Making your own household cleaning products or beauty items can seem daunting, expensive and time consuming at first, especially given that a lot of people don’t even have the time to prepare meals from scratch, let alone these other items!
Whatever your motivation for wanting to make your own products, whether it’s to reduce waste, cut costs buying manufactured items or take back control of knowing what is in the products you are using, these dishwasher tablets are a good place to start. If you are like me, you like to wait until someone you know has tried it, let you know if it was hassle and if they work, which is exactly what I did — thanks to my sister-in-law for doing just that and giving me the extra motivation to give it a go! Hopefully this column will do the same for you.
Recipe from www.theinspiredlittlepot.com.au
Makes: 850g (approximately 40 tablets)
Ingredients
100g fine salt
300g sodium carbonate (washing soda)
250g citric acid
200g natural borax
30 drops lemon essential oil
Equipment
Silicone ice cube or mini-muffin tray
Whisk
Bowl
Method
1. Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl, whisking until well combined.
2. Using a tablespoon, scoop mixture into a silicone ice cube or muffin tray, and pack in firmly.
3. Allow mixture to harden in a cool place (such as laundry), for at least 24-48 hours, or until very firm and dry to touch.
4. Gently turn the tray upside down over a tea towel and tap until tablets fall out. Transfer into an airtight container.
To use:
• Place one tablet in the dispenser or on the floor of your dishwasher prior to operation.
• Store in a cool, dry place.
Recipe Notes:
• Avoid overfilling your dishwasher. Rinse plates briefly before stacking and ensure your filters etc are kept clean. A dirty dishwasher will not clean effectively no matter what products you use
• Results may need tweaking depending on the type of water in your area. This is the standard recipe and works well, I do find adding extra citric acid to mine (used in bore water) increases their efficacy.
• Tablets may stick together, depending on how much moisture gets into your storage container. They should however come apart easily enough. To avoid this, you can line the tablets on some baking paper inside your storage container.
All the ingredients for the recipe are available for sale at theinspiredlittlepot.com.au or you can purchase bulk supplies from Big Bubble in Midland.
The longest part of the process is waiting for it to dry. Once you have all the ingredients on hand it takes about 5-minutes to whip up a batch. No waste, no trips the supermaket and no attempting to be an amateur chemist trying to decipher if the ingredients on the label (if they are even there!) are something you really want touching the items you eat off of.
