Sunday, November 20, 2011

Dishwasher Detergent

So after my success making laundry soap, my awesome sister at How to be a Grown-up suggested that I try dishwasher detergent. I immediately hopped on Pinterest and began the search for an easy recipe that I already had most of the ingredients for. I succeeded on diynatural.com

And for your viewing pleasure, and to really show you how easy it is, I made a video.

For those who can't watch the video for some reason, or prefer a written recipe, here are the deets.

You will need:

1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Table Salt
1/2 Cup (about 13 packets) of Lemonade coolade (or citric acid)

Mix it all together, stir or shake to combine. And tada.

Seriously, that's it...

Since we already had the Borax, Washing Soda and Salt, we just had to buy some coolade which is $0.15 a packet, for a total of $1.95 we spent on this project. I did forget to mention in the video that you will use a tablespoon per load. With 3 cups of mix, you get 48 loads. That's a total out of pocket (for me, and you if you make the laundry soap too, and have salt on hand because you had to dye your couch twice...) of $0.04 per load. Not too shabby. I would pay $12.95 for 48 loads of those cascade packets I did have which is $0.27 a load. That's a savings of $11.00 for 48 loads. I will have to buy more borax and washing soda and salt, so it won't be that much each time, but seeing as I had those on hand, it was very cost effective. Even having to purchase those things, you will spend WAY less than $0.27 a load!

One last thing, and I meantioned this in the video, you will need to add vinegar to the rince agent (jet dry) area of the dishwasher to "make theings sparkle"

So I am giving you my blessing to go! Save money, do it yourself! Know what you are putting on the dishes you and your family eat and drink from! Do it!

5 comments:

  1. Holy crap how cute are you!!!!????? Seriously, didn't even pay attention to the video the first time, your hair is *amazing*!

    And way to go, that is stupid simple, I need to track the ingredients down!

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  2. Quick question, in regards to the washing soda . . .is there anything to indicate that it isn't effectively a big box of baking sodaa?

    Trying to find where I can get the ingredients over here, I miss walmart :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. [...] say it, but I guess not all things are meant to be DIY’d. I have officially given up on the dishwasher detergent I made in November. It seemed like a great idea at the time, being on a DIY high from my laundry [...]

    ReplyDelete