DIY Dishwasher Tablets ROUND 2!

Round 2 of DIY Dishwasher Tablets

PLEASE NOTE: Don't add the Vinegar! See the note below! 

So a few weeks ago I made my 2nd batch of Dishwasher Tablets & did a few things different. First of all I'm no scientist so I didn't not know this would happy but adding the vinegar resulted in A ROCK SOLID mound of detergent. haha Learn from me and don't do that :-p! Use the exact same ingredients for everything else but scratch the vinegar.

Another thing that prompted this change in recipe was 1 for just testing purposes but also I was experiencing some HOOIRRIBLE film on all my dishes and i had to SCRUB it off! Well much to my surprise our water softener got unplugged accidentally and that was causing some MAJOR issues because of the INSAIN hard water our untreated city water is like. So that was relief but also a huge problem because I'm now not sure what advice to give those who have hard water. Even with the water softener I use vinegar in my rinse agent and of course these recipes for the detergent but man I feel for those who do not have a water softer and have hard water! I hope someday to perfect the recipe and be able to help those who do have hard water. If you are suffering from hard water and have found a homemade dishwasher tablet recipe that works for you please share!! :-)

So far these tablets have been okay, Im not really happy with them completely because I couldn't get them as wet as I wanted since the vinegar didn't work out. So Im not sure what it reacted with to case the problem but I'm thinking it was the citric acid. My next test will be with Kool-Aid Unsweetened lemonade packets. I used the Lemon EO to make a somewhat wet sandy consistency and giving me the ability to pack them into the ice cube trays well. Once dried they came out very very crumbly and honestly most have broken up and turned back into powder. The powder hasn't hardened like i have read some people experience with homemade dishwasher detergent. 

Another thing i have learned is to only fill the trays half way. With this homemade detergent you do not need that much of it for it to be effective. I sometimes will use 2 tablets if i have really dirty dishes but 9 times out of 10 i only need that 1 tablet. 

1 More trick i learned was taking 1 of the 2 tray's ( since they stack on their own normally ) and filling the 1st tray and then "stacking" the other tray on top to pack the mixture into the tray and not having to use my fingers to try to pack it well. It always makes a more even measurement too. 

I wanted to note as well: When you are string the dry mixture do your very best not to breathe it in. For some reason that citric acid bothered my lungs badly. I have a over head fan on stove that sucks the air to outside and i turned that thing on high while i stirred the mixture. 

Over all I'm not happy with this recipe, it cleans fine but its a huge hassle considering the breathing issues I had and not being able to get a wetter sand consistency. 

Im really really hoping the kool-aid mixture will work better or otherwise I will be going back to mixture #1. I will keep you all posted!  

DIY Borax Free Dishwasher Detergent Tablets * Testing Stages*

Please Note: I'm still in the testing stages of this project, Keep checking back for updates & posts.

Diy Borax Free Dishwasher Detergent "Tabs" 

I only caught on to this idea about 2 weeks ago when the store bought product was leaving a gross FILM on my daughters sippy cup parts. I will add that I coupon quite religiously and get store bought tablets for CHEAP! & we have a water softer in our home that drastically softens our city's hard water. That being said we STILL experienced this annoying film. I have always tried to provide my family with Natural or Organic forms of everything. I recently switched from natural cleaners to the E-cloth & Norwex cloth and im sold so the idea of switching my dishwasher detergent to a more natural form is very appealing but only if i can afford it! Natural/Organic dishwasher detergent is generally not cheap and very hard to coupon for in my small town. 

SO, that being said, I started researching like CRAZY all the different homemade detergent recipes out there ( on Pintrest ) & compiled a list of promising recipes & then read the comments on each one and determined what ingredients from each i liked and wanted to try. First i want to start by saying this is a Borax FREE recipe, I had read sooo many mixed feelings about this product that I just left it out based on the POTENTIAL of it being harmful & reviews saying it ended up leaving a film. Now to give you an idea of what brought this all on, as a extremely basic test I just put my daughters sippy cup parts in the dishwasher and dumped a bunch of baking soda at the bottom and ran a "1 hour wash" my dishwasher had this feature. . I was trying to see if that on its own would even help. Much to my SURPRISE! it cleaned them to sparkle clean ( wish i had taken before and after pictures of this ) So i was sold purely based on this because if this one ingredient alone would work im sure the addition of others would only boost the cleaning power.

So off I went to compile ingredients. I decided on using: 
*TEST #1 Recipe Pictured Above*
-Arm & Hammer Washing Soda ( this was only found in 1 store in my small town, Albertsons)
-Arm & Hammer Baking Soda ( a sub for borax )
-Lemon Essential Oil ( for the amazing scent and its excellent properties, I purchased Now Foods Lemon EO )
-Lemi shine ( i only have added this because it was on sale but here is a post on a great sub for this:  http://seekingjunecleaver.blogspot.com/2012/10/diy-all-natural-lemishine-substitute.html , I have seen this combo used in many different recipes for a sub to lemishine )
 -White Distilled Vinegar ( this is also used a rinse agent when added to that little dispenser in your dishwasher OR i read some people just splashing a little before each wash, Im not sure with it being mixed in already if you can skip this part)
****I also will say my dishwasher is Stainless Steel & after researching that thoroughly I determined these ingredients would be safe for it, I HIGHLY recommend you do your own research on the effects of these ingredients your in dishwashers tub just to be safe****


I also had found people using silicone and plastic ice cube trays VS just making a powder. The tabs seemed SO much more convenient and I LOVE the idea of the silicone tray. Now I do not own any ice cube tray, silicone or plastic. So trying to keep in a budget i just went with a pack of 3 from Walmart for $1.89. Im hoping to find some silicone trays second hand. A issue i have ran into with the ice cube one is they don't fit in my detergent holder, I have to break it up in to a few pieces to get it to fit.  

 I then documented the regular cycle and what conditions i was using to wash with this batch. OCD? Perhaps but this is a fun experiment for me. I also havent been able to empty my rinse aid out of there yet so I think once that finally empties its self my results will fluctuate as well. I have never done any pre washing or rinsing. I also dont ever wash my dishes by hand. I dont feel like i can get the water hot enough to disinfect my dishes well enough.  

 So here are some shots of how beautiful my dishes came out!! I just did my 2nd batch today as well & couldn't be happier. Now i have seen some reviews where the first couple weeks are mind blowing and then you start experiencing issues. So im holding out all promises just yet.

 NOTE: How much cleaner the sippy cup parts look! I could not be happier with the results!

 I packed up the tablets in a wide mouth mason jar ( i was using for a drinking glass until now ) & I will post pictures in a week or two with more results of how this batch is working. Before I call it good im going to do a batch with the salt & citric acid instead of the lemi shine. I also have read ALOT of people use unsweetened lemonade kool aid in place of the citric acid ( that could also sub the Lemon EO since you get the smell, but not the benefits so kinda up to you) I hope i haven't made you sleepy yet haha, I would love to hear your ideas as well! Never know what secrets others have come up with. Thanks for reading & stopping by!