Have you ever thought about making your own dishwasher tablets? If so, I encourage you to! I made my own for the first time the other day and they’re awesome! Previously, I would use Cascade liquid gels which run about $12 for 60. For all the ingredients needed for homemade tablets, it cost me around $10 for 300.
Here’s what you’re going to need:
- 2 gallon bucket
- tablespoon measuring spoon
- measuring cup
- glass bowl
- 2 ice cube trays
- 1 55 oz box of all natural super washing soda
- 1 76 oz box of borax detergent booster
- 1 two pound carton epsom salt
- 1 bottle 100% lemon juice
Grab your two gallon bucket and pour in the washing soda, detergent booster and espom salt, mix well. I used a two cup- measuring cup to measure out my dry ingredients into a glass bowl. Begin pouring in small amounts of lemon juice and stirring. You will want a smooth, but slightly clumpy consistency. For every 2 cups of dry powder, I used about 4 tablespoons of lemon juice. Begin filling your ice cube trays and pushing down the mixture until full. I sat mine on top of the microwave, and it took less than two days for them to dry. I then popped them out of the trays and placed them into my dishwasher tab box I already had from before. If you find that your mixture is breaking easily, or crumbly, you haven’t added enough lemon juice. I encourage you to also use lemon juice in the rinse aid section of your dishwasher to prevent spotting on dishes.
You will have a lot extra to make as you need it! I placed mine in a plastic storage container. This is also great to add a small amount down the disposal, it smells wonderful!!
** Update: A good suggestion since doing these would be to fill the ice tray half way full, they will fit better in the dispenser!
** Also, if you’re having trouble with spotting and the lemon juice doesn’t help, try vinegar in the rinse aid department of your dishwasher.
Sharing this project on these lovely sites!
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I have tried making my own dish detergent and it just didn’t work. It worked to begin with but over time the dishes got cloudy and nothing would work to get them to look clean. How is this working for you so far? I really like the idea of making dishwasher tabs, easy to get the right amount.
I would love if you would share this at my link party, Real Family Fun, which will open on Wednesday night at 8pm. http://www.realcoake.blogspot.com/search/label/Real%20Family%20Fun
Have a great week.
KC
The only complaint I have thus far is making sure to rinse the dishes and not leaving caked on food. Besides that, no problems! Seriously can’t beat the cost!
powdered detergents build up in the washer. run some of the liquid dish washer cleaner product depending on build up you may have to do more than one. mine gets gunky enough that I have to do this once a month. after you run the cleaner in the no heat dry, ( you will want the steam) open it up and wipe any left over residue off. it should be easy.
this is really neat!!! I might have to give it a try once I run out of the store bought
It’s worth it!!
Great idea – just pinned it – going to see if I can translate into products we can get over here in London. Alice @ Mums Make Lists
Great, thank you! Hope you’re able to make it work!
For the washing soda, place baking soda on a cookie/biscuit tray spread out. Bake at 350 for 15 mins. This takes out the moisture and creates the washing soda.
Thanks for this! I pinned and can’t wait to try it.
You’re very welcome Sara!!
I too pinned it and can’t wait to try it. Those tabs are so expensive at the store!
They are expensive!! Now you can make your own 🙂
If your dishes seem to be clouding up, try adding vinegar to your rinse aid compartment.
cheers,
terra
Thanks so much for the tip Terra 🙂 Have a great evening!
I haven’t had luck with homemade detergent either, so I’m happy to find a new recipe to try!
I hope this works for you!! I think they’re great!
Okay, I’ve seen plenty of make your own cleaning product tutorials, but never dishwasher tablets! Great idea! I would love it if you shared this great DIY detergent at Thrifty to Nifty Thursdays at A Jennuine Life. http://www.ajennuinelife.com/2013/02/thrifty-to-nifty-thursdays-8.html
Thanks so much Jenn! Seriously worth it!!
I am going to give this a try. I started making my own laundry detergent and shower cleaner and they are awesome – this sounds great too! Hope you can stop by the enchanted oven to say hi.
xo,
Lisa
It is!! Hope it works out for you 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Great recipe…now I just need a dishwasher! 😀
Thanks! And yes, that would be necessary 😉
Awesome! I was just thinking about this yesterday as we were looking at the highly chemical and expensive dishwasher tablets at the store. This is so perfect!
