Make your dishsoap last 20 times longer!

Today I thought I'd post a really quick tip that has really worked well for me. A few years ago, when shopping for liquid dishsoap, I picked up a bottle of Dawn "Direct Foam" dishwashing liquid. I loved it because you press the little dispenser on top and then you get a tablespoon of bubbles directly on your scrubber sponge. It's great for the way I like to wash the pots & pans. It also saves on having the kids dump too much dishsoap into the sink.

But here's the real tip: You can't refill this dispenser with straight dishsoap because it takes a very diluted form of dishwashing liquid to make the foaming action work. When I went to purchase a refill of this "special foaming liquid", I realized that it was mostly water. Why pay for water? So I purchased regular dishsoap and filled my dispenser at home with part liquid dishsoap, part water. It took awhile to get the proportions right to make the foam, but I finally got it figured out. You only need about 1/8 inch of the dishsoap in the bottom of the dispenser bottle, and then you can fill the rest with water. Shake it, put the foaming dispenser lid back on, and you're good to go!

Using this method, I have been using that same refill bottle of dishwashing liquid for well over a year! And while we do have a dishwasher that we use for most of our dishes, a family of 9 people still hand-washes a lot of pots & pans!

I know you can do this with liquid hand-soap as well, if you can find a foaming bottle. I know that hand-soap disappears way too quickly in our home, so I'll have to scout out a new foaming dispenser for our bathroom sinks.

So, quick tip for today. Hope it can help out just a bit in the never-ending quest of mothers with large families to save money!