Stretching Your Dish Detergent

You can cut your costs of dish detergent--without cutting their cleaning power--by diluting them.  


Save an empty bottle of dish detergent, and when you buy a new one, pour one half of the detergent into the old bottle. Fill both with water.  

Rotate several times to mix. (Don't shake because shaking creates lots of soap bubbles, which will leave little room for water and detergent to mix.  Then, if you open the bottle quickly after shaking, the bubbles will spill out just like a soda bottle that has been dropped or shaken.)  

You'll end up with twice as much detergent by diluting he original product. It may not be as bubbly, but it's not the bubbles that do the cleaning. Those bubbles are mainly there to give you the illusion that the detergent is doing its job.    

To boost the power of your detergent when you're washing greasy dishes and pans by hand, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup white vinegar to the dishwater.