Cleaning up is a pain in my butt :( Help!

[Momonga]

I hate to clean! And as I am new, I am still trying to figure out my process. One thing I know is good gouge is that if you put soap down the drain that has not finished saponifying, it will finish in your drains. So I just wipe everything down with towels and leave it all to the next day, then clean as usual. If you wipe well enough, there won't be big clumps stuck to your bowls.

I wonder if this might be why your bowls are still oily - maybe all the oil isn't all saponified by the time you clean.

I did also notice that the smell of FOs never seems to go away, but doesn't taint the next batch of soap. It will, however, taint your next batch of brownies (lavender blondies. :sick: I'm one of those poeple that has to learn everything the hard way. Not like my soaping peeps on this forum didn't warn me).

 

[Momonga]

Something else I did was buy Dixie Cups - the red drinking ones, and the little mouthwash ones. The drinking cups I use to pour off colors, and the small ones I mix the colorants in. I also bought craft sticks to stir the colorants, but I usually end up using a spoon. When I clean up all the cups holding colorants and colored soaps just go straight into the trash. This helped cut my cleanup time A LOT. Stress free, easy peasey.

Hampton, VA, where I live, has the suckiest recycling program I've ever seen, and they won't recycle any plastic that isn't "1" or "2". This would solution would make life so much easier! Another reason to be mad at Hampton.:-x

 

[RocknRoll]

Something else I did was buy Dixie Cups - the red drinking ones, and the little mouthwash ones. The drinking cups I use to pour off colors, and the small ones I mix the colorants in. I also bought craft sticks to stir the colorants, but I usually end up using a spoon. When I clean up all the cups holding colorants and colored soaps just go straight into the trash. This helped cut my cleanup time A LOT. Stress free, easy peasey.

Great minds think alike...this is EXACTLY what i have been doing! So much less clean up!

 

[MaitriBB]

My former employer changed names and they threw out most of their stuff with the old name, but I scored a canvas banner that was used at career fair booths. That's what I use to put down on my counter before soaping, and then I can just wash it when it's grungy.

Usually I have a cheap plastic dish tub off to the side with hot soapy vinegar water in it. As I finish using a dish, I plunk it in there. I usually let it sit for several days. Then I throw the dish tub into the sink, fill it to the brim with hot soapy water, and let it soak for 20-30 minutes. Then I dump out the water and throw everything in the dishwasher.

 

[Badger]

This post has me thinking. I hate doing dishes with a passion, and usually my partner does the dishes. When it comes to making soap though, I do my own dishes and I not only see it as part of the process, but find it almost relaxing. Am I weird? (Okay, does this fact make me weird then I already am? ;-) )

 

[DeeAnna]

My local bakery was selling some unused, old sheet pans for $3 apiece, so I bought several. These huge steel pan are waaaay too big to fit into a home oven, but they come in handy for canning and barbequing. I wanted to have a sturdy work surface on my stove so I could use the hood for ventilation when mixing lye, etc. After trying a couple of other ideas without a lot of success, I thought try one of the pans. It's perfect -- it covers the entire stove top, has low sides to catch a spill, is big enough to corral those pesky grains of lye that sometimes skitter about, and is STEEL so it is safe for use with lye. --DeeAnna

 

[jcandleattic]

This post has me thinking. I hate doing dishes with a passion, and usually my partner does the dishes. When it comes to making soap though, I do my own dishes and I not only see it as part of the process, but find it almost relaxing. Am I weird? (Okay, does this fact make me weird then I already am? ;-) )

NOOO not weird!!! You sound exactly like me! I hate doing food dishes (even though we have a dishwasher - I still hate it) but I really don't mind doing up my soaping dishes. I agree, it's part of the process and I just do them.

 

[Mona719]

I wish I was like you guys and found it relaxing and part of the process But hopefully soon i'll find the method that works for me. I'm trying them all lol

 

[coloradoair]

I just use a rubber scraper and clean out as much of my soap batter as possible. Then I put everything in my utility sink. I always have the best intention of coming back and washing it all the next day when I cut my soap but procrastination tends to take over and I end up having to wash everything before I can soap again. If I would just do it the next day, it wouldn't be such a drag.

 

[Mona719]

Ty all for the help I now got my method down. I scrape as much as I can of the oils and soap while soaping then I put all my tools in the the mixing bowl I use ,fill it up with hot water/dawn soap and leave it for a few hrs or over night. It works great!

 

[tkine]

I now try to measure out 4 or 5 buckets of oils at once, to be used as I get time. When I do make a couple batches of soap, I scrape out each bucket with my silicone spatulas of as much as possible. The spatulas do a great job. Then I wipe down the insides of the buckets with wads of the newspaper I used to line my counters. I then use a couple of paper towels to further wipe down the buckets, spatulas, spoons, anything else soapy. I nest as much as I can into the batter buckets, and store them in a laundry basket (I wish I had a laundry tub) until I have all the premeasured oil buckets used up. I wash up all the equipment at once. It doesn't really seem like that much work, since I'm not making soap & washing everything up on the same day. Kind of satisfying when I do the washing to see all the washed up equipment laid out on a towel to dry...jeez, I must be ill...because I HATE doing dishes.

I tend to use one of the buckets as the main wash bucket too, and empty that water in my gravel, as needed. It sounds as if I am going overboard, but I don't want hubby to say my soap making clogged up our drains.