Homemade Dishwasher Powder and Dishwashing Liquid
Well I'm finally having my right wrist operated on tomorrow for my carpal tunnel! Hopefully it will mean much more flexibility and less pain for me in the future... but it also means no typing until it gets better :-( So, probably no blogging from me for a while.
Until then I thought I would share two more recipes that I made yesterday...
Dishwasher Powder
1 cup Borax
1 cup bi-carb soda (baking soda)
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid
30 drops citrus essential oil (I used lemon)
Mix thoroughly and store in an airtight plastic container. Use 1 tablespoon at a time.
Dishwashing Liquid
3 tbs lavender organic liquid castile soap
2 cups warm water
2 tsp vegetable glycerine
2 tbs white vinegar
10 drops lavender essential oil
Mix thoroughly in a jar, shaking well. Use 1 tablespoon at a time.
I tried out the dishwasher powder this morning, and it cleaned everything really well - no greasy spots - and didn't leave a residue on anything. The cost I worked out as approximately $2.88 for 2.5 cups or about 625g. The standard powder I used to buy is about $5.00 for a kilo; my stuff is the equivalent of $4.61 a kilo. Not a grand saving on face value BUT the homemade version uses 1 tablespoon per load, whereas I used to fill up the dispensor with the supermarket powder, which would be at least twice as much. In addition, the environmentally-friendly EcoStore powder I am using now costs $15.90 for a kilo, and you use the same amount per wash, so there's a big saving there!
The diswashing liquid makes up a cloudy white liquid - not the nice clear coloured gel that I am used to using LOL, but seems to do the job well enough. I am yet to try it on a really dirty saucepan yet though, so I'll let you know how I go with that! The only thing I don't like about it so far is that I got some of the lavender oil on my fingers as I made it up and the lingering odour has given me a sinus headache :-( So much for it helping with sleep, LOL. The cost of the liquid I worked out to be about $1.37 for about 2.25 cups (560ml) - I'll have to see how long it lasts to be able to compare it to the supermarket concentrate? At a guess I'd be using at least twice as much as the concentrate (probably closer to three times as much), and the concentrate is about $3.88 for 750ml. That gives me a rough estimate of about 4 cents per wash for the homemade, versus about 3-5 cents for the concentrate, so about the same, which is interesting? The homemade detergent is more environmentally-friendly though - and the EcoShop dishwashing liquid is $7.90 for 500ml!
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19 comments:
Your powdered dishwasher detergent recipe is great! It leaves my dishes clean and shiny; there is no hard water residue, and no undefinable scum!
I was so impressed that I tried it to scrub my stainless steel sink-- beautiful!
Then I used it to clean my bathtub with it's orange hard water deposits. The deposits just sort of melted away...!
How in the world did you come up with this?
Hi Cindy,
Sorry, I haven't noticed your comment before now!
I can't take credit for the recipe, I found the recipe somewhere on the 'net and modified it slightly.
I'm so glad it has worked so well for you - I would never have thought of using it on the bathtub! I'm definitely going to give it a go though, thanks!
Would this be OK for a septic system that runs on worm-power? I hate the thought of the poor little things dealing with regular dishwashing detergent!
Hi Anonymous,
I am fairly certain that the borax in the dishwasher powder would be toxic to the worms unfortunately, but you could try it without the borax and see how you go? However, the dishwashing liquid would probably be OK - certainly no more difficult to deal with than regular soap. Good luck!
Cheers, Julie.
I tried the dishwasher powder but it left a white residue on my dishes? Do you know why that would have been?
Hi Anonymous,
How much powder did you use? It's very concentrated and you only need to use one tablespoon each time, DON'T fill up the dispenser as you would with conventional powder. If you need to, measure it out, as as one tablespoon isn't very much, and besides, if you use more than that you are just wasting it.
Hope this helps, let me know :-)
Cheers, Julie
2 questions
Where do you buy the citric acid?
Is the 30 drops citrus essential oil necessary to us or is it just for the fragrance. Can it be omitted without affecting the cleaning power?
Hi Anonymous,
You should be able to buy the citric acid at your local supermarket; it is in the baking aisle.
And yes, I have made the cleaning without the essential oil and it works just fine. You can also leave out the borax if you have concerns about using it.
