Dish Soap in a Spray Bottle

Dish soap in a spray bottle?

Sure. This is an easy way to make your dish soap last longer and possibly simplify washing dishes.

dish soap in a spray bottle image

Now that my bottle-washing days are over, I usually only have a few items to wash by hand so it doesn’t merit filling up the sink with soapy water. I rinse, plop some dish soap on, sometimes need to add a bit of water, scrub, rinse, dry. Done.

Did you know that many manufacturers use containers that dispense larger amounts of product than needed? That way you’ll run out faster and buy more. Dish soap is highly concentrated and you only really need small amounts at a time.

dish soap bottle and sponges

I am pretty conscious about the amount of soap I use, but I noticed that some other people just pour it on, especially my husband. But, hey, when he’s helping with the dishes I don’t complain!

With this little idea you have soapy water in the spray bottle. Just shake, spray the soapy water on, scrub, rinse with hot water, dry. Done.

dish soap into the spray bottle

I have been doing it this way for several months now. I find that we use less dish soap and maybe even a bit less water. As a result, I’m probably saving a little bit of money and every little bit helps. I just keep filling up the spray bottle!

Since dish soap isn’t that expensive, you might not care to try this. That’s cool. I just think it is a nice little idea that is worth sharing. I had never thought of it or seen it before. So, there ya go. That’s why I have a small spray bottle by my kitchen sink. 🙂

spray bottle with soap water with logo

Notes: If it is a greasy dish, I do need more soap than the spray bottle can provide, so I just grab the bottle of dish soap from under the sink. The amount of soap you add to the spray bottle will depend on your preference, the hardness of your water, and your soap. Just start with about 8 drops per 16 oz and determine if you need to add more or not. I got this idea from my friend, Sarah. Thanks, Sarah! She got it from her sister and her sister got it from an old boss.

The small spray bottles that you would use when cutting hair seem to work great for this purpose. I have this spray bottle. You could probably find one at the dollar store or beauty supply store too. See spray bottles on Amazon.

spray bottles collage

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Comments

  • we essentially do this same thing by refilling our foaming dish soap pump with a mix of VERY LITTLE soap and water. Too much soap and it won’t foam up. My hubby usually does the dishes and one pump on the sponge allows him to clean most of the hand wash only stuff.

  • I heard this several years ago. A news station was talking about germ’s in your home. They were saying to sterilize your wash rag, crocheted wash cloth (NOT SPONGES) after you wash dishes, make sure your wash cloth is WET, not dripping, put it in your microwave for 2 minutes, be careful when taking it out it will be HOT. Your wash cloth is now sterilized. The next day the news station redid the story to make sure the wash cloth is wet, SOME PEOPLE PUT THEM IN THE MICROWAVE DRY. It might cause a fire.

  • This is one of those obvious things that i wouldn’t appreciate without a SUPER TERRIFIC older sister to teach me. I didn’t want to buy a spray bottle, and I didn’t have much soap left, so I just filled my dishsoap bottle with water. I don’t even have to squeeze a trigger. Just grab, tip, and scrub away! Thanks Mel!

  • Hi I love this idea. I started doing this myself and what a difference – I will never go back to just using dishwashing liquid.

  • I just screw the sprayer onto the bottle of dish soap

  • I use 1 part Dawn plus 4 parts water in an old spray bottle. Works great for dirty pots and very dirty dishes. Then rinse.
    You could also dilute it with more water for not-too-dirty dishes as well.. Also works for spot cleaning clothes and pre-wash.

  • Hi Melanie – when my husband and I traveled around Spain about 5 years ago, we noticed that all of our host families were using spray bottles for their dish soap. Spain was hit very hard by the recession, so middle-class families were counting every penny. We started doing the same when we came back home to Vermont. It’s true that dish soap isn’t expensive, but sending too much soap back into the water supply is just all that much more work the city water system has to extract before the water goes back to Lake Champlain. So using the sprayer of diluted soap is a win for the environment as well. Anyhow… I noticed that after a few weeks, the dish soap would tend to clog the spray bottle. I fund that adding a couple of capfuls of isopropyl alcohol to the spray bottle with the soap makes all the difference in keeping the soap dissolved. I have seen others use white vinegar for the same purpose, but I haven’t tested it myself.

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