Homemade Dishwasher Detergent?

The verdict is in....hung jury.


Here is the recipe:

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup citric acid (I used a non-sugar packet of lemon coolaide, made it smell awesome! But you can buy citric acid along with canning supplies)

vinegar as rinse aid


Here is my take on homemade dishwasher detergent. It was easy enough to make, and proves to be cost effective. It does get your dishes "clean" but like, really cheap dishwasher detergent clean. I read a lot of comments saying that it left a white residue on their dishes. I saw what people were talking about but its a very light residue that didn't mean the dishes weren't clean, just not sparkling, which I can live with. I mean, people are dying of drought in Somolia and we are complaining of a white residue on our dishes?

The other complaint was that it clumps after a few days. But who cares about clumping? You just throw the clumps in the dishwasher anyway. So that proved to be no big deal.

My complaint would be that heavy or greasy loads left a greasy residue on all of the dishes. Apparently it is due to the fact that the really poisonous and bad for the environment chemicals in traditional dish detergents, like phosphate, are the ones that help your dishes sparkle. I did not get to use white vinegar as a rinse aid, because our dishwasher is so old, it doesn't have a rinse aid compartment. Maybe that would have made the difference. That being said, I think I will stick with the poison stuff for heavy loads, and supplement with my homemade stuff, as it is cheap cheap cheap!!