Hope this helps,
Cheers, Julie
This recipe worked great at first but then a few weeks later the batch went solid and everything started coming out cloudy and not very clean. I suspect the EO drops to be the culprit in the mix so I'm making a second batch today without the essential oil, wish me luck!
Hi! I absolutely love your blog. I discovered it about a week ago and have been writing down the recipes. I just have a question: Have you ever used your dishwasher powder recipe to hand wash dishes? I hand wash and I am curious to try it...Also - have you ever ommited the citric acid? Just wondering if that would make a huge difference or not. Thanks a bunch!
-Katie
Hi Katie,
Yes, I do use the powder for hand washing, it's fabulous. Before my dishwasher broke down I started omitting the borax from the recipe and it worked just as well. Then when it broke down, I had a big batch to use up so I started using it for handwashing and it's fantastic for washing really greasy pots and pans! I think the citric acid is what helps dissolve the grease so I suspect it wouldn't be as useful without it.
Cheers, Julie
Thanks, Julie. I found citric acid in the bulk foods section at a grocery store. I can't wait to try this recipe. I've been using a recipe that has castille soap in it. But I wash my dishes in a sink full of cold water and it's like the castille soap doesn't properly dissolve in the cold water or something because it leaves these weird white beads of oil that stick to everything. Hmmm...Anyway thanks again!
I love the recipe for the dishwasher powder but I've had the same experience as Mumma bear and I didn't use the EO.
Any suggestions?
Is there something that would clump together after a while and cause cloudiness?
It's very unattractive on our glasses.
Hi aussiehen,
Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I suspect it is probably the bicarb soda that is clumping together as it gets moisture into it over time as the container is opened every day, if that makes sense. I actually ended up taking the borax out of the mix altogether and it still works really well, but it did clump a little as it got older. Again, I'm not sure what would be causing the cloudiness on the glasses either, other than using too much of the powder? You really do only need a small amount. Do you use white vinegar in the rinse aid compartment? That should help a lot. Otherwise, I'm sorry I couldn't help more. I wonder if some dishwashers heat the water to a lower temperature so that the mix doesn't dissolve as well, or they use less water than mine on the rinse cycle?
Cheers, Julie
I made this a few days ago and love it. Put a little too much lemon essence in, thinking it didn't have enough scent, it's gotten stronger each time I open it. I put mine into a ziplock bag and wrote on it how much to use. Tonight I wondered if it would hold it's shape if pushed into a mold. I now have a couple of dishwasher tablets in the bag to see how they hold up.
For the person who asked about using it in a septic system that works with worms, I think the borax, salt and lemon would be toxic to the worms. It's reccomended not to put anything citrus into worm farms because they don't like it.
For de-clumping dishwasher powder, I've started to keep those tiny little silica gel packets that you find in new handbags or luggage to keep out the damp. Perhaps one of these in the dishwasher powder container would help. Haven't tried it but intend to...
Just a quick note on the dishwasher recipe...I tried for years all combinations of borax and baking soda with various other green items, and finally found that for my dishes the perfect combination is 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid and 1 teaspoon natural liquid castile soap, any scent, like Dr. Bronner's or Dr. Woods. I keep the citric acid in a small plastic container with a plastic spoon (I know plastic isn't green but mine are recycled).
I found that borax and baking soda, used alone or in combination always left a cloudy residue on my glasses and in addition, etched my glassware and flatware.
I love the fact that I hand wash my dishes with the liquid castile soap, so I figured I should be able to use it in my dishwasher too. I worked out that for my water, and my dishwasher, a teaspoon was the perfect amount. I love the suds, the scent, and most of all, the squeaky clean dishes! And if you need a little extra disinfectant ocassionally, a drop of tea tree, rosemary, or another essential oil is beautiful. A note of caution tho - DO NOT use even the natural liquid dish DETERGENTS in your dishwasher! They do not work the same as natural castile liquid soaps and you could have a giant mess!
In a pound of citric acid, there are 192 half-teaspoons - .03 per load. There are 96 teaspoons in a pint of soap, hence .06 per load. So this works out to 9 cents a load. Not bad for a healthy alternative....
So glad to have found your site....I have been searching forever for a dishwasher powder recipe...this is great. thanks :)
I am so trying this!
Thanks.
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