Kelly's Korner - Dishwasher Disaster

Hey, All,

So it's Valentine's Day and your lovely children decide they are going to "help" mom by loading and running the dishwasher - and they put dish soap in instead of dishwasher detergent and now you have suds ALL OVER the kitchen - what do you do?

Creative Commons license on image.

Put the kids up for adoption?  Tempting, but you know that you'd miss them.  Call a repairman?  You could, but you can save yourself some hard earned $$ by cleaning it up yourself (get the kids to help!).

First - get dishes out.  Just rinse them under COLD water (cold water dissolves suds faster than warm or hot water) and stack on a towel until everything is cleaned up.

Next, get as much water and suds out of the dishwasher as possible.  You can dip/scoop it out and dump in the sink with the cold water running or, if you have a wet rated ShopVac, you can use that.

Once you have as much suds and water out as possible, wipe out the detergent dispenser and tub of any remaining soap, suds and water (be careful as the element may still be hot).  Then pour 1/2 cup of vinegar and a couple of handsful of salt.  Start the dishwasher and let run for a minute - if there are still lotso suds, add some more vinegar.  Repeat this process until all the suds are gone and the hoses are flushed out.  Then you can reload the dishwasher and show the kids the CORRECT detergent to use in the dishwasher.  Get them to wipe up all the water on the floor with some old towels - this can be kinda fun.  Bonus!  Now you don't have to mop the floor!

I have actually had this happen, and while you may think you are in an "I Love Lucy" rerun - don't panic!  It may take some time to clean up, but get the kids involved helping and make it fun and not a catastrophe.  After all, they were trying to help YOU!

Have a great week!

KELLY'S KORNER - HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP

Hey, All!

I was going through some stuff I have stored in my computer and came across this recipe for homemade laundry soap.  I will state right now that I don't remember where I got it and if I am stepping on someone's copywrite, I apologize.  But I thought this was a great idea.  With all the additives and fragrances and stuff that is added to store bought detergent, this is a great alternative.  And I just bought a box of Borax for ant bait (amazing the things you can do with this stuff!), so I think I will mix some up.

Ingredients:

1 Bar of shaved soap (Ivory or Fels-Naptha)
1 Cup of 20 Mule Team Borax
1 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

Grate the bar soap finely and place in a gallon size container. (Use a fine cheese grater or something similar) Add borax and washing soda. Thoroughly stir together for 5 minutes and enjoy the results. Stirring the full time is important; it breaks up the pieces and mixes it fully.

 For washing, use 1 tablespoon per load. If you are washing heavily soiled items, use 2 tablespoons. Makes enough for up to 64 loads!!! Safe to use in High Efficiency/Front-Load washers.

Place in an air-tight container and store at room temperature.

If you are looking for a fabric softener alternative, try using 1/2 cup of white vinegar in your rinse cycle. It strips the clothes of any leftover soap residue and makes them smell clean. Not that bottled clean smell that we are all used to, but a real, deep-down clean. And no, it doesn't make your clothes smell like vinegar.

The great thing about this is that you only use 1 Tablespoon per load!  And you can use it in your high efficiency washers - that detergent is hard to find sometimes.  Then forgo the dryer and hang them outside to dry - now don't you feel "green"?

Have a great week!

PS:  omg, this is so cool!  I was Googling Ivory soap and there was a Youtube "science" experiment where you put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave for about 90 seconds - the air bubbles expand and when done looks like a plate of solid soap bubbles!  This crumbles really well and I'm thinking that this might be more fun than grating the bars.