Since I was truly impressed with my DIY Laundry Detergent, I took on another challenge, that of tackling the Dishwasher issue!
We purchased a home with a dishwasher, a Kitchen Aid no less! I personally was very pleased with the idea since doing dishes is yet another one of those chores I never was looking forward to do. Our formal rental apartment also had a dishwasher (you can imagine the drama when that one broke down!) so the new home made for a smooth transition.
However, regardless of whether we used coupons or not to purchase the detergent, we both felt that one load per day may not be worth the convenience. After all, the detergent is not cheap neither is the water in our town. Further, the gel tabs seemed to never really work completely, they would often get stuck in the compartment and at times we would find them half used at the bottom of the washer itself. So we switched to the pressed powder tabs (Quantum) and those can cost as much as $0.35 per load or about $127 per year!
After some research I realized that the same ingredients I was using for the Laundry Detergent could be used for the Dishwasher Detergent. A variation on the recipe asked for Citric Acid which I was never able to find, but others replaced it with Lemonade Kool-Aid. Some recipes also required Kosher Salt, others did not.
List of Ingredients:
We purchased a home with a dishwasher, a Kitchen Aid no less! I personally was very pleased with the idea since doing dishes is yet another one of those chores I never was looking forward to do. Our formal rental apartment also had a dishwasher (you can imagine the drama when that one broke down!) so the new home made for a smooth transition.
However, regardless of whether we used coupons or not to purchase the detergent, we both felt that one load per day may not be worth the convenience. After all, the detergent is not cheap neither is the water in our town. Further, the gel tabs seemed to never really work completely, they would often get stuck in the compartment and at times we would find them half used at the bottom of the washer itself. So we switched to the pressed powder tabs (Quantum) and those can cost as much as $0.35 per load or about $127 per year!
After some research I realized that the same ingredients I was using for the Laundry Detergent could be used for the Dishwasher Detergent. A variation on the recipe asked for Citric Acid which I was never able to find, but others replaced it with Lemonade Kool-Aid. Some recipes also required Kosher Salt, others did not.
List of Ingredients:
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| Ingredients for DIY Dishwasher Detergent |
4 cups Super Washing Soda
4 cups Borax
4 packs of Lemonade Kool-Aid
Distilled White Vinegar
Fill the rinse cup with White Vinegar, where you would normally put the JetDry stuff.
How to:
Mix all ingredients into a bowl and ensure that the Kool-Aid is spread evenly. Do not use any other flavor as this is the only one that will not color the water. I was not sure how many packs of Kool-Aid were needed so I assumed a ratio of 1 per cup of Borax and it turned out to be just fine.
Pour the mix into a tight sealed container. Since this one is staying in plain sight on the kitchen counter, I opted for a glass container and printed a nice label for it. This one is from the Martha Stewart Avery Collection (a leftover from another project) the web site template also provides various clip arts should you choose to use them.
Verdict:
How to:
Mix all ingredients into a bowl and ensure that the Kool-Aid is spread evenly. Do not use any other flavor as this is the only one that will not color the water. I was not sure how many packs of Kool-Aid were needed so I assumed a ratio of 1 per cup of Borax and it turned out to be just fine.
Pour the mix into a tight sealed container. Since this one is staying in plain sight on the kitchen counter, I opted for a glass container and printed a nice label for it. This one is from the Martha Stewart Avery Collection (a leftover from another project) the web site template also provides various clip arts should you choose to use them.
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| My full batch of DIY Dishwasher Detergent About 8 1/2 cups or 64 loads. |
Verdict:
We find it to work just the same and all that is needed is 1 tbsp per load, sometimes we may add another one if we know the dishes need extra help. We did however realize that a white film residue was left behind when we had the washer set on AutoDry. I guess this comes from the heat. It's an added expense that is not all that necessary anyway so we leave the washer on its normal/default setting.
One thing we noticed is that the dishwasher seems to be cleaner and does not smell like anything at all once a load is complete. We are attributing this to the white vinegar in the rinse cup.
One thing we noticed is that the dishwasher seems to be cleaner and does not smell like anything at all once a load is complete. We are attributing this to the white vinegar in the rinse cup.
Savings:
Again all together it cost about $10.00 for all the ingredients, but only 1/3 was used for this first batch which provides 64 loads (1 tablespoon per load) or $3.33 for the 64 loads. That's $0.05 per load or $18.65 per year. A savings of $108.35 per year as opposed to the Quantum tabs to add to my saved $163 from the DIY Laundry detergent!
By making our own Laundry and Dishwasher detergents we are now saving just about $271 per year! Are you with me?
Let us know how your detergents work for you and whether you added any other ingredients. Thank you!
Sophia.
This is GREAT! My motto is why buy it and spend a fortune when you can make it for CHEAP. Thank you!
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