Homemade Dishwashing Detergent

HOMEMADE AND AWESOME

DISHWASHER DETERGENT/POT SCRUBBER

 

As many of you are aware my Hubby and I are trying to build a new house in Colorado and as with any move, it takes money.  I also had hip surgery over the summer with little else to do besides read books, blogs, and PINTREST.  I read an article about a woman who cut out as many store-bought convenience products she could and saved $12,000/year.  So I have been on the quest to try and cut out as many store bought, pre-packaged, or pre-assembled products as possible.  That means I have been doing a great deal of extra cooking and concocting! 

 

My first attempt, as my blog readers and FB friends know, I tackled laundry detergent and can happily say we no longer have to spend money on those products which will save us HUNDREDS over the course of the year.  While I was making the laundry detergent I came across a few Pintrest posts for homemade dishwasher detergent and since most of the ingredients are the same, I decided to give it a try.  I have been using this mixture for a few months now and I think it actually does a much better job than the Cascade I was using, is significantly cheaper, and also does double duty as a great dish and pot scrubber or soak.  However, I did learn a few tips and tricks along the way and I am happy to share them with you here! 

This recipe makes quite a large quantity (think at least 6 lbs of powder or more than 2 boxes of Oxiclean worth) yet you only use ONE (1) TABLESPOON PER LOAD...so much like the laundry detergent, it will last use a good long while and only cost us about $15.00 to make! 

First, let me pay credit where credit is due. This was the "dishwashing recipe" I found via Pintrest and this one  and this one are from one of my personal favorite blogs, One Good Thing by Jillee.

 

Now, let me tell you a little bit about my crazy family.  We are a family of 4 plus 1 dawg.  I also have a bakery and I fulfill some orders from another online bakery out of my home (yeah cottage law!).  I have also been trying to make most of what we eat, use, or consume that I can to save money for our move.  This includes, all meals and most snacks for all of us (no more frozen waffles, breads, poptarts, dinner rolls, dog treats, gummy snacks, etc. the list goes on and on and exhaustively on...whew Mama is tired some days!)  The by-product of all of this cooking is DIRTY DISHES.  I mean by the boatload.  I also HATE HATE HATE my kitchen messy but sometimes I just have to let things sit while the dishwashers run because I have more dishes than dishwashers AND I HAVE TWO!  Yes, I am extremely spoiled in that during our kitchen remodel I insisted on not one but TWO dishwashers because it is near impossible to keep up with the amount of cooking I do with just one.  When I went to snap some pictures for this post, I literally had just run both of them and had the counter piled with the next round AND I have not even made dinner yet! UGH this housework crap never ends!

"Lefty" (see the dishes waiting on top)

"Righty" (again with the never ending dishes)



Notice it says "clean" and yet there are still more dishes waiting

All clean and sanitized and ready to go again! Seriously this crap never ends!

**  DISCLAIMER **

I am in no way a dishwasher repair genius or sudsing engineer, so use this recipe at your own risk.  This mixture has worked exceptionally well for me, my family's dishwashing habits, and our dishwashers but that does not mean you will have the same results.  Please use common sense and your best judgement when trying this or any other of my adventures.  Finally, please post and let me now how this worked for you! 

 

TIP No. 1:

Ok so most of what anyone sees and tries on Pintrest is trial and error and my adventures are no different.  The first thing I discovered was this mixture needs to be stored in an airtight container and even then I would put one slice of bread on top of it or inside the lid to absorb any moisture.  I learned the hard way with my first batch that moisture will make it hard...like grab a knife or chisel hard.  When I was making this I had enough for two batches so the first one is not in an airtight container (I just reused the box of Oxiclean) and is hard so I have to chisel out the 1 tablespoon I use for each load.  FYI it works just fine even though it hardened and there is absolutely no difference in the clean.  The second one I did have in an airtight container and is perfectly powdery and easy to use.

My Not-So-Airtight Container

Yeah! Airtight!

TIP No. 2:

As you noticed if you read the other two links, they recommend you splash 1/2 cup of white vinegar in the bottom of each load.  I DO NOT do this.  Instead, I just fill my rinsing aid dispensers with vinegar.  At first  I didn't even do this step because sometimes using vinegar scares me and I was afraid my clean dishes would come out smelling like vinegar and honestly who wants to eat a gourmet dessert off of a plate that smells like vinegar.  But I kept reading that some people experienced "clouding" on their dishes without it but I never did.  I was afraid I would get it and right now I do not have the time to rewash the already overflowing dishes I have if they were to develop any "clouding" and I certainly do not want to spend money on new dishes when we are trying to move!  I would rather spend that money on kick-arse features in the new house! 

See Ma!  No clouding!

