PRACTICAL PARSIMONY: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Ingredients I had on hand

Okay, today is the 20th of the month and I have no money until March 1st. This is rough. I need to run the dishwasher. Standing long enough to wash the dishes in the sink is just not possible. So, I did what I often do--start throwing different cleaning products in the dishwasher. I measured nothing but here is a guess as to what amount I put in.

Salt--1 tsp
20 Mule team Borax--1/4 cup
Washing Soda--1/4 cup
Vinegar (white)--1/4 cup

I may have possibly put more. As I said, nothing was measured. It would have meant standing longer. My back was hurting and would have complained even more. Everything was just tossed all over dishes. No, I did not make an attempt to put it all in the bottom of the dishwasher. I would have had to bend!

My dishwasher has two compartment, both of which should have liquid. The door on the compartment for the second wash will no longer open. So, I deal with it. But, I don't deal with it very well. At first when it broke, I opened the dishwasher door and added anything from the list above (except for the salt). When I remembered, I added a second wash dash of something.

Today was the first time for this particular combination, and it works well, best combination so far.

Someday, I will figure the cost on this formula. I spend about $4 on the Palmolive, so this might be cheaper.

After I used this, I found a formula for dishwasher cubes. Maybe I will try this with some juice from a free, scrounged lemons.

If you use Baking Soda, you may be upset at the white coating on your dishes. I figured out how to control this issue and resolve the white coating issue. When the rinse cycle comes on, put 1/2 cup white vinegar in the dishwasher--no more film.

For this load of dishes I used no vinegar for the rinse, just in the wash. The dishes are sparkling.

Your turn
Does anyone ever use homemade dishwasher detergent? Well, I suppose it is not detergent! Do you have another formula you like?

2 comments:

JaneofVirginiaMarch 20, 2013 at 5:48 AM
What an interesting idea, and I have all that stuff in the bottom of the pantry. I don't often use the dishwasher, except for dinner parties and holidays. Breakfast and lunch people wash their own dishes here, and then the kids rotate doing the dinner dishes and it doesn't usually take long. I will definitely try this !
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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.

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The Cast

Fancy is my favorite hen. She is one of the three youngest hens I adopted. Because she is so gentle and friendly, she may be the one I rescued when she was being pecked to death after she could no longer stand. She got to live in the house in a box. Sometimes, I let her sit in my lap while she was convalescing. Now, she comes to sit in the swing with me, cuddling up to my body like a cat or dog. She died in February 2012.

Fancy follows me begging, complaining, needing me to do for her. She talks to me in various voices. She allows me to pick her up and carry her. When she became an adult, her head was a darker red and her body was light brown. Around her neck were tips of black feathers. It appeared she had a necklace of jet around her neck. When I showed this characteristic to a friend, he said, "Oh, you have fancy chickens and plain chickens."

Chessie has a broken toe. I broke it! She had a habit of jumping really high and almost sticking. A raccoon ate her in October 2009.

Thelma is the blonde. She is also the largest hen and the alpha hen. I suspect the gigantic eggs are from her. She often squats and presents herself to me. She is top hen, but I suspect she knows she had better be deferent to top feeder of the flock--me.

Louise is the auburn-feathered hen. She looks like the true Rhode Island Reds in pictures. She is almost as large as Thelma. Some days I suspect she is trying to be top chicken. When I got Pepper, I found out Louise is the Alpha hen.

Pepper came here from the same home as the first four. We were discussing putting red pepper on their food, wondering if it really would increase egg production. Pepper is the only name we agreed on. She is terrorized each day by Louise. Even after the worst was over, she was and is still filled with terror and very wary.

Linda is owned by four hens. They allow her to fetch for them. She loves them dearly, so she allows them to boss her around. Linda comes out in the rain to perform chores for them and make sure they have food and water. She begs scraps from all sorts of places to make sure they have fresh fruits and vegetables.

Parsimony is not a vegetable

Parsimony is extreme care in spending money. Stick around and learn about my random thoughts on accomplishing goals economically--dumpster diving aka safari, gleaning, do-it-yourself, sewing tips, recipes, and whatever is happening in my life.

Okay so maybe "parsimony" is not your thing. How about thrift, frugality or just plain saving money? I try not to go the tightwad route as that seems to imply others will suffer from my habits.

Some of my not-spending habits have very much been a part of my lifelong habits. Other habits are newly acquired and are an extension of my lifelong not-spending habits.

I am very imaginative when it comes to substituting or making instead of buying. I will tell you about making a heater for the chickens' water. Not one dime was spent since I had everything I needed right in my basement.

Practicality must rear its head alongside parsimony. For example, I will use the dryer in bad weather or because of allergies in the spring. But, I will not wash clothes in a tub as long as I have a washing machine or can find one.

You may hear more about my four Rhode Island Red hens than you care to hear. They lay delicious brown eggs.

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

2 comments: