Homemade washing up liquid

Today I finally got around to trying out this recipe for homemade washing -up liquid. I found it on the web somewhere months ago after seeing Anthea Turner making a concoction on her perfect housewife programme. I think this is the same recipe. Before any one leaves a comment of why not just buy some washing up liquid from a shop ( and that is what I normally do), here's why

1. curiosity, to see if it would really work.
2. I had all the "ingredients" in the house already, so it might save me putting washing up liquid on the shopping list for tomorrow, and as I'm doing the MSE grocery challenge, any little savings all help.
3. helps to cut down on unnecessary chemicals

So I thought I'd have a go. It's liquid when you make it up, but then as it cools its starts to solidify into a gloopy consistency. Washing up with it is quite a weird experience- no bubbles, no colour in the liquid, and no obvious scent, because of these differences my brain was telling me its not working, but actually the dishes came out clean! The soda crystals are there to cut through the grease, and the vinegar and tea- tree oil are both antibacterial. I only made up half the quantity to try it out this time as I wasn't sure it would work, and I don't know how long you can store it for. I've put it in an empty squash bottle and have just added a glug to the bowl of water each time. It will be interesting to see how it copes with say a baking tray after cooking a roast.But so far so good.

2 litres boiling water

2-3 drops tea tree oil

8 grams soap flakes

8 grams soda crystals

1 tsp vinegar

Mix and put into a soap dispenser.