I’ve been making my own laundry soap for quite a while now (I can’t even remember how long!) and I’ve wanted to make my own dishwashing detergent for just as long. I’ve come across many sites and recipes for dishwashers that result in a dry detergent. But what about a liquid dishwasher detergent? I have found a few recipes for liquid hand dishwashing but not for the dishwasher.
So I did what anyone would do… I experimented
I used the recipe:
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda (or some called for baking soda but at 1 1/2 cups)
and the optional 1/2 cup salt
You can find this by Googling “homemade dishwasher detergent” (or look here).
The way I figured it is, that if it works as a dry, why won’t it work if it’s made into a liquid. My dishwasher is older (or at least it acts like it!) and we have hard water. The dry detergent often does not dissolve and leaves residue (not a ‘film’) on the dishes. Ick.
Did you know that when you mix borax, washing soda, baking soda and cold water, it gets hot? Perhaps I will look that up someday but that is what I discovered! I omitted the salt in my recipe.
I first used 1/2 cup borax (because I have read that if you have hard water, use less), 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 cup washing soda. I broke up all the chunks and made it a nice smooth powder then added 1 1/2 cup cold filtered water (figured the ‘filtered’ would help with softening the water…but what do I know!). Either the washing soda or the borax turn into rocks when they get wet!
I also added 1 tsp of Seventh Generation Lavender Floral & Mint dish soap.
Mix, mix, mix. Uh…not mixing so well… It does get thicker though. In retrospect, I should have slowly poured the powders into the water while mixing briskly, I think.
I strained out the clumps (because I am impatient- sad, I know) and what was left is my ‘soap’. I am running the washer now with 2 TBS of my soap. Honestly, I’m thinking that it isn’t such a success but won’t know for sure until the load is completely done.
Does washing soda and/or borax not dissolve? Well, I will update another time with how it turned out. Stay tuned
PS: I’ve not forgotten about my series on notecards and envelopes. I will be finishing that up soon.
Impatient. Ha. I want to know how it did! When I make the laundry detergent, I dissolve the borax/washing baking soda in HOT water and stir like the dickens.
ReplyDeleteI too would love a homemade liquid dishwasher soap that works. Let us know how this attempt works!
ReplyDeleteLet me know if it works out! I'm very intrigued and would love to SAVE money by not having to be dishwasher detergent all the time.
ReplyDeleteRachel
from the crew
Thanks for the stop-bys ;) I will let ya all in on the results- fail. BUT not utter fail :) I'm going to mix it with *gulp* store bought liquid detergent for now to "not waste it" (I hate to waste lol!)
ReplyDeleteI will not give up though!! :) I'll keep ya all posted!
Cant wait to hear if it works! I've been making my own laundry detergent for yrs too.
ReplyDeleteCrystal - newbie from the crew
Where did you find recipes for liquid hand-wash dish soap? I've had the opposite problem; I've looked for this and come up with recipes used in a dishwasher.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Jean
Sorry I've not replied sooner (not sure how I missed this). I found my recipe for dish washing soap (hand soap) by googling but Angie's post really made me want to try it. Here is the link for that recipe: http://pebblekeeper.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/home-made-dish-soap/
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