Castile Soap Concentrate for Mopping the Floors and More - No Grating!

I really love liquid castile soap.  I use it to make pretreat stains, and it makes a great all purpose cleaner.  It's gentle and non-toxic, so I feel safe using it with my kids and pets.  What I don't love is the price.  I was making my own liquid castile soap, but it always separates.  Sure, you can give it a good shake before you use it, but even if you set it aside for a few minutes, it separates again.  Cabinet space is at a premium in my kitchen, and two bottles of soap takes up a lot of room.  Yes, I could store one in the basement, but what are the odds that I will remember to grab it before I need it?  Slim to none.  That's why I make this castile soap concentrate to clean my house and mop the floors.  It works just like expensive store bought liquid castile soap, yet it hardly takes up any room.  Even better, it just takes a few moments to make and the jar will last for months.

I like to use Kirk's Castile soap, but any brand of castile bar soap should do.  I thought fels naptha would be good, but it doesn't dissolve when I add it to the mop bucket as well as the castile soap does.  You can try it for yourself, but I didn't have great success.

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a kettle or in a saucepan.  You don't need to be exact with the measurements since the jar will be your measurement.  While it's heating up, chop up a bar of castile soap.  I just make small slices, which makes it flake off.  If you get large chunks, just chop them up at the end.  Big chunks, an inch or so long, don't dissolve as quickly.

Pour the soap pieces in to a quart mason jar.  I use a flexible cutting board so I just pick up and fold the cutting board and use it as a funnel.

By now your water should be boiling or close to it.  As long as there are a few bubbles, it's hot enough.  Place your jar with soap on the top of the stove, on a cutting board, or on another heat proof surface where it can sit untouched for several hours.  Carefully pour the hot water over the soap until an inch from the top.

The jar will be hot, so do not try to move it.  Let it sit for several hours before you put a lid on it.  The soap should melt completely in about an hour, then it will be a liquid.  The next day, it should turn in to a semi-solid gel.  If your house is really warm, it might not turn in to a gel until the temperature drops.  That is normal.

I use a tablespoon per gallon of water to wash my wood floors and fake wood in my kitchen.  If my kitchen floor is especially dirty after canning, I will add some Borax to the soap.  Just do not use vinegar with castile soap because they cancel each other out.

I also use my homemade liquid castile soap concentrate to pretreat laundry and to wipe the surfaces in my home when I'm deep cleaning.

Have you used liquid castile soap to clean?

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A New Way To Stop SUI

Do you have that group of friends that you can laugh with?   You know, the ones where you know a dinner out with them means hours of laughter until you look around and realize that it's just your table and the wait staff left in the restaurant.  Those are my friends.  We are crazy together, but we are well behaved for the most part.

Most of us have kids in our group, so when we all start laughing, a few of us have to excuse ourselves.  Unfortunately, the fits of laughter trigger stress urinary incontinence (SUI), which can happen when you cough, sneeze, laugh, exercise, or even lift something.

My friends know that I've blogged for Poise pads before, so we joke that we need to pass some around before we start laughing.  Only most of us aren't joking.  We are using them!

Not me.  I've switched to Poise Impressa because it stops leaks before they start--without medication!

Poise Impressa looks like a tampon, but it's not meant to absorb leakage.  Instead, it fits inside you and supports you from the inside to stop leaks.  You insert it like a tampon, and you can wear it up to 8 hours before removing it.

Impressa comes in three sizes.  Your size doesn't have anything to do with how much you leak or your body size.  It just depends on how you are shaped inside.  Poise Impressa Starter kit has two of each size so you can get your perfect fit.  Start with size 1 and move on to 2 and 3 if you still experience leakage.  Each starter kit also has a $4 coupon good for the purchase of the single size pack.

Ready to try it out for yourself?  Click here for a $2 coupon for a Poise Impressa Starter Kit.

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