Guys! I've made yet another exciting discovery!
So, we have really hard water out here in BFE. It makes my skin dry, gives me cradle cap (sounds so much cuter than 'dandruff'), and wreaks havoc on my life in general. Also, it leaves gross water stains on my dishes that are surprisingly difficult to remove. Since moving out here, it hasn't made much of a difference which brand of detergent we use, that same film is always there and much of the time so is a lot of the food that was supposed to be washed away! It angers me!
Today, we ran out of the stuff and I decided it was high time I found a better (or at least a cheaper) way! So with the powers of Google and penny-pinching hippiness combined, I found a recipe for homemade powder dishwasher detergent that blew all of that other stuff out of the water! (And blew the waterstains out of my cups!)
I was happy enough to blog about it!
I would have taken before and after pictures of my dishes, but I honestly didn't think there would be that big of a difference. Instead, I leave you with the recipe (so so so easy and cheap!) and I guess I'll take a picture of the finished product in all of it's cleansing glory!
*Click on the links to see why these ingredients clean and how else they can be used!
1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup salt
2 packets of unsweetened Lemon flavored Kool-Aid
*The recipe I found online actually calls for 1/4 cup of citric acid, but I didn't have any on hand and apparently Lemon Kool-Aid is essentially the same thing.
Put ingredients in an airtight container, mix and enjoy!
I read that adding a little white vinegar for the rinse cycle upped the cleaning power, so I plan on doing that every time, too. But don't mix it directly with the other stuff! Just put it in the time release spot if your dishwasher has one, otherwise you can just add it yourself when your dishwasher gets to the "rinse" cycle.
You only need 1 tbsp per load of dishes, so one batch should last you about 20 loads! Shall we do a little cost comparison? Yes, we shall!
So, the options at my grocery store run anywhere from around $7-$30 (seriously?) for a 20 load package of dishwasher detergent.
Baking Soda- $0.79 (Kroger brand, what's up!)
Salt- $1.04 (Morton table salt)
Kool-Aid- $0.30 for two packets (courtesy of the man shaped like a glass pitcher)
White Vinegar- $0.98 (Kroger)
Just over $3.00 ($3.11) and you have plenty of leftover ingredients for several more batches! Although, you'll need to get more baking soda :)
I feel confident enough giving you guys this recipe because it seems like it has been working well for other people for years! How come more people don't do this?!
One other thing, if you decide to make it, be sure to give it a good stir every time you use it. If you don't, I guess it'll clump up on ya after a few weeks. But, if you only make one batch at a time, I can't imagine that being a problem.
*raises imaginary glass* To cheapskates!!
So, we have really hard water out here in BFE. It makes my skin dry, gives me cradle cap (sounds so much cuter than 'dandruff'), and wreaks havoc on my life in general. Also, it leaves gross water stains on my dishes that are surprisingly difficult to remove. Since moving out here, it hasn't made much of a difference which brand of detergent we use, that same film is always there and much of the time so is a lot of the food that was supposed to be washed away! It angers me!
Today, we ran out of the stuff and I decided it was high time I found a better (or at least a cheaper) way! So with the powers of Google and penny-pinching hippiness combined, I found a recipe for homemade powder dishwasher detergent that blew all of that other stuff out of the water! (And blew the waterstains out of my cups!)
I was happy enough to blog about it!
I would have taken before and after pictures of my dishes, but I honestly didn't think there would be that big of a difference. Instead, I leave you with the recipe (so so so easy and cheap!) and I guess I'll take a picture of the finished product in all of it's cleansing glory!
*Click on the links to see why these ingredients clean and how else they can be used!
1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup salt
2 packets of unsweetened Lemon flavored Kool-Aid
*The recipe I found online actually calls for 1/4 cup of citric acid, but I didn't have any on hand and apparently Lemon Kool-Aid is essentially the same thing.
Put ingredients in an airtight container, mix and enjoy!
I read that adding a little white vinegar for the rinse cycle upped the cleaning power, so I plan on doing that every time, too. But don't mix it directly with the other stuff! Just put it in the time release spot if your dishwasher has one, otherwise you can just add it yourself when your dishwasher gets to the "rinse" cycle.
You only need 1 tbsp per load of dishes, so one batch should last you about 20 loads! Shall we do a little cost comparison? Yes, we shall!
So, the options at my grocery store run anywhere from around $7-$30 (seriously?) for a 20 load package of dishwasher detergent.
Baking Soda- $0.79 (Kroger brand, what's up!)
Salt- $1.04 (Morton table salt)
Kool-Aid- $0.30 for two packets (courtesy of the man shaped like a glass pitcher)
White Vinegar- $0.98 (Kroger)
Just over $3.00 ($3.11) and you have plenty of leftover ingredients for several more batches! Although, you'll need to get more baking soda :)
I feel confident enough giving you guys this recipe because it seems like it has been working well for other people for years! How come more people don't do this?!
One other thing, if you decide to make it, be sure to give it a good stir every time you use it. If you don't, I guess it'll clump up on ya after a few weeks. But, if you only make one batch at a time, I can't imagine that being a problem.
*raises imaginary glass* To cheapskates!!
just when i thought you couldn't get anymore fabulous you go and blow my mind!
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