I’m so glad you stopped by! Hope you find success with these 🙂
this is a fantastic idea but some of the ingredients are really hard to get in the uk, does anyone know a recipe i could make over here. any ideas welcome.
I would LOVE it if you shared this in my Spring/Easter Linky Party! You can find it here: http://littlemomprairie.blogspot.com/p/blog-round-up.html
You’ve got it 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
How cool! I never knew you could make your own dishwasher tablets. Thanks for linking up to The Weekly Creative.
Shannon @ Sewing Barefoot
They’re just as good as those store bought ones and such a money saver!!
I absolutely love that everyone in blogland is taking up the “make it, don’t buy it” mentality. I’m right there with you guys and will be SOOOOO excited to share this with my mom so we can whip up a batch. Thanks for the post& I pinned it for others to use!
<3
Me too!! I’m all about doing what’s better for my family and saving money at the same time is totally awesome! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I love this idea!! This might be a silly question, but I am new to this world of making your own chemical-free cleaners. I was wondering, does it still do a good job of killing germs?
Thank you for posting this, I am so excited to try it!
Not a silly question at all SaraLynn! I honestly don’t know the answer, but I certainly look into and let you know what I found out! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
After doing a little bit of research, it seems that the homemade detergent itself is a great rinsing agent for your dishes, and along with the hot water from your dishwasher(temp. above 110F)it’s sure to kill germs! This is something I’m going to continue researching though! Thanks for your question!
Can I use arm & hammer washing powder instead of soda ?
I’m sure that you could use the powder instead of the soda, but the significance of the soda is to interact with the water minerals allowing the detergent to work better, and also to remove waste. So truthfully, I’m not sure which is better! Hope this helps! Thanks for stopping by!
Could you just use the powder and skip the tabs step and then use the lemon juice or vinegar in the rinse section????
I gathered this recipe after much searching of what works and what doesn’t.. I supposed you could give it a try, but I’m not sure of it’s effectiveness! If you try it, let us know how it works!
Do you just put the tablet in the bottom of the dishwasher? It looks too be for the compartment…
Sorry, I meant it looks too BIG for the compartment…
Hi Lena! You’re right, this was my first batch and they are a tad big for the compartment, so I break mine before putting it in. To eliminate that problem, just fill the ice cube trays half as full and they’ll work perfect!!
Wow! This is the exact same recipe that was posted on Budget101.com back in October 2012! That’s too bad credit wasn’t given to the Budget101.com site 🙁
I’ll have to look into that! I’ve pinned and researched numerous recipes for homemade dishwasher tabs, so by no means am I the only one out there doing these!
this looks great! but there is no such thing as ‘borax’ or ‘epsom salt’ in my country… 🙁
Could you just use the packs of lemon koolaid? I put some of that in my dishwasher every now and then to get rid of buildup. It wouldnt make it able to form but you could use it as a powder type?
Margaux thanks so much for your response! Although I don’t know for sure, I don’t believe that the lemon koolaid would be powerful enough to do the trick. But trying it in the powder mixture could be worth a try! If you do it, check back and let me know, I’d love to know how it works!
Is there a way to half the recipe?
Just use half the ingredients! It does make a huge amount of detergent, and I will probably only make half at a time when I run out, but that’s not going to be for a while 😉
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Thanks for the tip:)
New follower, Francine
You’re welcome! Thank you for stopping by <3
Will they grow bacteria due to the lemon juice? I want to try this—so clever
I never had a problem with mine growing bacteria. After I used all of my tablets, I just simply used the powered detergent and added the lemon juice before each washing. I hope that helps, good luck!
I just tried this for first time..made about 50
I use egg cartons also instead of ice trays they are disposable
That’s a fantastic idea, thank you for sharing!!
So it has been well over a year and I just wanted to check in and see if you are still loving the product? I have had some homemade laundry soap disasters and I want to really know it will be worth it before putting my husband and my dishes through that again 😉 lol! I say in a previous post you said you just use the powder now and add lemon juice and you go, can you elaborate at all? Thank you!
Hi Jordan thanks so much for taking the time to stop by! I honestly do believe that these are a great alternative to saving money and having the same effectiveness as store bough tablets. If you’re tired of making the tablets, you can just do like I did and fill your detergent suspenser with the powder and then fill it with lemon juice. Hope that helps 🙂