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Homemade dishwasher soap cubes

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tip- these cubes are not only more cost effective but actually work better than the store bought!

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Homemade dishwasher soap cubes 1 Picture

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Washing soda or Baking soda cleaner (If you can't find or don't have washing soda or cleaning soda see how to make in tip below)
  • 2 cups Borax
  • 1/2 cup Epsom salt
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 1 T of lemon juice + additional if mixture remains too crumbly
  • or
  • reverse the amounts of lemon juice and vinegar if you have soft water
  • 2 Ice cube trays
  • an air tight container for storage
  • a very small amount of regular dish soap
  • a pair of safety glasses

Details

Adapted from bing.com

Preparation

Step 1

Mix the vinegar and the lemon together.

Mix the dry ingredients together blending well.

Put 1-2 drops of dish soap in the bottom of each cube slot in the ice trays to be used. (gives a little extra cleaning power for grease and makes it easier to remove the cubes from the tray once set. But no more than 2 drops per slot as it will bubble and over flow your dishwasher) and move the trays around a bit to coat the slots with the soap.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry with a big spoon. It will begin to fizz a bit (from the vinegar but not a huge amount) mix thoroughly and quickly as it will begin to clump right away.

Firmly pack the mixture into the ice cube trays and allow to sit to harden in a warm (preferably sunny) spot for at least 24 hours.

Gently (as possible anyway) remove the cubes from the ice trays and store in the air tight container until use.

Use as you would any pre-packed dishwasher soap in your machine.

If you have really hard water, you may want to pour a few T's to 1/2 c of white vinegar into the bottom of your dishwasher to prevent filming.

Some people have found they need to leave out the actual dish soap drops in the trays because it didn't set into the cubes.... I guess it depends upon what kind you use. If you find that is the case for you, just omit that step completely and if you have an especially greasy load of dishes add a couple of drops on the cube before using. (again no more than 2 drops or bubbles!)

Tip: you can make baking soda into washing soda by baking it at 400 spread out on a pizza or jelly roll pan for 30-45 minutes until the texture changes.

I found the second time I made these I noticed my eyes were dry and realized that it was probably the combination of the "dust" from mixing the dry ingredients so for future batches I will be wearing safety classes to ease the discomfort to my eyes!

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