DIY Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
When I first made my DIY dishwasher soap detergent, it wasn’t as a way to save money. It’s because I’m lazy.
That is, I’d run out of a commercial product, and I didn’t feel like going to the store to buy new.
Sure, I could have ordered dishwasher soap from Amazon and, thanks to my Prime Membership, gotten it two days later.
However, having already successfully made homemade laundry detergent, I figured I already had all of the ingredients on hand.
I was right.
Ingredients for DIY homemade dishwasher soap
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As with laundry detergent the two main components are:
- Borax
- Washing Soda
Because we have hard water, I’d read that it would be wise to add kosher salt to the mix to help soften the water in the dishwasher.
Then I read further that a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid–the kind that you would use for washing pots and pans in the sink–helps make DIY dishwasher detergent work better.
Like when I was making my homemade laundry detergent, I needed to play around with the ratio of elements in order to come up with a recipe that would work, and I think I have.
How to make homemade dishwasher soap
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Here’s how I made my first successful batch of DIY dishwasher soap detergent:
- 1 cup Borax
- 1 cup Washing Soda
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- a few drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid
Mix the three powdered ingredients in a resealable container by shaking. Do not add the Dawn.
You will add the Dawn when you are putting the powdered dishwasher detergent in to run a load. Important step to remember!
The first load I ran, I used 1/4 cup of this DIY soap, and that was too much. Many of my dishes came out coated in gritty residue.
So with the next load, I used 1 tablespoon of the powdered detergent, plus a few drops of dishwashing liquid, and voila! The dishes and plates came out looking great.
I’ll admit that there was a glass or two on the top rack that still looked dirty, but you know what? When I was using commercial dishwasher detergent I had this problem from time to time, and often had to rewash my clean dishes.
Since then I’ve run four loads of dishes–I did a lot of batch cooking this weekend–and my plates, cups, bowls and more are definitely clean.
Dealing with cloudy glasses
There is still a cloudy film on some of the glassware and plastic. As I mentioned I’ve had this problem with commercial dishwasher detergent, too. We have hard water so I know that using a rinse aid can help.
One, I can buy a liquid rinse aid. Or, two, I can try a powdered kind.
I thought the kosher salt would take care of this problem, but it doesn’t seem to be “strong” enough to fix the problem. The one I discovered is an acid-based dishwasher additive called Lemi-Shine, which I reviewed here.
Where to buy Lemi Shine
None of the stores near me carry Lemi-Shine. This includes the local hardware store and my local supermarket.
It’s much easier to buy Lemi Shine online. In fact, since I first made my homemade dishwasher detergent mixture, Lemi Shine has expanded its line of products.
All of them are available on Amazon.
Final thoughts on my DIY dishwasher detergent
Like I said, so far so good, as far as cleaning goes.
But here’s the part I love: by my calculations, taking into consideration the price of the ingredients, and how many “washings” I’ll get from them, I’m now spending $.05–five cents–on soap to wash my dishes.
When I was buying the commercial products, I was spending anywhere from $.22 to $.33 per load.
If I run the dishwasher once a day, which isn’t unheard of in this house, especially when I do a lot of cooking, that means that in a year I will have saved between about $62 and $102.
I realize that’s not get rich money, but it is money saved nonetheless.