Today I tried my hand at mixing up a batch of dishwasher detergent. I liked the idea that I only needed to buy one ingredient for this recipe, the other items I had on hand, some of them from my homemade laundry detergent items.
I have heard many different reviews on the homemade dishwasher detergent, as well as seeing quiet a few recipes but decided to give it a try, the worst that could happen is that I won’t like it. I’m really hoping I don’t run into the problem of cloudy glassware, as that is one of the complaints I heard about the homemade soap.
I used the soap on a load of dirty dishes this morning and they came out looking great. I know I will need use the homemade soap longer though to get a real feel of how it works. I’ll post again in a few weeks letting you know my thoughts after using it for awhile.
I figured out that it costs me $0.07 a load with this soap. Right now on Amazon you can buy Cascade ActionPacs for $0.17 a load. Using Amazons price verses making it myself I would be saving $0.10 a load. I run the dishwasher once a day, so in one month I would have saved $3.00 and in one year I would have saved $36. Now that isn’t a huge savings but after awhile it will add up to a nice little savings, granted of course it continues to get my dishes clean and shiny.
I added vinegar in the rinse aid cup instead of Jet Dry rinse aid. I didn’t notice any vinegar smell or taste on the dishes, so I think I will continue using this as well.
- ½ cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
- ½ cup Borax
- ¼ cup Citric Acid
- ¼ cup salt
- Mix all ingredients together and store in a sealed, dry container. Use 1 Tablespoon per dishwasher load.
I wasn’t familiar with Citric Acid, but found some a bulk food type store. You could also purchase it on Amazon. A 4 oz. bottle sells for $3.25, which is almost the same price I paid.
Do you make your own dishwasher soap? If so I would love to hear your recipe and results.
Im anxious to see how you like it. I have been using vinager for awhile and it seems to work great. I also use vinager instead of fabric softener. My clothes come out just as soft and I have yet to smell it on my clothes.
I have used vinegar too as fabric softener but thought my clothing had static. It was the middle of winter, maybe I should try it agian. Have you had a problem with static?
um… not really. I have few skirts that have stactic even with fabric softener, but the rest of the cloths seems to be fine.
Anxious to see how you’ll like it. We have dreadfully hard water so I’ve been scared to try it. But we did just get a water softener installed so maybe once that is working I’ll be brave enough to try a couple of these things that I’ve been tempted to! 🙂
From what I have read the hardness of water has a lot to do with if people like the homemade soap or not. My water isn’t super soft, they told us is right at the place where we could almost use a softener. I’m hoping that it continues to work with my water. You will love having soft water, at our other house we had a softener and it soft water is pretty awesome! I’ll be sure to post back in a few weeks how the homemade is working. Everytime I open the dishwasher I have visions of horribly cloudy glasses:) so far so good though.
I buy my citric acid at a bulk store too, but, people use it for Home canning to replace lemon juice in some recipes. So usually you can find citric acid among the home canning supplies in your local grocery or hardware store, or whichever local store that carries a larger selection of home canning items.
I have made this and was wondering how you over came the fact that is has clumped together?
Janelle that is a good question. Here are 3 suggestions for keeping it from clumping —
Add a tsp of rice to the detergent to help absorb moisture.
After combining ingredients, leave mixture out and stir several times each day for a day or two.
Add 1/2 tsp. citric acid separately to each dishwasher load rather than adding it to the detergent.
I think think I might try to add the citric acid to each load rather than when mixing the recipe. Hope you can find something that works for you.
You can find Citric Acid in the canning supplies section of your supermarket.