It’s FEBRUARY already! Time flies when you’re having fun! January was all about reducing plastic bag usage and I’ll review my performance in January on the blog soon! However, now we are in February, it’s time to add another challenge to my ‪#‎ecocrusade‬ . It’s going to be a bit of a science experiment month – making cleaning products. For skin cleaning, dish cleaning, clothes cleaning and house cleaning. ‪

I’ve already tried making my own dishwasher powder. It wasn’t very successful.  I was so proud of myself. I found a recipe on pinterest, mixed it all up and put it in the old Finish bottle. That night, my husband (who always puts on the dishwasher before we go to bed) turned and he asked me if I’d used it already. Still feeling very proud of myself, i replied, No but you don’t need much, just a tablespoon. He just laughed and went out to the shed to get a hammer….

… I didn’t make a desiccant to go with it and with the high humidity in North Queensland, it was rock hard in a matter of hours….

The hammer didn’t work. I was so disappointed.  I found a desiccant from somewhere and popped it in the container and crossed my fingers that it would suck up some of the moisture and bring it back from the brink.

In the  meantime, we went back to the shops and bought some more dishwashing powder in a plastic bottle. When that was used up, I thought I’d try my homemade powder again. And amazingly, it wasn’t quite so rock hard! So I managed to pour it all out into a plastic container with a lid. That will make it easier to spoon into the dishwasher.

Hopefully the next DIY project will be more successful! I’d love to hear your successes and failures when experimenting with homemade products. I think the key here is to keep trying until you find something that works!

It’s about eliminating unnecessary toxins from your household and hopefully creating a little less waste.

Happy DIYing this month!