I have been buying Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent for a couple of months and it gets my dishes clean but it is expensive. I spend about $5 on a box that maybe lasts me a couple of weeks. In the past I have researched home made dishwasher detergents, but everything I have read is that they don’t get your dishes clean or that they leave a film on your dishes, or that they make too many suds. I did not want to use anything that would be bad for my kids to breathe in while the dishwasher was running like bleach, so I kept buying store bought detergent.

Yesterday I ran out of detergent and I forgot to pick some up at the store while I was out. It was nap time and I wanted to run the dishwasher but I could not leave the house to go pick up more. I decided I needed to figure out a green automatic dishwasher detergent recipe that would work from stuff I already had in my house, at least something I could use in a pinch.

I found about 20 different recipes online but this one made the most sense to me. I made a batch, I have ran my dishwasher twice and the results are great! Sparkling clean dishes, clean smelling dishes, no harsh chemicals, environmentally safe products, no film, no residue and no suds spilling onto my floor! Two thumbs up!

I thought about taking a photo of my clean dishes but I realized that my old, well used dishes would never look like the sparkling dishwasher advertisements, so I say you have to trust me, my dishes are just as clean as if washed with regular dishwasher detergent.

Here is the recipe for homemade automatic dishwasher detergent!

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup salt
4 packages of lemonade flavor, unsweetened kool aid mix (need the citric acid)

Mix the above four dry ingredients, store in a clean sealed container.

Use 1-2 tablespoons of powder to each dishwasher load depending on how dirty the dishes are.

I read that you can use as few as 2 kool aid packets with soft water, If you have hard water add more unsweetened lemonade flavor kool aid packets.

I also filled my jet dry reservoir with white vinegar for the rinse cycle.

This recipe makes 40 Tablespoons of dry dishwasher detergent, if you use 1 tablespoon per load that would be 40 loads. I guess the total cost of this was about $1.20.

I am thrilled with the results of my cheap, home made, environmentally safe dishwasher detergent.