Homemade Dish Soap

This morning, I ran out of dish soap.  I tried one homemade recipe and it was a bust.  But, since one of my New Year resolutions was to be healthier, I thought I'd give it another try.  I scoured (pun intended) the Web and found this recipe.  I read all the reviews and everyone seemed to be pleased with the results, so I figured, why not?  I had all the ingredients on hand. 

The recipe did say that the soap will thicken as it cools.  If it gets too thick, add a bit of warm water and shake it to get to the consistency you desire.

So, how does it work?  I washed a plate and a greasy plastic container.  Both were clean.  The soap had some suds, wasn't slippery, and got both clean.  Next time, I think I will decreased the tea tree oil or do something citrus.  After it sat all day, it because very thick, as in a big glob, so, I added hot water, got out a chopstick and mixed it. Definitely added more to the bottle than shown.  Worked great.  All in all, I'd call this a win. 

Homemade DishSoap
1-1/4 cups boiling Water
1/4 cup tightly packed Bar Soap, grated (I used Octogon)
1 tablespoon Washing Soda
1/4 cup liquid Castile Soap
10-30 drops essential oils (optional. I used 15 drops tea tree because I love the clean smell)

Add grated soap to boiling water and stir until dissolved. 

Just add little bits at a time; otherwise, you'll end up with a huge soap ball and it will take forever to dissolve.  Yes, I'm speaking from experience.

Add washing soda to melted soap and stir.

Add liquid castile soap and stir.
Stir occasionally. As it cools, it separates ever so slightly.

Let cool and then add oils if using.

Decant into old dishsoap bottle or do like I did and put it in a pretty bottle.  Who says dishsoap can't go into cut glass anyway? 

Doesn't this look pretty?