DIY Dishwasher detergent

I'm back with my next diy switch!

I've heard lots of people talk about making their own laundry detergent {which I will be doing once ours is out} so it got me thinking about finding a recipe for dishwasher detergent.

One Google search later and I found this recipe from diynatural.com. 

It seemed simple, cheap and promising. 

Kosher salt, washing soda, borax, citric acid, vinegar, and a container to store it all in.

I bought every needed ingredient at Kroger except for the citirc acid which I found at Brighter Day, a natural foods store in Savannah.

You can also find it online. 

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent: 
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup kosher salt

And the white vinegar is added to your rinse aid compartment in place of Jet-Dry.
{We actually hadn't been using anything for this before now}

So from here I just combined all of the ingredients together in an old Trader Joe's coffee can and shook it up.

 1 cup Borax

 1 cup of washing soda

 1/2 cup of citric acid
*On diynatural.com they recommended using double this amount for hard water.  Since we DO have hard water I may try this next time.

 1/2 cup of kosher salt

*Just as they recommended, to avoid clumping caused by the citric acid, I let the detergent sit out on the counter for a few days and stirred it several times each day. Even though I did this, over time large clumps did form so I simply dumped the entire mixture into my blender one day and blended all the clumps out and haven't had any since.

Make a nice label for it so no one gets confused.

And you only use 1 tablespoon per load! 

 That didn't seem like it would be enough but surprisingly it is. 

We've been using this detergent for over a month and it's worked great for us.

I would definitely recommended trying it if you're looking to save some money--this one is a no-brainer! 

There's a breakdown on the post for you here. 

Happy washing :)

Simple Cloth Wipes Soultion

Living a natural and {relatively} simple life is important to me.  Recently I've started working on being more conscious of needs vs. wants, wasting very little, and always being mindful about how we treat our bodies.  Along with all that,  I've also started trying to replace items I normally buy in stores with the homemade version.  Things like cleaning products, beauty products and some staple food items we eat all the time {hummus, jam, bread, etc}.  It just feels better making things I could easily buy. 

The first item I made the switch with was our cloth wipes solution.  We have always used this Kissaluvs wipes solution.  We would mix a small amount of the solution with water that we would then spray on baby's butt to help clean and protect their sensitive skin when we wipe.  While it is all natural and contains simple ingredients it's a bit pricey and I knew I could make something similar for less $$$.  So I found a recipe in an e-newsletter from Jillians Drawers and decided to give it a try.  I know most people don't care to know the recipe, but I want to save it somewhere and blogging it seems perfect for that. So here it is! 

What you need:

2 cups of distilled water {I now just use filtered water from our fridge so it doesn't add any cost}

2 tablespoons of baby oil {I'm going to start using olive oil after all the baby oil is gone because it's more natural and beneficial for the skin}

1 tsp. of your favorite liquid baby soap.  We have always used Burt's Bees but recently switched to California Baby to try it out.

2-5 drops of tea tree oil

 

 

I just fill the gallon with water, add the needed amounts of each ingredient, and then shake it up.  We store the big gallon under the changing table and refill our spray bottles as needed. I like this solution more than the old one we used and I'm sure in the long run it will save us money. 

Until my next DIY switch.... :)