Pinterest Tested: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Welcome to Pinterest Tested! Ever wonder if that miracle cleaner is really miraculous? Or what about that homemade facial cleanser or delicious-looking recipe? This is the place to find out! Each Monday I am testing Pins that catch my eye to see if they really live up to the claims made on Pinterest. It's like the Mythbusters of Domesticity!

Here’s a link to the PIN up for testing this week.

THE TEST: Can homemade dishwasher detergent get my dishes clean and save me money?

Since the homemade laundry soap I tested a few weeks back has been working so well for me, I have wanted to try making my own dishwasher detergent too.

And it turns out dishwasher detergent is even easier because there’s no soap grating involved. The hardest part was opening all the little packets of lemonade!

I mixed one box Borax, 1 box washing soda, and 24 packets of lemonade together in an ice cream bucket and done. Easy! Some recipes called for 3 cups salt, some didn’t. I decided to leave it out. No scientific reason…. I just didn’t remember to get it at the store and didn’t want to make an extra trip. You can substitute ½ cup citric acid for the lemonade, but I couldn’t find any at the stores near me. Besides, how fun is it to make soap that has Kool-Aid in it?!

An important part of this recipe is using white vinegar as a rinse aid. It keeps the dishes from getting that white film. I unscrewed the little round lid of the rinse aid, poured some into the hole until it reached the fill line, then screwed the lid back on. Again, this was so easy!

I am going to use one tablespoon of detergent for every load of dishes.

Here’s the cost breakdown:
Borax: $3.38
Washing Soda:$3.17
Lemonade: $2.88 ($0.12 per packet)
Total:$9.43

I measured it out and it’s enough for 236 loads of dishes if I use one tablespoon each time, making it 4 cents per load compared to the price of store-bought detergent (about 14 cents per load). If I wash one load of dishes per day, this homemade detergent would save me $36 per year. If I wash two loads of dishes per day, it saves me $73 per year! Not bad, not bad!

So how has it been working? I’ve used it on four loads of dishes now and can’t tell a difference from the expensive Cascade I was using before. Seems like a winner to me!

THE RESULTS: Works as well as what I have been using and it saves me a dime every time I wash a load of dishes (which will add up quick with as many loads as I seem to do!) And bonus: it was really easy to make!

ETA: Now that I've been using this detergent for a little longer, I am liking it less and less!!!I am noticing the white filmy stuff is building up on my glass plates. My sister also made this detergent, but she used citric acid instead of lemonade. She hasn't had any problems with cloudy dishes. That tells me that it's time to search around town for citric acid! I've heard I may have some luck at the pharmacy. We shall see...