I don’t think I could be any more excited about today’s discovery!

Over the last few years I’ve tried several different options for making your own dishwasher detergent. I’ve tried multiple recipes. I’ve bought natural dishwasher detergents. I’ve tried them all. In the end I always end up switching back to Cascade or Finish. We have hard water here and without the commercial brand we end up with film on our glasses or goop on the inside of them. Our dishwasher is older, and frequently we find that even with the commercial brand, it isn’t dissolving all of the hard water gunk, and that is ending up inside cups. The dishes were coming out dirtier than they went in!

If you know me, you know this drives me crazy. The commercial brand is expensive and it is loaded with chemicals to boot. I’m not very good at cleaning, so the idea of having dishes come out dirtier than when they went in is sooo frustrating. So I’ve continued to research and seek out things that might help. After a particularly bad week with our dishwasher, I got angry and hand washed seven sinkfulls of dishes. SEVEN. I was NOT happy! So I decided I was going to do something about our dishwasher issue, something that didn’t involve buying a new one, which isn’t in the budget right now. I spent a lot of time reading what each ingredient does, why many homemade dishwasher detergents fail, and what you can do to counter those issues. And finally, I’ve stumbled upon a recipe that works for us. Even better, it solves the clumping and hardening issues that are common with homemade detergents–we take it and make that an advantage, by making them into tablets!

That’s it! Drop one into the dishwasher as you would any other dish tab. I make sure to keep my rinse agent filled with white vinegar, which also helps with rinsing and hard water. I personally used some silicone molds I have around for different craft projects, but if you don’t have one around, you can use an ice cube tray or even a tablespoon. Simply scoop out a tablespoon at a time, pack down and lay out on parchment paper to dry. I used lavender oil in my mixture, simply because it smells good while the dishwasher is running. You can use any oil you prefer, or none at all, but I don’t recommend citrus oil. Citrus oil can eat away at glassware and silverware, leaving pits and spots.

I did the math–I got 42 tablets out of this recipe for a total cost of $1.15! (They’re a lot less if you don’t use the essential oil.) So not only do they clean better than the chemical-laden tablets, but they cost a heck of a lot less too!

How clean are my dishes? Well, take a look. I don’t rinse them before loading them, and they were certainly dirty before washing!