What do you do to wash your dishes?

[DaytonsMom]

I've been using 7th Generation dish liqued and my mom has been using the Dr. Bronners Sal Suds. We were just curious what others use.

[wendinbill]

I currently use Ivory dishsoap. In Clean Home, Clean Planet, that was what she recommended as being one of the gentle ones.

[Jojo F.]

We use Ecover. But I have been thinking about making some with my soapnuts- we'll see.

[Astrid1024]

Originally Posted by Jojo F.

We use Ecover. But I have been thinking about making some with my soapnuts- we'll see.

We use 7th Generation for liquid and Ecover in the dishwasher.

I was thinking about making some dish liquid with soap nuts for sink dishes as well. I wouldn't do it for the dishwasher because we have hard water and I think the dishes would be a sticky, crusty mess.

I make my own shampoo with soapnuts and I am thinking that my dish soap formulation wouldn't be much different.

I take 8 soap nuts and boil them so the saponins come out - then I grate half a bar of pure castille soap into the pan and let the whole mixture cool. For my shampoo, I put about 2 tbs of baking soda in because I think it softens my hair, but I would leave that out of the dish liquid recipe. When its cool I put it in a squeeze bottle and voila! You have to shake it up because the soap nut liquid and soap separate, but it works really well. I have really shiny, clean hair with lots of volume and no split ends. I bet it would work well with dishes too. Its really cheap when you run the cost. I use a castille soap that costs about $3 so the whole thing costs no more than $2.00 to make a whole bottle of shampoo or dish liquid. And it is totally pure and natural and free of chemicals. When you are done boiling the soap nuts or using them in the wash, you can compost them. Totally waste free! Pretty rad!

[Astrid1024]

:

[es1967]

I love Mrs Meyers Lemon Verbena dish soap. I found that I really went thru the seventh generation dish soap like water.

[fanniefarkle]

Ecover, but the next time I buy, I am going to try 7th Generation.

[tulip4me]

After we finish up our 7th gen I'm going to start using Dr. Bronner's for the dishes.

[Siennaflower]

Ecover for hand washing and Charlie's detergent for the dishwasher with Ecover rinse aid (helps with hard water film).

[Pen_esque]

We use Ecover. It lasts forever because we use =very= little. I found that you can really dilute that stuff and get the same results.

I had never even heard of soap nuts before! Thanks for the tip. MDC is amazing.

[DaytonsMom]

where do you buy Ecover at?

[fanniefarkle]

Originally Posted by DaytonsMom

where do you buy Ecover at?

I buy it at the local herb shop. (In addition to herbs, he sells natural products for the home and body.) I think that my local Kroger now carries Ecover. The natural food store probably has it, too.

[Siennaflower]

Originally Posted by DaytonsMom

where do you buy Ecover at?

My local HFS carries it and so does Amazon.com (with free shipping for orders over $25!).

[jenerationx]

We use Ecover. I buy it at our co-op, but you can also get it at Whole Foods and from drugstore.com

[mk12]

Originally Posted by sarah.astrid

We use 7th Generation for liquid and Ecover in the dishwasher.

I use just the opposite. Ecover for liquid and 7th Generation in the dishwasher.

I agree that the liquid Ecover lasts forever. I love that stuff.

I would use the Ecover powder, but that weird built in cardboard spout never seems to close properly and the detergent always ends up absorbing moisture and turning into a solid rock before I can use all of it. So I just use 7th Generation instead, but I don't think it works quite as well. I should just get a rubbermaid container or something and go back to Ecover for my dishwasher.

[Astrid1024]

Originally Posted by mk12

I would use the Ecover powder, but that weird built in cardboard spout never seems to close properly and the detergent always ends up absorbing moisture and turning into a solid rock before I can use all of it. So I just use 7th Generation instead, but I don't think it works quite as well. I should just get a rubbermaid container or something and go back to Ecover for my dishwasher.

We were using this kind of Ecover dishwasher tablet for a while

http://www.ecover.com/us/en/Products...er+Tablets.htm

its the best thing I've ever used - got the dishes spotless - but I didn't like that each one is individually wrapped in (recyclable) plastic and it is also more expensive per load.

We use a 365 Whole Foods powder that we dumped in a glass jar that has a gasket. We measure exactly one tablespoon and the stuff has lasted FOREVER. It must have cost us $3 tops and we haven't bought new detergent in months.

[fanniefarkle]

I just bought 7th Gen for the 1st time, and I like it way better than Ecover.

[Lemon Juice]

We use BioKleen. They are more local than Ecover (made in WA state...I've seen the place w/ me own eyes) and in my opinion that matters when talking about local and sustainable, imho of course :

The good old days I bought it in bulk...now we can't do that as easily..but it's a huge bottle and it friggin' last forever!

[tracyhos]

Ecover for the dishwasher.

Earth Friendly Products Ultra Dishmate (liquid dishsoap) in Natural Almond.

[thefragile7393]

Planet right now, when it's used up I want to use Dr. B's soap (sparingly, from a foaming soap bottle lol)