Home made dishwasher tablets - how to tutorial :)

[clothmama]

I love that we have discovered DIY dishwasher powder, especially as I read more about the chemicals that are added to the stuff I've been buying for all these year (I'll try to do a bit more research and write a bit more about this when I get a chance)! However I'll admit I'm a bit lazy and tablets seem easier than powder and are what I'm used to so I have been on a mission to make some!

I had a good look around the web and all the tablets seem to have the same recipe so this is what I used:

• 1 Cup of Borax
• 1 Cup of Washing Soda
• 1/2 Cup Epsom salt (I didn't have any of this so have just used normal cooking salt - I think they are slightly different compounds so I'll have to do some experimenting and see if it makes a difference on subsequent loads)
• 3/4 Cup of lemon juice (the cheap stuff in the bottle is fine )

• Mix all the dry ingredients together
• Carefully mix in the lemon juice (it fizzes a bit )
  
  
• Give it all a good stir but try to work quickly as they dry out pretty quick
  
• Next step is to make your tablets - you need to make sure that they fit in your dishwasher, I kind of measured my tablespoon measure and I think that size will fit so I started off making them in semi-ball shapes like this:
  
  I then decided that I want pretty tablets so I grabed my nearest ice-cube tray and did this:
  
  
  I was expecting around 22 tablets from what I'd read when doing my research but those little balls just kept coming:
  
  I then went really wild and added a bit more juice to the last bit which was getting a bit dry and made some little rectangular ones ending up with a total of 36 tablets! I'm hoping they are big enough - I read that they need to be a tablespoon minimum and that is what these are (although the icecube ones may be a little more) so I'm looking forward to seeing how they go and making them a bit bigger if I need to next time.
  
• They are currently drying in the sun by the window but are already pretty hard, I'll leave them out about 24 hours then pop them in a big jar
  

So I'm impressed - cheaper and better for our health and the environment (bit like cloth nappies really ) my results with the powder we made last week have been good so far so I have high hopes! I'll update once I've had a wash and also if I end up trying new recipes.

I'll work out the costs and update as well.

Let me know if you decide to give them a go and take a pic for me

ETA here they are in a big coffee jar:

I really need to try this though I have no idea where to get Borax.

[clothmama]

I really need to try this though I have no idea where to get Borax.

Here in Australia it is sold in the washing / cleaning section of the supermarket. I just found this information on-line to help - maybe it is called something else:

Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. Powdered borax is white, consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.

I just checked and it is the same word in Dutch as well. OK so I've just done some googling and it appears there are some restrictions in Europe on Borates because of them getting in the soil - I'll have to do some more reading.

You can get Borax from Amazon or ebay fairly cheaply.

I'm going to watch with interest to see what the washing results are. I bought two bog boxes of tablets last time I was in Costco so I'm in no hurry but keen to try something that's less chemically!

Found Borax! 5 euro for 1000gram....worth trying

The soda stuf is it the cleaning crystaltype soda?

I'd love to give these a go, DH will officially think i've lost the plot, as will all my friends who think I'm frugal at the best of times

[clothmama]

So I've unloaded the load I washed with my DIY dishwasher tablet and it was fantastic all clean and I think that the glasses may have even been a little bit shinier than with the powder that DH made last week. I still can't believe I made 36 tablets for under $2! I currently have another load on which is a bit dirtier and fuller than the first load that I had to put on earlier I dont' know if any of you get it but I always had a bit of a film feeling to my plates etc when getting them out (particularly if still slightly wet) when using commercial dishwasher tablets but these just give a really clean feeling with no residue

[clothmama]

Found Borax! 5 euro for 1000gram....worth trying

Well done! Was that in NL? That is cheaper than I can get it here!

The soda stuf is it the cleaning crystaltype soda?

No it is more a powder called 'washing soda' I'm not sure if it is the same compound as soda crystals but in powder form, hang on I'll have a google....................................................

....................................................According to Wikipedia they are the same thing:

Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals), Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the ashes of many plants. It is synthetically produced in large quantities from salt (sodium chloride) and limestone by a method known as the Solvay process........
.........In domestic use, it is used as a water softener in laundering. It competes with the magnesium and calcium ions in hard water and prevents them from bonding with the detergent being used. Sodium carbonate can be used to remove grease, oil and wine stains.

@MissFrodo

@Asta I'm really impressed, I'll update as time goes on and any residue powder is washed out and see how glasses hold up etc