It’s blue, it’s green, it’s pink…it’s amazing! Dish soap is a true workhorse in the cleaning world.
Before we get into the the whys and hows behind this bold statement, here’s an excellent piece of cleaning advice for every person reading this post. Always, and I mean always – start every cleaning job with the safest, most basic product available to you.
There’s always the need for specialty cleaning products – but most jobs can also be tackled with really basic ingredients – like baking soda, vinegar, rubbing alcohol – and one of my personal favorites – dish soap – or dishing liquid – or washing-up liquid – or whatever you call it!
Dish soap has a million cleaning uses, and here are a few of my all-time favourites.
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Floor Cleaner
Dish soap makes for an excellent floor cleaner – just add a few drops of dish soap – or a pinky nail’s worth to a bucket of very warm – borderline HOT water – this is a simple solution that will leave your hardwood, laminate, tile, and even cement floors looking fantastic!
Grease Stain Buster
Dish soap is easily one of the safest things you can put on your fabrics when you get a stain – which is why it’s used to treat so many different stains especially grease stains – dish soap can be applied directly to grease stains and then gently rubbed in just using your fingers – let it sit for a few minutes – then rinse the area with cool water and launder as you normally would if it is something that can be laundered – in my experience, it even works on older stains that have been around for awhile
Quickly Clean A Blender
I mentioned this not too long ago in one of our cleaning hack videos – but felt it too useful not to share again – so, if you want to quickly clean your blender after each use – simply add a couple of drops of dish soap and fill your blender until it is about 1/4 full of warm water water – pop the blender back on the base and blend the mess away……
Kitchen Cabinets
Here’s something I get asked a LOT – how to clean kitchen cupboards – and the answer is actually pretty straightforward if you have some dish soap handy – all you have to do is add 1 part dish soap to about 10 parts water in a container – mix it up – and then take a non-scratching sponge, dunk it in the mixture and call on some ol’ fashioned elbow grease to take care of the rest! The greasy build-up on kitchen cupboards is no match for dish soap..
Pre-Manicure Soak
Here’s a handy tip for those, like me, who have a fascination with nail polish! Before you apply your nail polish – soak your finger tips in a mixture of 1 part dish soap and 20 parts warm water – you can use a big glass bowl like I have here – and just let your fingers soak for 5 -7 minutes – this will remove some of the oils from your fingernails and make it easier for the the nail polish to stick to your nails!
Kill Weeds
This is a wonderfully safe and affordable alternative to harsh weeding chemicals and all you probably already have all of the ingredients you need in your house right now..just take an empty spray bottle – add a squirt of dish soap, about a 1/2 cup of salt and fill the rest with another Clean My Space staple – vinegar!
Then just spray this solution directly on any weeds – or in areas where weeds are prown to grow! Do be careful though – it’s non-toxic, but will kill any plant life you spray it on – so be careful around any plants and flowers you want to keep!
Clean Natural Stone (Marble & Granite)
Everybody loves marble and granite – but cleaning it can be a hassle – so, don’t over-complicate things and stick to a regular cleaning routine that involves nothing more than dish soap and warm water..
Natural stone is very hard and sometimes when you use specialty cleaning products for daily cleanings – they create a hazy build-up which over time actually dulls the finish of your stone..
Avoid all that by using nothing more than you can use a solution of dish soap and water for regular cleaning and you’ll see the benefits of keeping it simple!
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Rid Hair of Greasy Oils & Build-Up
If you get something really greasy like cooking oil or Vaseline in your hair, here’s a quick and easy way to wash it out, which is, in my opinion, more effective than shampoo….when showering, just add a dabble of dish soap to your hands and work it into your hair, just like it was shampoo – be sure to rinse well and you’ll notice just how effective dish soap is at dealing with grease – and for you hair product junkies, you can do this about once a month to tackle any greasy build-up that hair products leave behind!
Window Cleaner
Did you know that dish soap is also an awesome window cleaner? It cuts through greasy window film like nothing else and leaves a nice, clean finish….just add a few drops – again about a pinky’s worth – of dish soap in a pail of warm water and you’re good to go…you can also add about a 1/2 cup of vinegar for extra grime fighting action…
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Pretty amazing stuff, huh? and here’s one last tip – anytime you need “warm soapy water” for anything – this is the stuff they are referring to – it’s a PH Neutrel cleaner – meaning it’s one of the safest soaps you can use on dirt, grease and grime!