Homemade Washing Up Liquid

As things are running out in my house I’m replacing them with homemade alternatives wherever possible. Well this week my washing up liquid ran out so I scoured the net for homemade washing up liquid recipes. There are loads of them! They go into lots of detail about each ingredient but each blog contradicts all the others… Many say to include essential oils, others say you should never include essential oils.

It can be really difficult to figure out which one to try. I, however, am lazy, so whichever recipe included the fewest ingredients and seemed to be fairly simple to make was always going to be the one for me.

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How to make homemade washing up liquid

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Soda Crystals
• 1 cup Liquid Castile Soap
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• 1/2 tbsp Glycerine

Directions

1. Pour washing soda into a large glass bowl then stir in boiling water. Continue stirring until washing soda is completely dissolved
2. Wait for it to cool to room temperature
3. Stir in the castile soap and glycerin until well combined
4. Store detergent in a glass bottle. (I don’t know why but all recipes state to store in glass)

Use 2 tablespoons of Castile Soap Dish Washing Liquid per large sink of water. Rinse dishes in a sink of water with a cup of vinegar to really complete the job.

I found this recipe on Brendid.

Personally I would prefer all of these products to come in plastic free packaging, but at least there are fewer potentially harmful chemical ingredients than shop bought.

Does this homemade washing up liquid work?

It worked really well. Any bits of hardened food clinging for dear life to the dishes or pans easily came off, especially after a short soak for the really stubborn ones.

BUT, and this is a big but, my dishes were so ridiculously slippy that they were difficult to handle. Rinsing the dishes in water with a small amount of vinegar was also not an optional step in the process, you have to do it. To be fair, maybe if I used rubber gloves I wouldn’t have dropped and cracked one of my plates!

I will use the solution I made to carry on washing up, but I certainly won’t be using as much of it and I’ll use gloves in the future. Maybe it was the washing soda that made it too slippy? Next time I’ll make it with less washing soda, and then maybe with less castile soap. I’m also not overly happy about the fact that I had to rinse my dishes afterwards as that just seems like a waste of water (and saving water is important!). In the meantime I’ll soldier on and If I can make any improvements I’ll update this post.

Fortunately, even if I choose to give up on making homemade washing up liquid, all of the ingredients are useful for other homemade cleaning solutions anyway! (Well, maybe not the glycerine, we’ll see.)

I’m no scientist and can’t advise you on whether the ingredients used are harmful or harmless. Do your own research when purchasing any ingredients for homemade cleaning solutions.

Eco-Friendly Washing Up Liquid To Buy

If, like me, you find the homemade washing up liquid a bit too slippy, there are some great eco-friendly dish washing alternatives available.

If you spend any time on zero waste websites you’ve more than likely come across dish washing soap. There are a few different companies that now make and sell dish washing soap, at very different prices. Check the ingredients, as some contain palm oil (the cheapest generally), so you might want to avoid those, but most seem to be vegan and cruelty free.

You can also buy dish washing powder. Planet Detox make a lemon washing up powder. It seems expensive at £12.40 for 500g, however you only need 1 or 2 teaspoons per washing up bowl, so it will hopefully last a while.

If you’re not quite ready to try a soap bar or powder to do your washing up then there are loads of eco-friendly washing up liquids available to buy. You’ve probably already heard of Ecover and Method, but have a look at this huge variety of eco-friendly washing up liquids. Liquids tend to be a lot cheaper to buy (they may not last as long), but please check the materials the bottles are made from and look out for any ingredients you might not agree with.

Dish Cloths / Scrubbers

If you’re on a mission to be more environmentally friendly then don’t forget to consider what else you’re using. Most dish cloths and scrubbers seem to be made from plastic or contain micro-plastics, however you can buy eco-friendly sponges, cloths, scrubbers and brushes to make your kitchen as plastic free as possible.

Check out these eco-friendly alternatives to washing up sponges and more. Need to clean the whole kitchen but want to stop buying loads of plastic? Check out the eco-friendly way to clean your kitchen.

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