Kicking Commercial Cleaners For Good! (Dishwasher Cubes)

Dishwasher packs were the last thing to go when I started making my own cleaning supplies. I had the recipe for it when I started making laundry soap, but it took me a while to get around to actually doing it. I think we were just waiting until we ran out of the commercial packs we were using.

This recipe doesn't contain a rinse aid, so we use white vinegar in the dishwasher. I'll give the details on that at the end of this post. 

             

               

        You Will Need:

• 1 Cup Borax
• 1 Cup Washing Soda
• 1/4 Cup Epsom Salt
• 3/4 Cup Lemon Juice
• Ice tray

Combine all of the dry ingredients into a bowl
and mix well.

Add the lemon juice until the mixture is the same consistency as wet sand, the kind you could build a sandcastle with. You might use a hair less than 3/4 cup, but usually that's the perfect amount.

TIP:
The citric acid in the lemon juice will react with the washing soda and fizz, so if you have kids this is a great, "fun" recipe for them to help with :)

Spoon the mixture into the ice tray and pack it down as tight as you can. If it's too loose your cubes will fall apart when you take them out. 

This is another fun part for the kids to help with, just make sure everyone washed their hands when they're finished. 

Warning! 
If you have any kind of open wounds on your fingers this will hurt! Just something I wish I would've remembered ;) 

Set them up on a window sill (or anywhere warm 

and sunny) for about 12 hours to dry. 

I make mine in the afternoon and they're good to go 

the next morning.

Turn the tray over and tap the bottom to release the cubes.

Store them in a plastic baggy, Tupperware, or any canister that will keep them nice and dry. We use the container our commercial dishwasher packs came in. 

To Use:

Use 1 cube for each load. To avoid film and water spots, use white vinegar as a rinse aid. Fill a cup with 1/2 cup vinegar and place it on the top rack. This will also keep the inside of your dishwasher free of hard water build-up and mold/bacteria if you load your dishwasher as you go. SO much cheaper than commercial rinse aid, and chemical free! 

***  DO NOT put vinegar in the rinse aid compartment of your dishwasher! It will erode the rubber tube that goes from the compartment into the dishwasher. 

My First Steps.... And a Laundry Detergent Recipe!

My first venture into the world of eco-friendliness was making my own laundry soap (after deciding to cloth diaper, but that's a whole 'nother beast entirely!). Since I'm lazy, I wanted a detergent that was safe for the diapers as well as efficient enough to handle whatever finds its way onto the boys' clothes (I don't even bother trying to identify it anymore). 

I soon realized that the lovely mineral-rich water here in the Southwest would narrow my search even further (yay! .... not.). After a gaggle of google searches, some math-whiz conversions by yours truly, and a little trial and error, I present to you... (cue harps and singing angels)... My laundry detergent!

This recipe was adapted from one I found here at Ecocrazy Mom. Of course, I didn't want to make a bucket full so I used my Mighty Math Powers to scale this down to fit into the canister I had on hand (which happened to be a Gatorade container). This soap has worked very well for us on everything we put into the washer and rinses away with just a hint of lavender scent. 

If you'd like your clothes to smell all fancy you can add something like Purex Crystals to the washer as per their directions. I, however, think that defeats the purpose of making your own detergent to begin with and opt for essential oil-infused felt wool dryer balls. I'll post a tutorial on how to make those one of these days. 

Laundry Soap Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups Baking Soda  (water softener, detergent booster, deodorizer, and brightener)
• 2 1/2 Cups OxiClean Versatile Free (better stain removing power, detergent booster)
• 1 3/4 Cups Borax (water softener, brightener, deodorizer, disinfectant, removes soap residue, detergent booster)
• 1 Cup Washing Soda (very effective water softener, degreaser, brightener)
• 1/2 Bar Dr. Bronner's (veggie-based all natural soap-- this is what does the cleaning)
• 3-5 drops Tea Tree Oil (anti-bacterial, antiseptic, anti-fungal)
• 3-5 Drops Lavendar Oil (anti-bacterial, and smells amazing in my opinion)

You'll also need a food processor (or you can do it the way I do with a cheese grater and a blender) and a mixing bowl and fork.

Instructions:

Grate your soap and pulse into a powder. You can do this with a cheese grater and blender or with your food processor attachments. 

You DEFINITELY want to powder your soap. I skipped this once and it made for a very uneven mixture. The soap also didn't dissolve very well in the wash.

I used 1/2 bar of Lavender soap for this, but sometimes I use 1/4 bar Lavender and Tea Tree Oil depending on how I feel. You can use any scent you like. 

Pour the Dr. Bronner's into a bowl, stir in the remainder of your dry ingredients and mix well. 

Add your essential oils and mix well. I use a fork to break up the little clumps that form where I drop the oils.

This is optional, but I love the disinfecting properties of tea tree oil and I love the smell of lavender oil.

You can use lemon oil if you need extra de-greasing power or any scent you like, really. I try to use complimenting scents in my soap and essential oils. 

Store in a sealed container of your choosing. I just happen to have an empty Gatorade container on hand, so that's what we use. Not as cute as some other blogs, I know.... But we manage ;) 

To Use:

• In an HE top-loading I use 2 tablespoons for our regular laundry. 

• For cloth diapers, 1.5 tablespoon does the trick. 

• Since this is a non-sudsing detergent, it is safe to use in your front-loading machine as well. 1.5 - 2 tablespoons for regular laundry and about 1 tablespoon for diapers.