Saturday 5 June 2021

First Saturday in June

 So much for my new home resolution of buying myself a bunch of flowers more regularly......I didn't remember for the first 3 weeks but finally.............

Flowers on the table this week. Tulips from the Co-op and some bits of fresh Viburnum growth from the garden.

 In the day between finishing reading two of my own books and the library van coming round I started to have a proper look at this.............a book I bought in February

It's full of ideas for making all-sorts including something that looked interesting (being a new dishwasher owner).....dishwasher detergent tabs.

The ingredients are washing soda, baking soda, citric acid, kosher salt (had to look this up as the book is from the US - I think it's what we call cooking salt) few drops of an essential oil and water, mixed and dried in a silicon mold/mould.  Plus then adding white vinegar as a rinse aid. I'm interested to know if anyone has ever made these tablets or if any of the ingredients listed would be damaging to a dishwasher - I presume not as the author of the book uses these and would white vinegar really work as a rinse aid?
 I bought Ecover dishwasher tablets but although ecologically sound each one is wrapped separately in a little bit of non-recyclable wrapping that has to go in the bin.

Brother-in-Law Andrew brought round the wood that he had weather proofed and cut to the right lengths for my vegetable beds. 

 They are going to look very good when eventually the beds are made, although I'm not exactly sure how I shall make these without hiring a turf remover and someone to use it as I don't think the plan of putting down cardboard and covering with compost/soil will work because of the heavy clay soil here.
Another garden job was to get  rid of the nasty looking, slightly poisonous shrub (the one with the flowers like those on a potato). I cut back as much as possible to add to the garden waste bin and then while he was here got BiL to dig out the main part and take it away to burn. It's left more room for the two rhubarb plants to get going and perhaps a space for a Gooseberry bush................ much more useful

Despite it being half term holiday there were some lane swimming sessions available so I booked for lunchtime Friday and it was surprisingly quiet -  a good half hour swimming, that was enough as it was two weeks since my last swim.

 

This week I have been grateful for

  • Seeing the oldest grandchildren playing together
  • Enjoying the  sunshine all week
  • and also the tennis on TV
  • Nice quiet swim
  • Lovely collection of library books
Hope you all have a good weekend, I shall be back Monday.
Sue

37 comments:

  1. We use white vinegar as our rinse/conditioner in our washing machine, it works well. I thought kosher salt was sea salt?

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    1. I found different descriptions of that salt so not really sure

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  2. I'd be very wary of the home-made dishwasher tablets. My church has got a new dishwasher not long ago and one of the groups that uses the hall used an "eco-friendly" something and the plumber had to come and unclog the pipes!! $$$ !! Our tablets have a dissolving 'plastic' cover that is made of something that hasn't caused a problem so far.

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    1. Wonder what was used to block up the pipes - what a nuisance.

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  3. Can't help with the dishwasher tablets, other than to say I've heard about white vinegar as a rinse aid. That book looks good, any other useful tips? Enjoy your weekend.

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    1. I'll have to share some more ideas from the book sometime

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  4. It seems an awful lot of trouble to make up dish washer tablets from an assortment of stuff you will have to buy and then recycle all the stuff they come in. Ecover sounds a good substitute.

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    1. I always have washing soda and bicarb soda in the house so thought they might be worth a try but think I've been put off by all the comments!

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  5. Smol do eco dishwasher tablets and the wrapper dissolves ecologically in the machine. Not too expensive and they work on a flexible subscription like ‘who gibes a c....) do for their loo roll deliveries. I recommend.

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    1. Thank you for that idea I'm trying a sample pack from them

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  6. Keep life simple. Stick to dishwasher tablets from the supermarket. The planet will do whatever it likes. My Finish tablets aren't wrapped and they look like they are but they aren't, I just checked. It dissolves.

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    1. I'm trying to be planet friendly where possible but often fail!

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    2. You can't beat using the proper tablets, salt and rinse aid. Results are better. Even good Finish stuff can be bought when they are half price, they seem to appear everywhere that way on a regular basis.

