I am lucky, in the fact that I don’t have to wash any dishes. My husband is an AMAZING stay-at-home-dad, and he does them. We don’t have a dishwasher right now, and haven’t in the last 2 years. We moved to a new house, and while we physically HAVE a dishwasher, it isn’t installed yet. Back at ourt previous home, however, we did have a dishwasher, and I didn’t mind doing dishes then. Honestly, I hope my husband hooks up the dishwasher here soon, because I would like to help him out a bit, I just hate handwashing dishes. Yea, I’m sure he doesn’t find it fun either, so I really appreciate the fact that he does it.

With that being said, when we DID have a dishwasher, I used to make our own detergent. Same goes for laundry detergent. If I manage to get manufactured detergents while couponing, we will use them, but I only buy them if they are dirt cheap or free, since homemade is cheaper, and does a great job at cleaning.

Making your own dishwasher detergent is really easy, no matter if you prefer the powder detergents or the liquid.

Powder Detergent

1 cup Washing Soda (you could also use Baking Soda, but I prefer Washing Soda)
1 cup Borax

Blend thoroughly and store in a plastic container. You would want to use approximately 2 TBS per load. Use vinegar in the rinse compartment as a rinse agent to help prevent residue. You could add a couple drops of essential oil if you like.

Liquid Detergent

1 cup baking soda
1 cup borax
1 cup water
1 drop lemon or orange essential oil per cup of detergent (not required, but smells fantastic)

Mix the ingredients thoroughly and store in a resealable container. You would want to use approximately 2 to 3 TBS per load. Use vinegar in the rinse compartment as a rinse agent to help prevent residue.

Not only is this a cheaper alternative to store bought detergents (unless of course, you got them free with coupons), it is also a more eco-friendly version.

The picture I showed above is actually laundry detergent. Since we don’t have a working dishwasher at this time, I haven’t made dish detergent in a while, but I would always keep it in a container like the one shown above. All that is, is the toilet paper containers that were being given away for free when you bought that brand of toilet paper. It has a nice secure lid, and works perfectly for these sorts of things.