Debi Pearl

DISHWASHER POWDER RECIPE

There’s more than one dishwasher soap recipe. Mine may not be the best recipe, but it works for me.

WON’T DISH SOAP WORK?

You don’t want a lot of suds in your dishwasher. Your floor would be filled with soapy suds if you were to place regular dish detergent into a dishwasher. The best dishwasher detergent will rinse completely clear after removing grease and bacteria from your dishes.

WHY NOT USE ESSENTIAL OILS?

I choose not to use essential oils in my dishwasher detergent. Essential oils lose their scent in very hot conditions. Quality essential oils are expensive, so I use them elsewhere. It is up to the individual whether or not to add a fragrance to the detergent.

HOMEMADE DISHWASHER DETERGENT

Mix in a bowl and blend 2 cups Baking Soda, 2 cups Borax, 1 cup Citric Acid and ½ cup Salt.

A quart zippered plastic freezer bag will just manage to contain this amount of powdered detergent. I enclose this smaller bag in a gallon sized bag. The reason for the double-bagging is to keep moisture out of your powder. The Baking Soda & Citric Acid in this mixture will clump up by soaking up any moisture in the air if not carefully sealed. I use approximately two tablespoons of this mixture per load using a dry kitchen spoon as a scoop. I don’t use any additional products to prevent spotting or streaking on my dishes.

This versatile powder can also be used to hand wash dishes. A bit of vinegar added to the rinse water in the sink will rid dishes of any oily residue.

ALWAYS HAVE A SOAPY SPONGE:

Next to my kitchen sink, I keep a bar soap dish resting on top of a clean sponge. The bottom of the soap dish has holes for drainage. As the bar soap dries, some soapy water drips onto the sponge. The sponge is already soapy when I need to spot clean a container.