It all started when Matt and I had first gotten married. We had our very first apartment and the excitement of running my own home overtook me. Little did I know how unprepared I was! I did not have a dishwasher and needless to say my organizational skills were.....ok I had none. I had plenty of experience washing dishes when I was growing up. In fact I spent many summers in a camp kitchen hand washing dishes. But rarely did I ever have to do the entire task on my own. At home it was always a three part system (because there were the three of us kids:). So when it came to doing it on my own I was extremely lost. Partially because we didnt take the time to really scrape or rinse or stack our dishes when we were finished with them. And because I dreaded it I would let everything pile up for a week and then attempt to tackle the massive pile of disgustingness....So here I am again in a new apartment with no dishwasher and I have made up my mind to do things differently.....I would like to say that my mother-in-law has been an inspiration to me and made me realize that washing dishes doesnt have to be so complicated. I have also come up with a few tricks of my own on how to do it frugally and naturally. Lets get started!
What you will need:
1/4-1/2 cup of baking soda- depending on how big your sink is
1/4-1//2 cup of vinegar
1/4-1/2 cup of Borax, Washing soda or 2 tsp. Soapnut powder, I absolutely LOVE soapnut powder! If you have soapnuts and dont want to grind it into a powder you could just put 4-5 of them in your muslin sack and toss it in.
5-10 drops of tea tree oil, optional (mine is already blended into the soapnut powder)
Washcloth,or your favorite scrubber :)
A couple towels or drying mats
We are going to do a wash, rinse, stack routine....I do not believe in hand drying dishes unless its ABSOLUTELY necessary! :)
If you have the counter space, go ahead and spread out your towels or drying mats and if you have a drying rack you can go ahead and set that on the counter with a towel under it.
We are going to utilize both sides of the sink (if you have it). We are going to use one side for washing and one side for rinsing. You want the side for rinsing to be close to the counter that you will be stacking the dishes on.
Go ahead and plug up both sides of your sink. (I had to jimmy rig a second plug since I only had one)
Put all your ingredients in the wash side and start filling with hot water until its about halfway full. Put your dirty dishes in and then fill up the sink the rest of the way with water.
Please note that this whole process goes a lot easier if you have scraped, rinsed and stacked your dishes as you dirty them. You will love yourself for making this a priority. If you have not done this then go ahead and do it before you get started.
Fill the rinse side with HOT water, as hot as you can stand. This will help with drying time. Having a rinse side will save on water since you wont have to have it running to rinse every single dish.
There you have it! Wash, rinse and stack!
NOTE: For greasy dishes that just wont come clean, sprinkle a little baking soda and vinegar directly on the dish and then scrub and rinse.
Something else I did which made things a little easier was I put my silverware in a separate little tub. This is helpful if you have a bunch of silverware that needs washed. You could use a bucket or big bowl for this step. Just use a third of the amount of ingredients,put your silverware in and fill the tub with super HOT water and let it soak while you wash your other dishes. Then drain your sink and set the tub in empty side and wash your silverware. This step saved space in the sink and I like that it sits in the really hot water to soak.
You may be wondering why I dont just buy dish soap. I have not yet found a dish soap at the store that tells me exactly what is in it. Your skin is the largest organ of your body and it is going to absorb whatever you put on it and I just like to know what Im putting into my body. :)
Anyone have any hand washing tips? Do you have a dishwasher? I would love to try these ingredients as dishwasher detergent! Let me know if you try it!
What you will need:
1/4-1/2 cup of baking soda- depending on how big your sink is
1/4-1//2 cup of vinegar
1/4-1/2 cup of Borax, Washing soda or 2 tsp. Soapnut powder, I absolutely LOVE soapnut powder! If you have soapnuts and dont want to grind it into a powder you could just put 4-5 of them in your muslin sack and toss it in.
5-10 drops of tea tree oil, optional (mine is already blended into the soapnut powder)
Washcloth,or your favorite scrubber :)
A couple towels or drying mats
We are going to do a wash, rinse, stack routine....I do not believe in hand drying dishes unless its ABSOLUTELY necessary! :)
If you have the counter space, go ahead and spread out your towels or drying mats and if you have a drying rack you can go ahead and set that on the counter with a towel under it.
We are going to utilize both sides of the sink (if you have it). We are going to use one side for washing and one side for rinsing. You want the side for rinsing to be close to the counter that you will be stacking the dishes on.
Go ahead and plug up both sides of your sink. (I had to jimmy rig a second plug since I only had one)
Put all your ingredients in the wash side and start filling with hot water until its about halfway full. Put your dirty dishes in and then fill up the sink the rest of the way with water.
Please note that this whole process goes a lot easier if you have scraped, rinsed and stacked your dishes as you dirty them. You will love yourself for making this a priority. If you have not done this then go ahead and do it before you get started.
Fill the rinse side with HOT water, as hot as you can stand. This will help with drying time. Having a rinse side will save on water since you wont have to have it running to rinse every single dish.
There you have it! Wash, rinse and stack!
NOTE: For greasy dishes that just wont come clean, sprinkle a little baking soda and vinegar directly on the dish and then scrub and rinse.
Something else I did which made things a little easier was I put my silverware in a separate little tub. This is helpful if you have a bunch of silverware that needs washed. You could use a bucket or big bowl for this step. Just use a third of the amount of ingredients,put your silverware in and fill the tub with super HOT water and let it soak while you wash your other dishes. Then drain your sink and set the tub in empty side and wash your silverware. This step saved space in the sink and I like that it sits in the really hot water to soak.
You may be wondering why I dont just buy dish soap. I have not yet found a dish soap at the store that tells me exactly what is in it. Your skin is the largest organ of your body and it is going to absorb whatever you put on it and I just like to know what Im putting into my body. :)
Anyone have any hand washing tips? Do you have a dishwasher? I would love to try these ingredients as dishwasher detergent! Let me know if you try it!