TIP No. 3:

As many of you may have noticed sometime in the last 1-2 years your dishwasher may not have cleaned quite as well as it had in the past and some people had even ended up replacing their perfectly good dishwashers without realizing the government had companies remove tri-sodium phosphates from store-bought dishwashing detergents. My "recipe" does not include them either but if you truly need/want to use them they are available in the paint aisle at your local hardware store and looks like this and can be added to my "recipe" and will increase the price about $6.00:

 

THE INGREDIENTS

 

1 Large AIRTIGHT container

1 Tablespoon scoop

1 Bottle of White Vinegar

1 Box of 20 Mule Team Borax (found in laundry aisle)

1 Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (found in laundry aisle)

3 Cups of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (found in baking aisle)

3 Cups of Epsom or Kosher Salt (found in beauty, cooking or first aid aisle)

1 Bottle of Lemi-Shine or citric acid (found in cleaning or canning supplies aisles or Amazon.com)

* I use only the Lemi-Shine or straight citric acid but some say you can use lemonade mix, Fresh Fruit, or lemon kool-aid but I did not want to risk putting that in my fairly new dishwashers because I already had to replace an HE washer after the repair guy told me to pour Tang drink mix in it to clean it.....DID. NOT. WORK.

 

Can also be found at some dollar stores!

 

 

THE STEPS

1.   Mix all ingredients using a "layering" method (be sure to wear a mask because the powders will "bloom up" into your face. I had my kids helping mix - oh so fun .... for them - but they needed masks so not to breathe everything in.)

2. If it is not mixed to your satisfaction pop the lid on (make sure it is securely on mainly why kids had so much fun....and not me ;o) lol) and roll it, shake it, or just roll it half way, open lid and mix, put the lid back on, roll again, mix, roll, mix, etc. 

3. Scoop a small amount into a pouring container or just use out of the one box and pop in your scoop and you are ready to go!  I keep a sugar pourer (think glass with the silver lid with the little flap that pops open to pour the sugar out like at a diner) on top of my sink to soak pots or for an extra punch of cleaning power.

 

4.  Pour enough white vinegar to fill the rinse aid dispenser. (Some say add THREE (3) drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid into the dispenser but I do not even bother with this....primarily because I have enough to clean and do NOT need a kitchen full of suds!

 

See I have used this so much the permanent marker has rubbed off!

 



HOW TO USE

 

This is a pretty potent mixture so I only use 1-2 TABLESPOONS PER LOAD- that is it! This ginormous bucket should last a good long while (estimate about 9-12 months depending on how often you run the wash and how much you use) and cost about $15 but for an entire year will save us probably more than $250.00....so I think it is pretty awesome.  All I do is make sure my rinse aid dispenser is full of white vinegar for each load and I scoop 1/2 TABLESPOON into the closed compartment and the other 1/2 TABLESPOON into the open compartment and I am done.  Occasionally, I do toss an extra 1/2 scoop into the bottom of the washer if I know it is a really yucky load.

 

Vinegar in the round dispenser, and 1/2 tablespoon each in those little rectangles.  That's it!  You are DONE!



Don't forget to share with your friends and let me know how this worked for you!

 

Laters! ;-P 

 

 





Homemade Laundry Detergent

Homemade Laundry Detergent

a.m.k.c.i (as my kids call it) Fruity Pebbles Soap



Ok so I have been all over Pintrest (which anyone that has been trying to catch anything of substance on my facebook is aware...sorry it is far too addicting) and I keep seeing these posts for homemade laundry soaps.  I even found several different types of soaps you can make at home at quite a cost savings (hand soap, kitchen soap, laundry soap, dishwasher soap, body soap, face soap, soap soap....I am channeling my inner Forest Gump here) ANYWAY I was looking through another blog which is one of my favorites One Good Thing By Jillee (this chick makes everything) and I really liked how she made the laundry detergent but I didn't really like the way it looked.  On Pintrest I keep seeing these cute and pretty containers of powdered soap and I got to thinking....hmmmm...I went back to using powdered dishwasher detergent because it was cheaper and worked so much better than the packets or liquid that would continually get stuck in my BRAND NEW dishwasher containers....maybe the same principle would apply to my laundry detergent.  I was spending a TON of money on laundry detergent and products (bounce sheets, bounce bars, in-wash scent boosters, in-wash stain boosters, the actual detergent, Clorox, Clorox 2, liquid fabric softener, etc.)  The laundry industry is a racket for sure!

really pretty AND functional

super functional but not my style

I am always trying to save a few bucks here and there and since everyone in our house has ULTRA sensitive skin I had to make sure the ingredients were going to be gentle as well. I knew most of the ingredients were gentle if not sensitive skin safe from hearing about how my Mom had to wash all of my baby clothes and diapers in Borax because everything else would break me out.  I know that Oxiclean (the one free of dyes, scents, etc.) is gentle because I washed all of my daughter's baby clothes in them. The other ingredients were Baking Soda which is gentle enough for baking and home cleaning, Super Washing Soda (which is a baking soda derivative), and the additional ingredients I could choose so I picked ones I knew worked for my family.  It also had to first work with my HE front load washer, smell good, be soft, and please my ultra picky laundry hubby.

