Its Frugal Friday! I thought I came up with this and thought I was sooo clever, but it already exists so I'm doing a link up with Life as Mom. This recipe is so stinking frugal, so easy its crazy, and you have to try it! It takes about 2 minutes, costs about $0.65 to make, and should last about 100 loads. That's not even a penny a load! Talk about saving money! Also, I think it works better that the brand name stuff. I originally found this recipe here before I got married, because I was trying to find a bunch of ways to save money (since I did not think we would have any). Plus I think its awesome to make more items homemade and purchase less consumer products.
Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
2 cups Borax
2 cups washing soda
4 packets of sugar free lemonade Kool-aid (or you can use citric acid)
Mix all ingredients together and keep in some kind of container. It could be a super cute old mason jar like mine :) or just an empty detergent box you have.
To use: Place 1 Tbs in the pre-wash (open cup) and 1 Tbs in the main wash (closed cup).
The original recipe says to use white vinegar for the rinse aid, but when I did this it made all my dishes smell like vinegar which isn't too pleasant. I found if you put a squirt of Dawn or some other brand in the main wash container it makes your dishes much more sparkly!
I hope ya'll enjoyed my frugal Friday tip this week. Stay tuned because I will be continuously doing this every week. Since the holidays are coming up around the corner I will share my frugal Christmas ideas on Fridays. There are so many ideas running through this crazy brain of mine it makes me a little dizzy. That's the curse of being creative and having A.D.D., the ideas just it never stop.
This is very similar to the laundry soap I make. But instead of kool-aid, I use a bar of soap. You can read it here: http://www.simplifylivelove.com/2011/07/homemade-laundry-soap.html
ReplyDeleteAny ideas where to find citric acid? :-)
You can find citric acid in the canning supply section of most stores. Ours is in the produce section.
DeleteI purchased Food Grade Bulk (3#) Citric Acid on-line for a fraction of cost in the canning section.
Delete-Carol H.
Michelle I believe you can find citric acid in the dish cleaning aisle, but I'm not sure I've only used the Kool-aid. Your laundry soap is almost the same as mine except I use washing soda instead of baking soda! Thanks for the comment I hope you can find citric acid!
ReplyDeleteyou can also get citric acid wherever you find canning supplies
DeleteThe last time I used dish soap in my dishwasher I had a bubbly mess. And I only put a few drops in cause I was out of dishwasher soap. The kids thought it was cool though lol
ReplyDeleteI put a very small amount in and have never had a problem. My husband on the other hand had it happen to him the other day. My guess is just adding too much dish soap. It still was pretty funny and you can clean the floors with the bubbles :)
ReplyDeleteWe just recently started using this recipe for dishwasher detergent. Unfortunately we have really hard water because our dishes come out clean (cleaner than with commercial dishwasher detergents) but with a white film on many of the dishes. Any suggestions? I think I read somewhere that increasing the borax would help with it...
ReplyDeleteI found another recipe and the blogger said this worked for her and she has really hard water. Its 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup citric acid (she said she used 1 cup of lemon shine instead) and 1/2 cup kosher salt. I hope this helps and works for you!!
Deletehmmm...thanks for the tip about the dish soap. We tried this for a while but eventually quit because of the film.
ReplyDeleteI hope the dish soap makes the difference!
DeleteI like this. Thanks for the info. I have a Blog Hop, and I would love it if you would link this post. You can find it at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/07/3-face-masks-from-your-kitchen-and.html
It is called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop.
I hope to see you there. Have a great Day.
Debi Bolocofsky
Adorned From Above
www.adornedfromabove.com
Thanks you for the invite Debi I just linked up!
DeleteHey Amy,
DeleteThank you so much for linking with Wednesdays Adorned From Above's blog Hop.
Debi
Amy,
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to try this. I was nominated for the Liebster award, and I want to pass it along to you! <3
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/07/cilantro-lime-vinaigrette-from.html?showComment=1342192720911#c2558012304404038741
Debi
Dear Amy
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for linking with my Wednesday Adorned From Above Blog Hop last week. I have listed your posting as one of my featured links for this week.
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/07/surf-spray-and-wednesdays-adorned-from.html
Copy and Paste the link from the post to show that you are a featured blogger on Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop. It says
I am a featured blogger at Wednesday Adorned From Above Blog Hop
Thank you again for participating, and I hope that you have lots of links for this week.
Amy, you can delete the first one that I sent you. I put the wrong name in it accidentally. Thank you so much for sharing. You had the most page views. You had 12 pageviews. I am going to try making your recipe this week.
Sincerely,
Debi Bolocofsky
www.adornedfromabove.com
Thanks so much for featuring me! l really appreciate it!
Delete