My husband and I have been fighting our poor rental dishwasher and the hard water from Ohio. Usually when unloading the dishwasher we would have hard water build up on our glasses and excess detergent piled up on the inside of our bowls. We had to wash the dishes by hand after the dishwasher washed them… which seemed counterproductive. We even tried different dishwasher detergents and additives to help solve the problem. Finally, while pursing my favorite idea gathering place, Pinterest, I found a tutorial on how to make your own dishwasher detergent (found here) by simply mixing a bunch of ingredients together. I thought I’d give it a try so I went out and bought all the supplies. It was so simple to make and the results are great! We have no hard water stains and no detergent build up and our dishes look amazing. Another great thing is that this home-made detergent will last for a very long time and costs significantly less than any commercial detergent.
Cost break down:
24 packets of Sugar free lemon KOOL-AID: $4.80
Epsom salt (3 cups): $2.39
1 box of Arm and Hammer Super washing soda: $2.89
1 box of Borax: $3.12
Total: $13.20 for 1.5 gallons of detergent
Directions for use: Simply put 1 tablespoon of the homemade detergent and 1 table spoon of Lemi-Shine in the detergent dispenser of the dishwasher. I have always used Lemi-Shine when doing the dishes so that is why it is not factored into the cost, but supposedly this recipe does not work well without it.
My husband came home right as I started to mix the ingredients together. He decided to take a few action shots. The best and most ridiculous one is the one shown here with my husband’s feet, me staring off into space and the cat running around us. We don’t have a big enough bowl so we mixed ours in an old popcorn tin we had sitting around.
I also went to the dollar store and got a plastic gallon-size container to hold my new detergent. I spray painted the lid jade (one of the colors in our kitchen) and added a label made from my new Cricut machine. Yes, I finally broke down and bought a Cricut. After searching on Craigslist for what feels like forever I scored a really amazing deal. I was able to get the machine and 10 cartridges (worth nearly $1000) for only $150.
While we’re still on the subject of Pinterest and cleaning…here is something else I discovered. This is the cheapest and most effective way to make my house smell awesome that I’ve come across. All you do is boil a few orange peels and ½ tsp of cinnamon over a medium heat. It is so simple and makes your house smell of freshly backed cupcakes. The other day I cooked fish and I noticed the smell lingered in the house so later that evening as a snack I had three clementines and boiled the peels with cinnamon and the fish smell was gone and the heavenly smell was back. But don’t leave it sitting over the heat for a long time and forget about it because that’s a good way to ruin a pot and start a fire. I make sure to check mine every few minutes and add water as needed.
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