More homemade cleaners: dishwashing detergent

Ok… i’m odd I know. For whatever reason, I like finding recipies for homemade cleaners. This morning I ran out of dishwashing detergent. So of course I Googled it.   I came across this new one I had to share:

Make Your Own Natural Dishwasher/Scouring Powder

By: Lynn Siprelle

For some time now I’ve been experimenting with making my own dishwasher powder. I’ve tinkered with the basic formula, even at one point adding Kool-Aid to it (for the citric acid–it turned out to be a crucial step in figuring the formula out). In further experimentation I’ve discovered it makes a decent no-scratch scouring powder as well, more like Bon Ami than Comet.

What I’ve discovered is that it doesn’t work as well as some of the commercial detergents; however I have found that it works just as well as the major ” green alternative” dishwasher detergents, if not a little better, and at a fraction of the cost. If you don’t like scraping your dishes and rinsing them off, you won’t like homemade powder; I found you had to be diligent about getting all food particles off your dishes because the dishwasher powder will not do it for you. Of course, many dishwashers require you to do this anyway, but oftentimes people are lazy. Like, uh, me. But this is so much easier on the environment and the pocketbook it’s worth taking the time to properly prepare the dishes I’ve found.

The formula
Here, after much experimenting, is the formula for dishwashing powder.

In a plastic container with a firmly fitting lid, mix:
1 cup borax (20-Mule-Team Borax, available in any supermarket)
1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid (available in brewing stores among other places–if you haven’t tracked it down yet but must try this formula, use two packets of Lemonade-Flavored Kool-Aid, ONLY lemon, or you’ll dye your dishwasher! and ONLY unsweetened Kool-Aid!)
30 drops citrus essential oil–lemon, grapefruit, orange, tangerine, or a mixture

Put all of it in the container, shake it up.

To use, put a tablespoon or so into each cup of your dishwasher. I’ve found I no longer have to use the scrubbing cycle but can get by fine with the short cycle, thus saving even more money. On average, it looks like this is about 8 cents a load compared with Cascade at 22 cents a load. Compare it with EcoVer or Seventh Generation and it’s a steal. I have also started putting some of this in a shaker canister–the one I have we got at a restaurant supply, it’s aluminum and was made for popcorn salt. I use it to clean my sink and anything else that I’d normally use Bon Ami on. Works great, and the essential oil makes it smell fantastic.

If you experiment with this, add to the comments on this page, I’d love to know what your experiences are.

Cute Car Cupcakes

Like most little boys, my son loves cars. From his car bed, to the little cars I find in my purse on an occasion, nothing makes him happier than something with wheels. So for his 4th birthday, I decided he would love a car theme for a party at his preschool. However, I am short of time so I needed something quick and simple. Putting on my thinking cap at the grocery store, here’s what I came up with.

Here’s what you need:

• Cake mix
• Frosting
• candy sprinkles (optional)
• Mini Snickers
• Hershey’s Kissables (colored)

Here’s what you do: Make cupcakes according to the directions on the box. Frost and sprinkle candy sprinkles on the cupcake. Take 1 mini snicker and push 4 colored Hershey’s kissables into the body of the snicker to act as wheels. The point on the kissables will act similar to a thumb tact and the shell will be hard enough to push into the snicker. That’s it!

I was so happy that these cupcakes, as simple as they were, turned out so cute. While I was making these cute creations, I thought of more ways to use these little cars.

Train - make several cars like above, and attach each car with a thin licorice lace. To make the engine, attach a rolo cut in 1/2 on top.

Bus – Use a regular sized snickers bar, attach several wheels under the candy bar similar to a bus. (4 on each end for a total of 8 wheels)

Semi truck – First, create the trailer from a regular sized snickers bar and make the truck out of a mini snickers. You could shape it to look like a truck by stacking a small piece on top of the small snickers so it is in the shape of an “L”Attach trailer to the truck with a small piece of thin licorice lace.

I’m so excited to bring these cupcakes to preschool tomorrow as I’m sure the kids will love them. Of course I know the first thing my son will eat are the wheels!

The games we play – lesson in cooperation

Cooperation…how can we teach it to our kids?

As a mother of two children whose age gap is 6 years, sibling rivalry is a consistent thing in our house. Like with many families, getting children to learn how to work together can be a tough challenge. Too many kids play to win and forget good sportsmanship is more important then the end result. Since children learn though play, I thought it would be nice if “I” played with them and teach this valuable lesson. So with the help of other children, we played these team building games.

Make a spider web

What you need: white yarn, stuffed animal spider or spider rings

Before you start: Have the children sit in a circle. Ask them if they think humans can make spider webs? Of course they will giggle and say no. Tell them although we don’t have 8 arms, we can work together using our two arms to create a spider web.

How you play: Pass the yarn around the circle gently without throwing. Once they get a ball of yarn, they must hold on to their part of the string with one hand and pass it to the next person they choose. Each person will take turns until the web is spun. Once you have a complete web that will hold a spider, place the spider or spider rings on top of the web. Ask the children to work together and try to move the web without dropping the spiders.

Funny stories

What you need: Mad libs or make up your own mad libs either from the web or writing your own story. For little ones, use stickers or give them suggestions of words as they can use as they won’t know a noun, pronoun or verb.

How you play: Tell the children we will work together to create our own funny story. Go around the room and ask each child to pick a word you will use to fill in the blanks. When you are finished, read the story out loud. Everyone is sure to laugh!

Make a snack

What you need: Pieces of fruit such as apples, oranges, bananas, cherries, etc. Verify with the parents prior if any child has a certain allergy prior to selecting the fruit. Whipped topping, bowls, plastic knives, a large bowl, paper plates.

How you play: tell the children we will use our cooperation skills to make a fruit salad. Assign each child a task such as “banana cutter” or “apple slicer”. Once they are finished cutting the fruit have a “salad mixer”mix and dish the fruit salad to everyone. if children complain about a certain type of fruit, remind them that working together also means accepting things they may not always like. So if they don’t want to eat the fruit then set it aside and not eat it.

In the end, my kids learned that playing together can be fun and does not always have to be a fight. Has that stopped sibling rivalry… course not! But at least the message was conveyed in a fun and supportive activity.