Going to try a new Green experiment today...

I've been reading recently about how horrible dishwasher detergent is for the environment (all that phosphorous), so I've decided to make my own. Why my own instead of using one of the "all natural" and "environmentally safe" brands?

Two reasons, actually. One, they tend to be overly pricey. Two, they don't always seem to work well. I honestly think the efficacy rate has a lot to do with water quality. (Our water here is Terrible - note that capital T - thanks to the Mt. St. Helen's eruption in the 80's.)

Multiple recipes abound on the web for homemade dw detergent but, again, efficacy is varied. All but one that I've seen are variations on the same theme -- 1:1 ratio of washing soda (or baking soda) and Borax.

So here's the recipe I'm trying:

2 cups Castile soap
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 vinegar

I don't plan to mix and entire batch because if it doesn't work, I don't want to have wasted two cups of my precious Castile soap. But if it does work, I'm mixing up the full batch and saying good-bye to the expensive (yet effective and convenient) Cascade tablets.

Hayley will be home in an hour. It's her job to help with dishes, so once they're loaded up, we'll be ready to play scientist! (I'll be Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Hayley can be Beaker!)