Cheap Dishwasher Soap, Less Stabby, More Sparkle

Ya'll know I've been on this money saving quest for a while. I'm pretty sure some of ya'll thought I was slightly off my rocker when I shared the moolah hoarding recipe for laundry detergent that I discovered while watching one of those TLC shows with 20 something children. You know, the ones with the magical uterus' that are impregnated by leprechauns or somechit.

Anywho...

I didn't have the same luck with the dishwasher potions. I tried several different variations, including one with lemon Kool-Aid.. but they left the glasses cloudy and icky and by the time I bought enough citric acid to make it work, it wasn't really any cheaper than buying the real stuff. And? It clumped up into ginormous rocks, even when I added a piece of (clean) pantyhose toe, filled with rice, tied off and added to the container to absorb any moisture. I spent hours of my life I'll never get back standing at the kitchen counter, stabbing furiously with a steak knife in an attempt to break up the clumps. The fact that this happened in front of the kitchen window probably frightened a hiker or two.

In a word...  Clusterfuck.

But don't despair! You are in luck that I'm a plucky duck and after risking life, limb and employment surfing the innerwebs on company time, I found something that works. And it's cheap. The credit goes to Jillee at One Good Thing (check her out for lots more money saving ideas.. that work!)

1 teaspoon oxygen bleach (Get the Sun brand at the Dollar store for less than $3)

1/2 teaspoon Dawn dish soap ("Great Value" would probably work just fine, but I've been scoring Dawn for less than .50 a bottle with coupons and sales lately)

1/2 cup white vinegar (poured into a bowl or cup on the top rack of the machine)

That's it! Don't add the vinegar to the rinse aid thingie and be careful with the Dawn (you don't want a sudstastrophe!)

I'm telling you, the dishes come clean and the glasses sparkle. Now, you can't put your baked on, charred baking pan that harbored lasagna in the oven for 2 hours, then spent four days being ravaged, spending it's last nights in the fridge, with that piece of wadded up tin foil, laying askew over the top, pretending it's actually covering anything, in the dishwasher without some pre-treatment and expect it to come out sparkling. Your dishwasher is not a magical uterus. But for every day stuff, it works great.

On that note, I'd better get to work. Bossholio is being a grumpasaurus and I don't want to tick him off.

Ya'll have a good one. Later Taters!!


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