Monday, February 27, 2012

Homemade cleaners

My husband and I have some strange hobbies.  A new one we've picked up this year is using homemade cleaners.  I'm not sure why we've adopted this, except perhaps we've grown tired of paying huge prices for laundry soap and bathroom cleaners.

Here is a recipe I chanced to come across at http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com website.


Powdered Dishwasher Detergent/Scouring Powder:
* 1 cup Washing soda
* 1 cup Borax
* 1/4 cup Kosher salt (reduces the effects of hard water)
* 1/4 cup citric acid (or as an alternative you can use the same amount of Fruit Fresh or two packets of Lemonade-Flavored Kool-Aid, ONLY lemon and ONLY unsweetened!)


You can also add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, if you'd like, but I don't do that.  I'm afraid to leave oily spots in my dishwasher.

To use the detergent in your dishwasher, add 1 tablespoon of the powder to the soap dispenser and 3 drops of Dawn (or other dish soap) on top and close the lid.  Add 1 cup of white vinegar to the bottom of the dishwasher.

You may have to experiment a little to see what combinations work for your dishwasher and for your water.  We tried one load with 2 tablespoons of powder and the glasses came out spotty.  But, with 1 tablespoon, they are sparkly.  You can vary the amount of powder from 1 - 2 tablespoons and vary the vinegar from 1 - 2 cups to see what works best for you.

Give it a try and see what works for you!
 

2 comments:

  1. Where have you been? TMMO misses you!!

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  2. Mary, I have not kept up with blogging and TMMO the past while. But, I am still around. I've been thinking about getting back to this blog. Tell the TMMO-ers I have missed them and we're still plugging away on BS2.

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