In the 1980’s my mother used to use a kitchen scrubber sponge and a bar of ivory soap for the pots and pans she washed by hand. She told me it was the least expensive way to do it. She did use the dishwasher for our plates, glasses, and silverware.

    I don’t know how long one bar lasted but it sure did seem to last forever. So, you might want to give this a try if money is tight and you don’t want to waste more plastic fish liquid containers

    Do any of you know a more frugal method?

    Ivory bar soap as dish soap to save money.
    byu/DazzlingNote1925 inFrugal



    Posted by DazzlingNote1925

    6 Comments

    1. Infinite_Bathroom784 on

      My childhood best friend’s mother used a bar of soap to wash dishes. She was British. 

    2. CeruleanSaga on

      I’m pretty sure I literally got my mouth washed out with soap with Ivory. Probably yes, in the ~’80s. So the taste of this method does not sound appealing, lol.

      But FWIW, I recently learned that baking soda can be really effective for burnt food on stainless steel. There’s a method to it that’s easy enough to google – but it’s something I really wish I’d learned sooner.

      Also a lot of the liquid dish soaps now are a lot more concentrated than they were back then, so I had to learn to reset my habits to use less…

    3. When I was growing up in the 50s, we used to shave a bar of soap and use the pieces, each one until it was all used up, to do the dishes.

    4. sunshinecoffeegirl on

      Here they have bar soaps for washing dishes. Check online. Amazon has dish soap bars. Or maybe a local soap company might make, or start making them.

    5. Past_Swan_4120 on

      I use a bar of Kirk’s Castile soap (it was too drying for us to shower with but great for the dishes).

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