DIY Dishwashing Detergent

Dishwasher tabs are convenient but can lead to unnecessary waste and plastic, they all seem to come in plastic tubs and some of them even come individually wrapped…

I’ve found the transition to scooping a little powder into the dishwasher is just as effective as those tabs.

In a bog bowl, combine:

2 Cups Baking Soda

2 Cups Borax

1/2 Coarse Salt (or Epson Salt)

1/2 Vinegar

Store in a airtight bottle, even reuse one of those old dishwasher tab containers if you have one!

When going to use the mixture, scoop 2 tbsp of mixture into the soap insert, and to help fight grease, add 2 drops of dish washing liquid on top of the mixture to help with grease fighting. (NO MORE THAN 2 DROPS… TRUST ME.) Made that mistake in childhood. Only took once to learn the difference between the dish soap and the dishwasher soap.

Fill the Rise aid with vinegar to help with cloudiness, and then run your dishwasher as you normally would.

DIY Pot Holders

I've always grown up with hand made pot holders, I didn't know they could be bought at a store to be honest... So when mine started seeing better days I immediately started looking at the DIY approach.

Headed for my local fabric store (Atlantic Fabrics in Nova Scotia) and got some of that lovely filling that stops the hot goodies from burning my hands.

One meter goes a long way- I doubled it up and I still managed to get 16 pot holders out of it. For the outside I had a lovely collection of fabrics. Best to use a cotton blend. Lastly I finished up the edged with some black bias tape to give it a sleek finish.

The dimensions that I found worked best was 8”x8”

Step 1: Cut out your insulation into 8x8 inch squares, double up the squares.

Step 2: Cut out your desired fabric into 8x8 inch squares.

Step 3: Take some time to carefully pin the insulation and fabric together.

Step 4: Sew the center together, I chose a simple “X“ through the square.

Step 5: Finish the ends off with black bias tape.

Step 6: Go take something hot out of the oven, you’re done!