While I was at the Fairhope Health Food Store, cringing over the prices, I reluctantly marked a few items off my list...
...castile soap ...
...lentils ...
Dang it. What else did I need....I know there was something else...why didn't I write it down...dangit Shaye, why do you always do this....you know you should write these things down....where did Georgia go?...Oh, okay, there she is pulling stuff off of shelves, perfect....what did I need again?....Oh great, now I have to go to the bathroom....Georgia, lets go find a bathroom....No public restroom?....Oh come on people, what's a pregnant woman to do...
...For Pete's sake....what was the last thing I needed?...
For the record, I decided it was a small piece of chocolate for Georgia and I to share, but I assure you, that was not what it actually was at the beginning.
In my mind, the chocolate would be enough to distract me from wetting my pants until we got home. It did work. Which my reputation is grateful for.
Regardless, I no more than got in the car when I realized what the mystery item was that I'd forgotten.
Dishwasher detergent.
Dang, Cleatis. Let's blame this forgetfulness on the pregnancy. I find it's a good all-around excuse for most of my short comings.
At home, I knew I faced a dishwasher chuck-full of dirty dishes that needed to be run through pronto or they'd start smelling, ya know, like if something crawled up in our dishwasher and died.
But I also had to urinate so badly that the thought of pulling Georgia back out of the carseat and into the store to hunt for the illusive dishwashing detergent was more than I could bare. So instead, I drove home, nibbled my chocolate, and thought about all the different cleaning products I could pour into my dishwasher.
Luckily, after using the restroom, sweeeeeet relief, I returned to my senses and instead of dumping a bunch of products into the dishwasher hoping something would work, I looked up a quick recipe.
And not only did it work....but it worked wonderfully! As good as detergent! And it cost like a billionth of the price!
Okay. Maybe not a billionth. But heck, if I can eliminate having to purchase an extra cleaning product, I'll do it!
So here she is: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent.
Step One: In the soap compartment of your dishwasher, squeeze in TWO DROPS of dishwashing soap. Two drops people. I'm not joking around with this. Any more and you'll be cleaning suds off your kitchen floor for a week. Just don't go there. If you can't stop at two, don't start. Just go buy detergent. And then learn some self control.
Ahem.
Step Two: Throw a few tablespoons of baking sodainto the door, or into the bottom of the dishwasher, or into the soap compartment. It doesn't really matter, just throw some in there.
Step Three: Run the dishwasher like normal.
See? I told you it was easy. And cheap. And now you never have to buy dishwasher detergent again! Isn't it a wonderful thing?! I'm always on the hunt for products that have dual purposes...or triple purposes for that matter! My dishsoap is now my dishwasher detergent and also my floor cleaner And baking soda. Well, let's not even start that list. It's uses are never ending.
The bonus is that after running the dishwasher with the baking soda, it really lost that skanky smell it'd been boasting for a few weeks now. I'm glad to have that gone.
I hope you find this as exciting as I do. Although, I must admit, I'm still just crazy excited to have a dishwasher. It's not that I hated washing dishes by hand or anything before, but dang if it isn't fast and convenient to throw those dishes in there. An argument can be made both ways for sure - I'm sure there are hand-wash purists out there and die-hard-dishwasher-fans too. Frankly, I'd rather spent more time cooking or baking or pretty much doing anything... and less time washing. But that's just me. Don't hate me hand-washers.
Let's stick to the less controversial issues. Like cheap homemade dishwasher detergent. Every one can agree that's pretty rad.
Give it a try this weekend and let me know what you think of it.
Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!
Now go get that skanky smell out of your dishwasher.
