Thursday, July 21, 2011

Overheard at our house...

Me: You know how I make our own laundry soap?
Josh: Yeah, why?
Me: Well, I thought we'd try some DIY dishwasher detergent.
[pause]
Josh: I only know of two other people that make their own dishwasher detergent: Procter and Gamble.

So, you may think I'm nuts. My husband does! But I thought it was worth a shot. It's inexpensive, it's all natural, and it's super easy to make.

These are the ingredients:



Yes, that's Kool-aid. Yes, it seems really weird. That's because you need citric acid and it is otherwise hard to find.

Here's the recipe, from this blog.
2 cups of Borax
2 cups of Baking Soda
4 small packets of lemonade Kool-Aid (you can also use 4 tablespoons of citric acid--if you can find it)
White Vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients together and put in a jar.

Use 2 tablespoons per load. (1 tablespoon in the open cup and 1 in the closed locking cup) Pour some White Vinegar into your rinse aid receptacle and your glasses will come out sparkling!


The cost savings? It's less than half the cost of purchasing detergent at the store. More like 1/3 of the price. And, no harsh chemicals.

AND - most importantly - it works great. Very clean, very shiny dishes come out of the machine each time.

4 comments:

Ali said...

And even if it doesn't work, your dishes taste like lemonade. Amazing.

Chad said...

Seeing how those two guys are my employer, I feel compelled to let you know that is Procter (not Proctor)... although the error is quite common.

Paulina said...

ooh i really like the easy tabs made by, you guessed it, proctor and gamble :) but that sounds like a great idea worth trying!

Alli and Phil said...

Yes! I just ran out of dishwasher detergent and saw this post. I whipped some up and I did have some citric acid in my cabinet (from cheese making) crazy I know! I'm running a load right now...