ran out of washing up liquid

socks_uk

Swan wrote: »

I remember that too, everyone just used washing powder, then I remember my 'aunt' getting a bottle of Squeezy & we were all fascinated by this miraculous new product

Ah yes, but do you remember on the rare occasions that washing-up liquid WAS bought that you refilled your bubble bottle to blow bubbles with? I always spilt mine on the floor!

oopsadaisydoddle

Hi everyone,

I have completely run out of washing up liquid - something that never happens. I normally have a bottle of stardrops in but have run out of this too!!

Can anyone advise what I can use as a substitute in the morning before I get to the shops. I have some baby shampoo - would that work?

Thanks for any help!

babyshoes

At uni I did sometimes use a bar of ordinary soap to wash mugs - swish it in the water to dissolve a bit and rub it on the dirty areas. Wouldn't try it with really greasy pots and such though, just put them in to soak until you get back from the shop. Should be fine for basic things like mugs, breakfast bowls, cutlery and so on.

I don't think I'd use baby shampoo, it's got stuff in it to make it 'gentle' on hair, skin and eyes which may leave a film on your washing up. If you had super-cheap shampoo, like a little bottle of hotel stuff, that might be ok as it would have the minimum of additives.

oopsadaisydoddle

babyshoes wrote: »

At uni I did sometimes use a bar of ordinary soap to wash mugs - swish it in the water to dissolve a bit and rub it on the dirty areas. Wouldn't try it with really greasy pots and such though, just put them in to soak until you get back from the shop. Should be fine for basic things like mugs, breakfast bowls, cutlery and so on.

I don't think I'd use baby shampoo, it's got stuff in it to make it 'gentle' on hair, skin and eyes which may leave a film on your washing up. If you had super-cheap shampoo, like a little bottle of hotel stuff, that might be ok as it would have the minimum of additives.

Thank you! I may have some hotel shampoo somewhere. I just thought baby shampoo might not be as scented but i never thought about a film on it.

I'm at work in the morning and DH staying in for carpet fitter so wanted to get the pots done before leaving. I'm sure I'll find something!

Thanks for your help.

msb5262

Clothes washing powder works ok. Just make sure you dissolve it well and rinse the pots carefully. I've also used it in a dishwasher!
HTH
MsB

Honeythief

I'd just use ordinary soap - but proper soap, not the Dove type with "skin conditioner" or whatever they put in it. That will just leave scum on everything. Sometimes I wash dishes in Roger & Gallet Sandalwood soap if we have temporarily run out of Fairy

[Deleted User]

Year ago when I was but a tiny little girl my Mum used a handful of soda crystals in the washing up when she was washing the pots and pans with a bit of wire wool which she bought in a small hank, cuts through grease like magic.

Washing up liquid as we know it today never existed in our house I'm not too sure if it did anywhere.:D Her household stuff was a tin of Vim for scouring,a packet of Oxydol or Tide for washing the clothes, or a dolly blue bag to go into the bolier for boiling up the whites,she also had a box of Lux flakes for woolies, but her all around cleaning thing was a bar a Fairy Household washing soap.Tt was grated up into an old jam jar for washing up the cups and saucers, and also used to wash my very long waist-length hair .I'm not sure if its still made or not, but it was a bar that was darkish green and hard as a bullet and one of my Saturday morning chores was to sit on the back step and using an old grater grate this stuff into the jar.I often grated parts of my fingers in as well :) But as one of my Mums firm rules were 'Cleanliness was next to Godliness'
I was grater-in-chief. My two bothers and I had Saturday jobs which we were expected to do for our Mum.The boys collected wood from the local market and brought it home and chopped it up for kindling the kitchen range.
We never had pocket money or even expected it it was just a case of 'help your Mother ' from Dad and we got on with it.
The grated Fairy soap was shampooed into my hair on Saturday afternoons as it took ages for my hair to dry (no hand dryers in those days either) and then I would have to sit still while Mum combed the tangles out (no conditioner either) after it was combed free I would have to sit and clean the brasses for her.She had a brass table covered with these blooming things, and what a pain they were to clean.I swore I'd never have brass in my house when I grew up, and I never have. Just the smell of a tin of Brasso takes me back over 60 years to long boring Saturday afternoons cleaning the blessed things:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Eliza_2

Gosh Jackie, what a wonderful story. I work in a bookshop and tales like yours are so popular, maybe some of us old stylers should put a book together and try to earn enough for some new fangled washing up liquid. It would be more real and less contrived than some of those around!

I use green soap, it's from Morrisons, you get several in a pack, and I also grate it for several purposes, mostly laundry gloop, but it's good for other cleaning too - smells nice too. I also remember when we first had shampoo, we didn't quite know how to use it but I do remember having to dilute it with about 4 parts water. One of the shampoo companies gave away a little measurer which I think my mum still has!

Sorry Babyshoes, I'm no help. Just leave the dishes to soak in some hot water till later, then they'll clean easily later.

[Deleted User]

Eliza wrote: »

Gosh Jackie, what a wonderful story. I work in a bookshop and tales like yours are so popular, maybe some of us old stylers should put a book together and try to earn enough for some new fangled washing up liquid. It would be more real and less contrived than some of those around! QUOTE]

Thank you for your comments .I think a lot of us old codgers on here remember how things were,not through rose-tinted specs though, I am happy to live in the 21st century and have a warm house and a fire I don't have to riddle out in the morning in the cold, or a wash-house that was always freezing cold no matter what time of the year .Many a long boring morning was passed running the clothes through the mangle and double sheets were blooming heavy lumps to get through those rollers (often joined by my fingers :))
No, I love all the inventions of today, and sometimes wonder what my late Mum would have thought of them I'm sure her life would have been a lot easier than it was.She seemed to be permanantly doing something usually housework or cooking but even whan sitting down in the evening she was knitting or sewing something .She never just sat and stared,She never had the time to, her fingers were always busy.OS then was blooming hard graft at times :)

jpscloud

I use a bit of stardrops, antibac spray or whatever I have around with a tiny measure of washing powder when I run out of washing up liquid - a really good rinse is needed whatever you use, really.

I always soak pots and pans before washing up too!