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!