Probably about a month ago I left a tease comment on frugal mom’s site about the dish washing detergent I was trying to perfect. Since then, she hasn’t left me alone about it. Day and night the girl is asking me for the recipe.

Uhm…Alright so maybe she hasn’t bothered me about it, but I do need those kicks in the right direction sometimes. So, please don’t ever hesitate to steer me on course!

This recipe has probably been the most troublesome of all the things I have embarked on making lately. My first try with the formula didn’t really get the dishes clean. Then I tried changing it a bit and found a thick white film on my dishes.

I have finally found one that works for me, but am not sure it will be the same for everyone else. From what I can fathom from my experimentation, the type of water you have will dictate the amount of ingredients you will use in the formula. We have really hard water here in crappy wonderful Florida, so I need to use a little extra salt and citric acid.

This is the basic recipe that I got it from a cool site called The New Homemaker. They have a lot of interesting stuff over there and I would definitely suggest clicking around.

In a container with a tight fitting lid (I used a recycled coffee can):

1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid
30 drops citrus essential oil

Put all of it in the container, shake it up.

To Use: Put one tablespoon in each dispenser.

I know I have not been the best on telling ya’ll where to get this stuff, so I figure I better step up and let you know in my post for now on. I’m learning… Yes, she can be taught!

Borax: get it at your grocery store. If you can’t find it there in the grocery aisle, then don’t shop at that store anymore because they are stupid and should have this stuff.

Citric Acid: I ordered mine at my favorite online place. Amazon has Citric Acid at a very reasonable price. I also read that you could use and tried using unsweetened kool aid lemonade but didn’t think the results were outstanding. Of course, with the hard water I have here, the citric acid is one of the most important parts of the entire recipe, so it might work better for someone with normal water.

Essential Oil: seriously, I should just buy stock in this stuff. I get mine from my local health food store, but have thought about ordering some online at, yup, you guessed it… Amazon.

I would suggest making the recipe with the amount of ingredients called for and after running one wash determining if you need to adjust the citric acid or not. The citric acid acts like a water softener so the harder water you have the more citric acid you need.

For your rinse cycle, I would also suggest using plain distilled white vinegar. I was concerned my dishes would come out smelling like it, but with the essential oil in the detergent, it has not been an issue. It is way less expensive and does a great job!

And of course, I am sure it could go without saying, but I DO have to sleep at night and don’t want to lie awake wondering if everyone is doing this or not. Don’t turn the dishwasher on unless it is full. There I said it. I am no longer responsible for helping you save money on water for washing dishes.

Between making your own detergent, using vinegar for a rinse aid and only washing full loads, you should save a few pretty pennies. And of course. You will be using less toxic cleaners thus helping your family AND the environment.

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