Mothering › Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Natural Body Care › recipe for automatic dishwasher
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

recipe for automatic dishwasher  

post #1 of 17
10/2/07 at 4:50pm
Thread Starter 
I guess I don't know how to use the search feature too good because I know I have seen some recipes on here for this. Can anyone help me out with this. I remember something with backing soda maybe, vinegar, etc. Help I want to stop buying cascade!!
post #2 of 17
10/2/07 at 6:53pm
I tried one, I think it had baking soda and borax in it... I don't remember. I looked around on line for the recipe and most are pretty similar, but it didn't work. My dishes came out with a nasty film and still dirty. We do use homemade laundry detergent, but for us its worth it to just buy store stuff for dishes.
post #3 of 17
10/2/07 at 8:49pm
I've been doing a lot of research on homemade cleaners lately and I have yet to find a recipe for the dishwasher that gets decent reviews.
post #4 of 17
10/2/07 at 11:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by papschmitty View Post
I've been doing a lot of research on homemade cleaners lately and I have yet to find a recipe for the dishwasher that gets decent reviews.
Really!! I know I saw some on here but don't know where??? I hate when I think I have saved something and go back to look for it and it's just not there..: Well let me know if anyone finds any good ones because I know there out there I will continue to try and search too.
post #5 of 17
10/2/07 at 11:37pm
If you are able to find it please post a link. I have been looking for it too, with no success.
post #6 of 17
10/3/07 at 12:00am
post #7 of 17
10/3/07 at 2:40pm
The one I use is like 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup borax, 1/4 cup table salt. Works great, but we have soft water. For those who have hard water, apparently you're supposed to add citric acid to the mix.
post #8 of 17
10/3/07 at 4:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taedareth View Post
The one I use is like 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup borax, 1/4 cup table salt. Works great, but we have soft water. For those who have hard water, apparently you're supposed to add citric acid to the mix.
Only if you want the dishwasher to explode. It won't, of course, because you're adding such a small amount into a large container that isn't that well sealed. But citric acid and baking soda is good only to make fizz.

Robert
post #9 of 17
10/3/07 at 5:11pm
I think I read somewhere that you're supposed to add more borax to the mix for hard water. I have tried this recipe but it feels wierd to be washing my dishes with borax. It's toxic when ingested so why would I wash my dinnerware with it? I guess maybe since it gets rinsed off it's not a big deal.

Taedareth, how much of that mix do you put in each load?
post #10 of 17
10/3/07 at 8:01pm
I more or less fill up the little box where dishwasher detergent is supposed to go. So maybe a couple tablespoons.
post #11 of 17
3/17/08 at 1:37am
Thread Starter 
My glasses are cloudy with using this recipe. Anyone else have this problem? I don't know if I have hard or soft water? How to tell?
post #12 of 17
3/17/08 at 4:23am
equal parts borax and baking soda

then add vinegar during the rinse - helps get rid of the spots
post #13 of 17
3/17/08 at 4:24am
oh about a 1/4c of white vinegar

should have been more specific...
post #14 of 17
3/17/08 at 10:26pm
See, I have tried that recipe too, and used vinegar in the rinse cup, and it has not worked for me at ALL. I used a little more, a little less, etc, monkeyed around a bit, and my dishes came out covered in film. It was worse than just water spots, it took about an hour of scrubbing my glasses to get them to look clear and not cloudy.

I don't use any other household chemical- everything else I use is natural- so for now I have to stick to Cascade or a comparable brand. I am just not willing to have gross looking dinnerware!
post #15 of 17
3/18/08 at 2:55pm
I have not yet tried it, nore looked into it much, but I did see that Palmolive is now marketing Ecowash (or something like that name) as a phosphate-free dishwashing detergent. I am going to check it out more... I had the same question as you, btw!
post #16 of 17
3/19/08 at 1:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mama2jackie View Post
See, I have tried that recipe too, and used vinegar in the rinse cup, and it has not worked for me at ALL. I used a little more, a little less, etc, monkeyed around a bit, and my dishes came out covered in film. It was worse than just water spots, it took about an hour of scrubbing my glasses to get them to look clear and not cloudy.

I don't use any other household chemical- everything else I use is natural- so for now I have to stick to Cascade or a comparable brand. I am just not willing to have gross looking dinnerware!
Same thing happened here. We have hard water. I never could get it to work with that recipe or any variation of it so we are still buying dishwasher detergent.
post #17 of 17
3/19/08 at 1:51am
Thread Starter 
Yes I used the vinegar before posting too because I had read there some where on here on another thread. But still very cloudy!
I don't know what to do? I use make up equal parts (1 cup borax and 1 cup bs and 1/2 cup salt) I put this in a container and keep under sink to use when needed. I mix it up very good so I don't know that I am doing anything wrong with this recipe as another poster said she had monkeyed around with it. Me too and dh and I are tired of cloudy filmy glasses. Anyone else have a different recipe?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Natural Body Care
This thread is locked  
Mothering › Forums › Natural Family Living › The Mindful Home › Natural Body Care › recipe for automatic dishwasher