Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

This one is a cautionary tale. I learned a lot in 24 hours about citric acid/lemi-shine and what happens when you combine it with borax, washing soda and salt. FYI - you get a rock. A coarse, very hard, not very useful rock. So attempt #1 really never got off the ground. Should you prefer dry dishwasher detergent mix 2 cups of borax, 2 cups of washing soda, and 1 cup of salt. Store the lemi-shine separately and then just add 1T of the mix to a heaping teaspoon of lemi-shine to the dispenser.

Or...you can be like me, give up, and just make a liquid instead. Sorry, 2 containers is just too complicated for me.

I used this recipe from Choosing Simplicity. I also use her household cleaner with tea tree oil. Moving on...

(Pictures to come...if I remember...)

The Ingredients:
16 cups water, divided
1 1/2 cups washing soda
1 cup borax
1/2 cup Dr. Brenner's Pure Liquid Castile Soap (I have lavender...and no, I haven't read all that's printed around the bottle but I'm guessing it's odd.)

Directions:
Boil 8 cups of water, then add the washing soda, borax and castile soap, stirring until everything has dissolved. Stir in remaining 8 cups and allow to cool; then pour it into the container(s) of your choice. It turns to a gel of sorts after about 24 hours.

To use it just shake it a bit, then fill your closed soap dispenser about 3/4 of the way full. (Though you may need more or less depending on hard/soft water, age of dishwasher, etc.) Don't forget to fill your rinse aid dispenser with some white vinegar. It helps with spots and no, your dishes don't smell like pickles.

My next homemade home cleaning project? These sanitizing wipes using recipe #2.

Enjoy!

Homemade Deodorant

Really. I'm going to post about my kids again. I swear!!!

In the meantime, here is the recipe I used for the homemade deodorant...courtesy of Kirsten O. at I Still Hate Pickles. Her post about it can be found here. It is soooo terribly easy. And once you have your essential oil of preference (which costs as much as the Clinical Protection Secret I've been using if you need a metric) very, extremely, inexpensive. I think I may have a fix for that too, but I'll get there.

I'll try and take and post pics eventually but my iPhone is currently earning its keep as white noise in Rainey's room.

The Ingredients:
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup baking soda
2+ T coconut oil
10-20 drops essential oil

Mix the corn starch, baking soda and essential oil together in a small container. Then add the coconut oil. Stir until blended and it holds together. At this point you can refrigerate it overnight and then just rub a small amount into your...err...armpit...like you would lotion and off you go! The fridge made it too hard for me so for now it's just sitting in my bathroom cabinet. Bear in mind that coconut oil is hard when cold and  softens (and liquefies)  as it gets warmer.

I used a blend of lavender (6 drops) and Jasmine (7 drops)essential oils. I have tea tree oil around here somewhere but the smell is just too...distinct...for me. I wanted something that smelled like deodorant I bought at Target might, something that didn't scream, "Hey I made my own deodorant!" Really, this is a product you don't want screaming in any way shape or form. If you don't have essential oils, and happen to have virgin coconut oil, you probably don't need the essential oils for fragrance. The virgin oil smells like coconuts and you can just pretend it's suntan lotion and you're on a beach somewhere. ;)

We went to the park today, it was muggy, hot (82-83?) and I had both kids in the sun. A not so subtle sniff as I got in the car revealed...nothing. Still nice and flowery.