DIY: DISHWASHER PODS

The Hubster and I decided to do the Dave Ramsey challenge about a month ago. I just started reading his Total Money Makeover this week and I’m in awe. Together we always thought ‘yeah, we have debt, but who doesn’t?” Our biggest debt chunk is our student loans, we put a lot of money towards them each and every month. So in order to try and get rid of them faster we put ourselves on a very strict budget. In order to cut costs down on some of our household items I decided to try making my own dishwasher pods, after all I ran out and to be honest I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to make a trip to the store. I am all about using more natural ingredients and I saw this as an opportunity to change out one more harsh cleaner for a greener one.

I read through a few different recipes, one actually adds vinegar to the mixture. I didn’t initally use this one because I thought it’s totally going to foam and be a huge mess! But it has rave reviews, so I tried it in my second batch to determine which one works better. The first batch I made cleans my dishes okay, but the pods took forever to dry out and they kept crumbling apart on me. So today I’m sharing with you what I think is the best recipe between the two....and you know what, it’s the one mixed with vinegar.

Dishwasher Pods 

Recipe courtesy from Family Sponge

2 cups Borax

2 cups Baking/Washing Soda

1/2 cup Kosher Salt

3/4 cup Vinegar

6 drops of Lavender oil

Mix all ingredients into a large bowl. If the mixture doesn’t clump together easily then it’s too dry and you need to add a little more vinegar. Don’t worry, the vinegar will foam, but once you start mixing everything is fine :)

Press the mixture into your ice cube trays and let them sit in a sunny spot for 24 hours.
When you’re ready to use the pods, add one pod to your soap compartment and add two small drops of liquid soap that you would use to rinse your dishes. Don’t add any more than a couple small drops because your dishwasher will overflow with bubbles.

There are a few different reasons why I really like this recipe.
1) Borax helps soften hard water
2) Vinegar helps remove any water stains and cloudiness
3) Lavender adds a wonderful scent
4) The best part about making your own dishwasher detergent is the price per pod. For a little comparison I broke down the price for Cascade and Finish pods {give or take a few cents based on sales}
Cascade.....$0.22 per pod
Finish.....$0.25 per pod
Homemade pods using the recipe above.....$0.03 per pod

WOW....I think I can manage making my own pods from here on out.
HAPPY FRIDAY EVE!

XOXO