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!