In days like today when kids think that everything has to be shiny new and convenience is the only option when making decisions, it is wonderful to experience your children and grandchildren embracing a lifestyle that is natural and economical and learning how to be self sufficient using materials that are readily available to us.
  My granddaughter Olivia helping her mom make dishwasher tabs.  | **Christina Snodgrass primitivemama.weebly.com/blog Dishwasher Tabs 2 cups washing soda 1 cup baking soda 1 cup citric acid ½ cup kosher salt ½ cup plus 2 tbsp white distilled vinegar 1 tsp Dr. Bonner’s Castile Soap 15-20 drops Lemon or Citrus Fresh essential oil 1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.\ 2. Add vinegar a little bit at a time and mix well. (Some fizzing will occur and the mixture will start to clump). **Adding the vinegar slowly is super important. If you add too fast it will fizz too much and will continue expanding making it impossible for the tabs to set. You may not need the entire amount of vinegar either. Mine took only ½ cup. 3. Mix in Castile soap and essential oil until well combined. 4. Pack mixture into silicone ice cube trays. Be sure to really compact the mixture into the tray for a good firm tab. You can use regular plastic ones but they are harder to get out when they dry. 5. Set ice cube trays out of reach of children for 24 hours. 6. Take tabs out of trays and you’re ready to go. I put my tabs in an old cleaned out detergent pod container. This batch made 42 tabs – 18 smaller tabs (silicone trays from Ikea) and 24 larger tabs (2 regular ice cube trays) and it cost approximately $0.13 a tab. The larger tabs could actually be cut in half so that would make it a whopping $0.09 a tab! Next time I’m definitely getting more silicone trays and I will use Lemon instead of Citrus Fresh. I think Lemon has more action power! Word of caution - the citric acid may cause a little skin discomfort so I would suggest using gloves if you're going to use your hands to mix. |
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