Save Money - Make Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

There is no doubt about it, the average person would love to save some extra money, especially with gas prices as high as they are. The question is, how are we supposed to save money without radically altering our lifestyles? Sure there are ways you can rearrange your budget, but what about simple things we can do? One way is by making things at home that you would have to pay good money for in the store. In many cases, things you make at home will end up costing you a lot less than things purchased already made in the store.

One example of this is homemade dish washing detergent. This can save you tons of money, depending on what brand of detergent you usually buy and how often you wash your dishes. Even the so called cheap stuff isn't that cheap! I also like the idea of making my own detergent because then I know exactly what is in it and what is touching the stuff that my food touches.

Making your own dish washing detergent is very easy and it does not take a lot of time. The time you do spend is well worth it, though, because you can save a ton of money!

You will only need two things:

Borax (it can be found in the laundry aisle)
Baking Soda

You only need about a tablespoon of each. Mix them together and pour it directly into the dish washer.

A lot of people like to add specialty cleaners to their dish washers as well. You know the stuff. It's what you pour in your reservoir tank every few months that helps keep glasses from spotting. That stuff can be pretty expensive, but it is worth it because most people don't want spotted dishes.

A cheap alternative is vinegar. Just pour it directly into that same reservoir tank until it is full and you will have spot free glasses for months.

You may be reading this thinking that there is no way you will use borax and baking soda to clean your dishes. Maybe you don't think it will work. If you don't think it will work, try this.

Mix two parts of the regular dish detergent you normally use with one part borax and one part baking soda. Slowly get away from using the detergent.

If you still aren't convinced consider this, we waste a lot of detergent in every load. We really only need one, or maybe, two tablespoons of detergent per load. Most of us use a lot more than that. If you aren't ready to banish your detergent all together, try to cut back and see how much you really need. That alone can save you a lot of money.