Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Y'all. I am addicted! To making (or trying to make) my own cleaning products! Laura got me hooked when I went to her house a few weeks ago. Girlfriend makes her own dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, cloth diaper detergent, baby food and many other things!

I ran out of my standard variety Publix lemon gel detergent last week, and decided to go for it! It's easy and super cheap!

Here's how I did it:

Gather your ingredients: Borax, baking soda, salt, and 2 packets of lemon koolaid (unsweetened!)

Measure out the following:

1 C Borax

1 C baking soda

1/4 C salt

2 packets lemon koolaid

Dump into a mixing bowl and mix!

Once fully mixed, transfer to your "storage bowl." Leave the top off for 24 hours! Stir it every now and then. If you close it up before the 24 hours, it will turn into a solid brick-as evidenced by Laura!

After the 24 hours, put your lid on it, label it and find a spare tablespoon. This detergent will clean with only 1 T of powder. I have used it several times and it's great!

I think I have told you all of my obsession need to prewash dishes before loading the dishwasher. I need to scrape/rinse/sponge off the dishes first. It's just a habit. Besides, who wants all of that old, crusty food gunk flying around the dishwasher? Not me! The dishwasher doesn't have a disposal for all that crud! So, you need to do this before using this detergent.

I got the recipe here.

Next up on my homemade list: laundry detergent, baby food, and homemade yogurt. I am tired of spending $3.59 on a 4 pack of Yo Baby! I'll keep you posted-until then, do me a favor and try this.

The total cost of all ingredients pictured above was $5.88. This will make TONS of detergent, especially since you only use 1 T. When you run out of your container, you already have all of the ingredients needed (except the kool aid). You can use citric acid, but I didn't want to hunt for it. Plus, kool aid is cheaper.

This works out to about 8 cents per load, as compared to 22 cents per load with Cascade or something comparable.

Let me know if you've done this or what you think!