 |
| Kool Aid Man from www.gamesprays.com |
Whenever I clean anything around the house, which isn't very often, Pete always makes the remark that it smells clean. In my book, clean doesn't smell. Pine Sol smells, Windex smells, Pledge smells, but those are the smells of chemicals, not the smell of clean. I think we all connect the smells of cleaning products with our past cleaning experiences or childhood. What about the future?
I've been concerned for some time about what chemicals are making those "clean" smells and what other chemicals are ending up in our leach field. We have a septic system up here. When we used the last Cascade dishwasher tablet I decided to make my own dishwasher soap.
I found a great blog that provides a number of recipes for homemade cleaning products, including dishwasher soap. On diy Natural
http://diynatural.com/ I found a recipe that listed Kool-Aid as one of its ingredients and I was hooked. Talk about childhood memories. . . Who knew that Kool-Aid stands really should have been set up to sell cleaning products, not sugary drinks for kids.
diy Natural blogger, Matt Jabbs, provides a recipe with 4 simple ingredients. You just mix them together, I mixed them in the now empty Cascade container, and you have enough powder for 24 loads.
 |
| www.Cascadeclean.com |
I've been concerned for some time about what chemicals are making those "clean" smells and what other chemicals are ending up in our leach field. We have a septic system up here. When we used the last Cascade dishwasher tablet I decided to make my own dishwasher soap.
I found a great blog that provides a number of recipes for homemade cleaning products, including dishwasher soap. On diy Natural http://diynatural.com/ I found a recipe that listed Kool-Aid as one of its ingredients and I was hooked. Talk about childhood memories. . . Who knew that Kool-Aid stands really should have been set up to sell cleaning products, not sugary drinks for kids.
diy Natural blogger, Matt Jabbs, provides a recipe with 4 simple ingredients. You just mix them together, I mixed them in the now empty Cascade container, and you have enough powder for 24 loads.
1/2 Cup Borax Natural Laundry Booster
1/2 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/4 Cup Kosher salt
1/4 citric acid OR 8 packages of unsweetened lemonade Kool-Aid
 |
| Sample of My Homemade Dishwasher Soap |
You can get citric acid online, and I probably will, because those little packages of Lemonade Kool-Aid were not easy to find up here this time of year. Jabbs says not to use any other flavor because you will end up with blue, red or purple dishwasher interior. I think that might be a reason to use grape or cherry Kool-Aid - psychadelic Quiet Power.
 |
| All our appliances seem to have names. The Quiet Power II really isn't too quiet. |
 |
| Quiet Power II |
I have been using the recommended 1 Tablespoon per load in our Quiet Power II (it's not a KitchenAid, but a GE) and the dishes come out as clean as ever. Jabbs recommends using white vinegar in the rinse compartment. I think I will as soon as the Jet-Dry runs out.
 |
| Maddie Jo was pleased with the results. |
I've been using a vinegar and water concoction in lieu of 409 and Windex, but I'm not very satisfied with it. I need to work on tweaking it. We are almost out of laundry detergent, so I think that will be the next project. The diy Natural blog has a recipe for that as well. Asher seems to have a different idea for the next homemade cleaning project.
 |
| "Let's make doggie shampoo." |
 |
| "Is it time for a bath?" |
Id rather drink the kool aide. I am proud of Beth trying these new concoctions. Hopefully, one will mix well with alcohol.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that cleaning compounds are really just surfactants, chemicals that make surfaces unable to cling to dirt. These are present when the water feels slippery. Hot water and high alkalinity will do the job on most dirt. The challenge comes with stains, oils, and grease, which require different cleaning compounds and using cold water to save energy. The best oil or grease cutter is another oil, hence the use of fats in soaps. The problem with powdered soaps is that the fats chelate out of solution and coat the drain pipes. Hence, we use detergents and not soaps in laundry and dishwashers. We shall keep using the chemistry set to find a good combination of ingredients, hopefully having a common use in the bar.
I'm very curious about how hard/soft your water is up there. I definitely noticed an issue with dishwasher detergent when they changed the formulas. There were a number of articles written about the new detergents leaving a white film on the dishes (including the NYTimes). We have extremely hard water and although we do have a softener (which we are having replaced) I had a terrible time with the new detergents. I did buy a product that I put in the dishwasher (with the detergent) that I think was full of citric acid and that helped quite a bit...so your post intrigued me...I will be trying out your koolaid formula when my detergent runs out.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you are familiar with the Shaklee products or not but I have tried some of these organic products and been happy with them.
http://www.shaklee.com/products.php?sku=50456
I love the smell of bleach so...it's hard for me to like some of these friendlier products...but I'm trying!
Renee
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteOur water has a near neutral pH of 7.1 and a low alkalinity level of around 35. Thus, we need more baking soda for alkalinity and laundry booster for higher pH when needed in laundry. Hard water is caused by high levels of Total Dissolved Solids such as calcium and magnesium salts, iron, and some others. Your water softener exchanges these salt cations with sodium cations using ion exchange resins, which need to be recharged with salt. Under hard water conditions phosphates are used to keep these solids in suspension so they don't deposit on your clothes and dishes. Acid will help by neutralizing/dissolving some of them. However, acidic conditions won't help surfactants or their action on dirt and oils. I would suggest either using a water softener or try a newer technology such as Easy Water, which use magnets and electro-magnetic fields to temporarily hold the TDS's in suspension.
Remember, the secret to cleaning is to get the water chemistry right (slippery with higher alkalinity), use temperature, and use action. Especially in laundries there are 4 components to the cleaning formula: temperature, action, chemicals, and time. Each can be varied but has to be made up in another way. Example: if temperature is reduced time and chemical might need to be increased, and so forth. Keep experimenting until you get the right formula for your water conditions. One can get a water test kit to test pH and alkalinity from your local pool supplier. TDS meters can be useful but not required with a water softener.