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    3. I'm inclined to agree with Rachel here, Sue. Use the stuff that is made specially for dishwashers, we can save the planet by not buying food that has been air-freighted thousands of miles, for example it's the asparagus season and I ordered some form Waitrose recently. I never imagined that they would come from Peru otherwise I'd have said "English produce only". I know my one purchase won't make any difference, the cargo will still arrive from Peru, but the more we buy home-grown when it's possible, the better (or grow our own, but that's not possible in our very small garden). By the way, I'm glad to hear you are buying flowers each week. They are certainly worth that extra expense, Sue, for the pleasure they give. I have set a budget for my weekly flowers, and our daughter in law buys them on my behalf each week (we have food delivered, I'm not returning to supermarkets when I can have things delivered to our door). This weeks' flowers are apricot roses and pink and white alstromeria - lovely! May you have a wonderful time in your new home, Sue.
      Margaret P

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  7. I've just planted 3 gooseberry bushes...though with protests from hubby who doesn"t like them! He didn"t stand a chance. x

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    1. I bought a bush today! Need them for gooseberry fool and chutney.

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  8. I don't have a dishwasher so cannot help with the tablets.
    We had very light rain nearly all day yesterday and this morning the sun is shinning so will be lovely in the garden. I have made a stumpy? for the insects at the bottom of the garden with lots of bits of wood and pieces of old branches, I love messing about in the garden.
    Have a nice weekend Sue and everyone.
    Hazel 🌈🌈

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    1. Your tulips are a nice addition to you house. 🌈🌈

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    2. The tulips were a bit of a disappointment as they didn't last long

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    3. I usually put clean water in my vase when I have flowers. Sometimes tulips don't last as long. I got mine from the tulip farm this year and they lasted over a week. I think I still had plant food to put into it from when I got flowers for my birthdya. I am glad you are getting things settled and swimming. Pool in our town will be opening soon. Have a good week!

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  9. Can confirm that wite vinegar works just fine as a rinse aid and I also use it as my fabric softener (I buy it in huge 5ltr bottles a few times a year like this: https://bit.ly/3w0uQMY and add a pump like this to make it more convenient: https://bit.ly/3z0PL4e).

    Honestly, for the tablets I'd buy those which fit best with your values and pocket to avoid wasting money & time making them and potentially more water and more time washing up a second time if they're not effective. I've found that using specially designed DW tablets below a certain cost threshold has been a definite false economy, sadly.

    Do let us know what you do and what works!

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    1. I might try the white vinegar as a rinse aid but have gone off the idea of making my own tablets

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  10. Love the look of the book, I am going to try the library first.

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    1. The library here didn't have it - I bought it when I was fed-up with the moving saga!

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  11. I use Planet dishwasher powder to avoid all the plastic packaging. Was told when I bought my dishwasher that using homemade could void the warranty - not sure if this is a consideration for you, but thought I'd mention just in case. I do plan to try making my own powder after the warranty runs out, so if you experiment I will look forward to your results :)

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    1. The DW instruction do say that best results come from using separate salt, rinse aid and good quality washing tablets

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  12. Just an FYI - Kosher salt is coarser than table or sea salt and does not contain any other additives, such as iodine.

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    1. I keep finding different descriptions of it.

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  13. Have you really been in your new home for three weeks? Doesn't time fly.

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  14. It feels so good to be swimming again. Lane swimming isn't an option for us, so we've been making use of the lake :)
    The tulips are pretty. X

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    1. Having to book a slot has made for quieter sessions compared to before covid when the over 50 sessions were sometimes ridiculously busy.
      I'd love to swim in a lake but only if it was warm! - we only have ditches around here

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  15. I just use the dishwasher detergent from the store. But about once a month I do add a cup of vinegar to my dishwasher when empty and run it to give it a good cleaning. I wash out the filter too. Keeps the insides looking like new - no dirt or gunk build up. This was suggested in the manual that came with the dishwasher...

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  16. Most dishwasher tablets are now wrapped in a film that dissolves in water and so there is no longer the problem of having plastic wrappers to dispose of, much less fiddly too.

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  17. I have no dishwasher, but I can tell you that making home made laundry soap (mine is a powder) is wonderful. No perfumes, just clean. You can add essential oil, if that's your thing. The thing that amazes me is that if you forget a load of laundry in the washer because you dumped it in and headed out the door, when you remember it the next day, it doesn't smell all mildewy and need rewashed. Kosher salt is the big crystals of salt, like the kind that gets put on pretzels. It is called kosher because the Jewish people use it in the process of making kosher meat.

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  18. In Canada Kosher salt is sea salt.

    Lots of people I know use vinegar for rinsing. Sorry don't know anyone who makes their own dishwashing tablets, so I can't help you with that one.

    God bless.

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  19. One final point on dishwashers is that they run on sensors and if the interior of your washer senses something it doesn't like then it won't work. For this reason I would not recommend making your own tablets. It could end up more trouble than its worth.

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