PJ Project: DIY Deodorizer Pail Pucks with Household Ingredients

One of the problems we're having lately with our cloth diaper pail is that it is smelly! The diapers are not sitting in the pail any longer than usual, but because of the solid food, they seem to be much smellier.

There are several options out there for pre-made solutions in the form of discs, pucks or stick-on's that you can add to your bucket, pail or pail liner. However, because we live rurally, to buy any of these options just isn't very cost effective as the shipping usually ends up being 2x-5x more than the product itself.

After some thought, I came up with this recipe, and so far, things smell great.

Ingredients:
-Water with spout for pouring
-Baking Soda
-1 bar of Lever 2000 Citrus

Tools:
-Spoon
-Whisk
-Grater
-China Bowl
-Microwave
-Parent's Choice Mini Pots (Walmart) or round objects for a mould (could use film containers, paint pots, muffin tins, etc)

Step 1: Grate up your soap. I found that the large flakes seem to work better for this for whatever reason!

Step 2: Put 2.5 tsp of the soap flakes with 4-5 drops of water into the china bowl. PS. The glass bowl totally didn't work - it burnt the soap. Stick with china.

Step 3: Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes, watching the bowl. If the bowl overflows, you added too much water. If you are successful, your soap should be melty, and the bowl will be very hot on the sides and bottom.

Step 4: Add in baking soda and whisk. You're looking for a texture about that of frosting, so keep adding baking soda and drops of water until you achieve your proper consistency, it should look something like this:

Step 5: Scoop mixture into your mould. Pack down with finger until it's firm. 

Step 6: Let puck dry in fold until the top is hard. My first batch was hard by the time I got to my third batch due to consistency of baking soda.

Step 6: Use a butter knife or serrated knife to gently loosing the puck around the edges. If the puck is still wet, let dry on a paper towel overnight.

I made 6 for my first run at it and was left with about 1/4-1/2 cup of soap flakes which I Ziplocked for my next round.

If you're curious - my cloth diaper pail was inherited from a lady I bought a bunch of BumGenius 4.0, diaper sprayer and cloth wipes, so here she is:

Has a sweet little hole that is the perfect size for a puck, so I pried the lid off it with a butter knife.

Perfect fit!

The great part about this project and all the items can be found in your home or recycled which means it's not a big cost to make the pucks. Some of the other recipes I found used baking soda with essential oils which I'm sure would give a greater smell  from the puck, but I wasn't willing to shell out $20 of a bottle to try it out.