My adventure in making laundry detergent was kind of a mixture of a few different recipes with my own products kicked in because that is what works best for MY FAMILY and MY WASHER.  Use this recipe at your own risk so if you try this and you break out in hives or your washer explodes don't come sue me.  But I would definitely want to hear about your adventures in laundry detergent making. ;o)

 

 

I first had my Father pick up a 5 gallon paint bucket from Lowe's WITH A MATCHING LID!  The lid is ultra important so you can close the bucket and shake/roll it when the products get heavily layered in there and to keep any kids/pets from falling in or messing with your soap.

 

 

I found these recipes on Pintrest while I was recovering from hip surgery and I couldn't get to the store myself so I had to ask my Mom and Hubby to pick them up for me at the store, but I couldn't ask for my Hubby to hunt a bunch of random items he isn't familiar with so what they didn't bring home I just ordered off of Amazon.com  HOWEVER most all of these items you can find at the grocery store, Target, or Walmart.  So I mixed them together as they came home and were delivered and kept mixing them together and adding what ingredients I thought were needed. I also only mixed and used a small amount at a time so I could gage softness, scent, whitening, etc.

 

 

The one difference in my mixture and what you will find online is I really like the scent of so many of the laundry products I used, so I added some store bought products to get the scent and softness.  I just wanted to see if I could make it cheaper to save some money for our upcoming move and to use a gentler/greener product.  So here we go!

 

 

THE INGREDIENTS

1      5 gallon paint bucket WITH LID

1      pretty container (to hold a small amount without having to scoop from the bucket each time)

1-2TBS scoop or bottle top (I used to bottle and top to one of the Downy unstopables bottles)

1.25  boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax powder (laundry aisle)

1-3lb box of OxiClean Free

1.5    boxes of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (laundry aisle)

1-3lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (baking aisle)

2        bars of Fels Naptha laundry soap (laundry aisle)

1        bar of Pink Zote (Amazon.com or hardware store in cleaner aisle)

2        bars of plain Dove Soap (personal hygenine aisle) This can be any soap but I used Dove to make the clothes softer because each bar has 1/4cup moisterizing cream and is hypo-allergenic according to my dermotologist

1        bottle of Purex Fabric Softening Crystals (laundry aisle)

1        bottle of Downy Unstoppables (I used 2 bottles one of each scent) (laundry aisle)

1        bottle of Gain In-Wash Stain and Scent booster (I LOVE GAIN laundry aisle)

*optional* I have not used these yet (because the OxiClean seems to work perfectly at whitening my clothes) but some recipes I saw said to use a optical whitener as well.  If you wish to use these you can find them in the laundry aisle as well.  Some people do not like them because it is a harsh, although effective, chemical and supposedly is not good for the environment.

The first thing (and mistake) I did was to grate all of the soap bars.  I say mistake because I used my actual "grating" blade which make it all look like 1" long strips of cheese in various colors (which you can see in the picture).  Now there isn't anything wrong with this except I didn't like the look, so the next time I did it I ran it through the food processor (yes it's just soap afterall so I just ran everything through the dishwasher afterwards and was perfectly fine) and finely grated them.  Plus since I am neither chemist or clothes washer repair expert I thought the longer strips might get clogged in the dispense chamber....and then I remembered I wasn't going to use it anyway so it was mainly for the asthetic look for me.  I don't think there is any reason not to run this mixture through the dispensing chamber but knowing my luck I would muck up the machine and end up having to buy a new one...all due to my "money-saving idea" and my Hubby would be none to happy! ;-) so I toss it into the barrel with the clothes (sometimes before the clothes sometimes on top of.  It seems to make no difference to the machine or quality of the wash.)

ANYWAY Sorry I do tend to get sidetracked...:-P

 

 

THE STEPS

1.  Grate all bars to your desired texture.

2.  Mix all ingredients using a "layering" method (be sure to wear a mask because the powders will "bloom up" into your face.  I had my kids helping mix - oh so fun .... for them - but they needed masks so not to breathe everything in.)

3.  If it is not mixed to your saisfaction pop the lid on (make sure it is securely on mainly why kids had so much fun....and not me ;o) lol) and roll it, shake it, or just roll it half way, open lid and mix, put the lid back on, roll again, mix, roll, mix, etc.  It is a lot of powder and pretty heavy so I used a salad tossing set from forever ago that has long thick wooden handles with metal tips and they worked perfect. If your Hubby has a mortar mixer attachment for his drill that would work perfectly as well.

4. Scoop a small amount into your pretty container and add your scoop and you are ready to go!







HOW TO USE



This is a pretty potent mixture so I only use 1-2 TABLESPOONS PER LOAD- that is it!  This ginormous bucket should last a good long while (estimate about 12 months depending on how often you run the wash and how much you use) and cost about $30-$35 but for an entire year will save us several hundred dollars....so I think it is pretty awesome.

 

 

I am going to write another post about how I gave up dryer sheets but will update that later.  Since it took me so long to write this one, I am sure my kids are into all kinds of craziness.

Laters :o)