cheese grater.

   I buy clear vegetable glycerin or olive oil soap bars from my local bulk food store, and many web sources suggest using Ivory soap. The cleaning power of your homemade detergent will depend partly on how strong a soap bar you choose.



2. Put the soap flakes into a large glass pitcher. Add the hot water (must be VERY hot!) and stir until the soap is dissolved.

   If the soap flakes don't all dissolve, you can put the glass pitcher into a pot holding about an inch of water and heat it over a low heat until the soap dissolves.



3. Let sit 5 minutes.


4. Stir in the glycerin, then add the essential oils, stirring to mix.


5. A loose gel will form as the mixture cools. Use your hands (or a potato masher if you're squeamish) to break up any lumps. Pour into a squirt bottle and use the homemade dishwashing detergent as normal.

Buying Homemade Dish Soap Ingredients

Lemon essential oil

Lemongrass essential oil

Orange essential oil

Tea Tree essential oil

Homemade Dish Soap Quick Trick

Just buy a natural unscented liquid dish soap and add 20 drops of essential oil per 4oz (125ml) of detergent. (The grapefruit, lemon and orange blend from the recipe above is fabulous!)

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