We made the decision to be a one income family more than 15 years ago. We were both working in the restaurant industry and the hours nor the environment was not conducive to our new family oriented lifestyle. We learned early on that store bought was not always the way to go. I knew if I could make it, I could save money, which was something we did not have much to spare. Little did I know I would be making most of my cleaning products, including these homemade dishwasher tabs. Want another fun DIY project for outdoors? How about these adorable DIY Decoupage Hanging Coffee Can Planters.
When it came to cleaning products, we had more of an issue than just the cost. We had a little boy who was highly allergic to just about every cleaning product in the house. A friend from church told me she made a lot of her cleaning products and not only did she save a ton of money, all the ingredients she used would be safe for Henry to be around.
One of my favorite cleaning products are the cleaning tabs for the dishwasher, but holy moly, they are so dag-um expensive. The average cost per store bought tab is almost 20 cents, while my homemade dishwasher tabs are only about a nickle per tab. Now, that’s what I’m talking about folks!
Here’s What You’ll Need:
- 2 cups washing or baking soda, which is a great grease cutter
- 2 cups Borax, a natural disinfectant.
- 1/2 cup Epsom salt, which is great to help with your hard water
- 1/2 cup vinegar, which helps to bind the powders together
- 1/2 cup Lemon juice, added cleaning properties and smells so good!
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together with a spoon. The vinegar and lemon juice will fizz just a bit. That’s fine, it’s like your own little science experiment!
Once all the ingredients are combined, they will start clumping together as you mix them.
Transfer the mixture into ice cube trays or silicone molds and press down as hard as you can. This is really important or they will not hold together as well and can break up. I found using my thumb worked best. Put them in a dry, preferably sunny spot for at least 24 hours.
Once they are nice and dry and you have popped the tabs from the ice cube tray or mold, you need to store them in an airtight container, like this large mason jar. If they get any moisture in them, they will fall apart and then you will have dish washing powder instead of tabs! You will only need one tab for each cycle. If you have hard water, you may want to add 1/4 cup of vinegar to the bottom of the dishwasher.
What spring cleaning hacks do you use to save money in the kitchen?
