Saturday, November 15, 2008

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent!

Remember these two little guys.....



Now you can add onto the list of things that these two little ingredients can do! A couple of weeks ago I talked about the Homemade Laundry Detergent recipe that I have been using and now I've got a recipe for Dishwasher Detergent!

All you need for this quick, cheap recipe is:
20 Mule Team Borax
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda

Both of these ingredients can be found in the Laundry detergent aisle at most grocery stores. However, I have NOT been able to find these at Walmart, just so you know! They are priced for around $4 for a box of Borax and $3 for a box of Washing Soda. These boxes will last you for quite a while, so they are definitely worth the $7 up front.

Another little side note about these ingredients is they would be GREAT for Emergency preparedness or Food Storage items. You can do tons of different types of cleaning with these two ingredients and they will take up minimal space for your emergency preparedness. Instead of stocking up on boxes of Laundry Detergent or Dishwasher detergent and taking up a large amount of space, you can simply buy maybe 2 boxes of each of these items and a couple of Fels-Naptha soap bars for your Laundry and you are all set for a year supply of laundry detergent and dishwasher soap. These can be made in minutes and will take up minimal space in your house!

So, back to the recipe.......

All you are going to do for this dishwasher detergent is mix equal parts of your Borax and Washing Soda together. If you have Hard Water increase the washing soda by a little bit more.

To use your dishwasher detergent you use 1 tablespoon for every load. If you use too much soap you will know, you’ll feel a little bit of a powdery coating on your dishes.

Now, I have a confession. I have actually never used this dishwasher detergent myself! I don't have a dishwasher right now. At this stage in me and my hubbies lives we are living without a lot of things like a disposal and dishwasher, which I hate, but we are definitely blessed for where we are able to live so I guess I can't complain. So I just wanted you all to know that. BUT, I have looked online at multiple different locations for dishwasher detergent recipes and almost all of them called for these same two ingredients!!

So try it out! What have you got to lose. If you have already bought the ingredients for the laundry soap then you are already set and you aren't out any money for trying. For those that haven't tried the laundry soap out yet, I highly recommend it. For both of these recipes if you don't like how they turn out then you are only out about $7 for the initial cost of the items and you can still use these ingredients in different ways. Both of the boxes have multiple suggestions for how to clean with these ingredients!

Let me know how this recipe works out if you decide to try it, I would love to hear about it! Does anyone have any other frugal recipe for cleaning or food items that they would be willing to share with me. I'll try to post about them if there are any other great ideas out there!


For More Frugal Recipes like Homemade Laundry Detergent and Stain Remover you can go HERE and HERE!


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A low cost, green eco friendly, healthy natural way to wash dishes or the laundry is to make a homemade liquid from soapberry which grows on the Chinaberry tree and has been used for thousands of years. It works very effectively.

Michelle Johnston said...

Ok, so I tried it and I think I used a little bit much because it did leave a little residue, however, I had read somewhere that you can also use Vinegar as a rinse agent, so I tried that and it seems to great. Thanks for the recipe.

Unknown said...

Wonderful. Love it! Thank you so much! I added your button for your link to my page! Thanks again :o)