Make your own Dishwasher detergent!

So I found a blog that had a recipe for making your own dishwasher detergent. So I thought why not give it a try...




1 box of Borax
1 box of super washing soda
3 cups Epsom salt
24 envelopes of unsweetened lemonade (like Kool-Aid)

that is the recipe on that other blog

I didnt want to make THAT much so I halved the recipe and instead of buying 12 packets of lemonade I bought the big container that makes 8 quarts and Before I left the kool-aid isle i took notice that each envelope has .12 oz of powder in it. SOOOO what I did is


1/2 a box borax
1/2 a box super washing soda
1 1/2 cup epsom salt
and 1.44 oz ( if you want you could round that up to 3 TBLS's) of lemonade powder (now my son can have a tasty drink later)***after a few bad dirty glass' I realized that the lemonade is SWEETENED so stick with the envelopes!!

mix together and store in an AIR TIGHT container to prevent clumping.



and after the first load finished the dishes came out nice. But I did notice a residue on some things and after a trial and err I realized I used Sweetened lemonade. You need to use unsweetened. Now let me also say that I ran the cycle as a "normal" cycle as well. I usually have to run the cycle as pots and pans (which is a longer and hotter cycle) So as for impressed you bet I am. Now the break down on the cost is as follows
borax 4.66~
super washing soda 3.99~
Epsom salt 3.49
Kool-aid (gv brand) 1.98
total---> $14.12 BUT I don't use all the lemonade and epsom salt. and i had a voucher at smiths for$50 So I got the borax and sws for FREE!!! and you only use 1 tbls per wash so this will last forever....OK maybe not forever but before I was paying $5.00 for 20 loads and now i payed 14 for 100 (or more) loads. Try it for yourself and tell me what you think.

Also I am going to make my own Laundry soap in a different post and will use the borax and SWS in it too. (that is part on why I made only half a batch. I got that recipe from Why Not Sew