Hard Water Stains? Dishwasher detergent that works!

Since moving to an area that has particularly hard water, and with the mandated formula change to all dishwasher detergents, my dishes are an absolute mess. 

They are clean, I promise.  But they don't look very clean, they look cloudy.  My glass, my tupperware, even some of my metal items are all cloudy.  It has been driving me nuts.

After seeing someone else make homemade laundry detergent (more on that tomorrow), I started thinking...perhaps I could come up with a homemade dishwasher detergent that would help with my problem of cloudy dishes.  So I started researching and researching and came up with a MAGICAL SOLUTION that actually gets my dishes clean!

Wanna see how well it works?  Here's my before and after!

Amazing huh?  (Yes, this is really embarrassing to admit my glasses were so gross looking!  I hated having people over because they were just yucky.  Of course, every one's glasses here look like that...so no one was judging...but it bothered me that my glasses looked like that!)

After making it, found a cute jar to put it in and then cut some brown vinyl letters so everyone would know what was in the jar.  Then I couldn't help myself, I added vinyl on the top to say how much to use. 

And then, because I am super lazy and didn't want to have remember my recipe, I cut brown vinyl for the back of the jar with my recipe!  (I love love love using vinyl for things like this!!)

And just like magic, my dishes are now clean!!  And this is definitely a cost effective way to wash dishes too. 

Here's the How To:

Home Made Dishwasher Detergent

• 2 c borax
• 2 c Arm & Hammer washing soda
• 2 c lemi shine*
• 1 c kosher salt

I found the borax, washing soda and lemi shine all at my local Walmart.  They were near the laundry and dish soap section that are currently combined at my store because they are in the middle of a remodel.  But you should find them in similar places in a similar kind of store.  Kosher salt was with the baking items. 

(I forgot to take a photo of the items but here is what they look like to help you find them!)

  

 

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until mixed.
2. The citric acid in the lemi shine will make everything get a bit hard.  The first time I made this I put it directly into my container and it all got really really hard.  I had to use a knife to get it out.  So I suggest letting this mixture sit out in a bowl for a couple of days, stirring often.  You will still get a few little "balls" of detergent, but that is just fine!  You just don't want it all in one big piece!  Believe me, this is the best way to go!!
3. The lemi shine suggests running an empty dishwasher cycle with just that in order to clean your dishwasher.  I followed their directions for good measure!
4. Fill your rinse aid spot with white vinegar.  (This is sooo much cheaper then your typical rinse aid and makes a big difference in how your dishes will turn out!)
5. Use 1 tbs of detergent per load of dishes.  I do about a 30/70 split with 30% in the pre-wash spot and 70% in the wash spot.  If you don't have a prewash spot, you can put it all in the wash spot.

*You can experiment with the lemi shine amount.  The original recipe I found and modified called for only 1 cup but said to add more if you have hard water.  I have really hard water, so I ended up using 2 cups and my dishes came out sparkly and shiny!!

I love my sparkly clean dishes!!

Have you found a difference in how clean your dishes get since the dishwasher detergent change?

Oh and if you are looking for a great price on vinyl, go check out Expressions Vinyl!

I participate in the link parties found here.
Subscribe to Simply Designing by Email