Lately I've been trying to do as many DIY cleaners as I can. I adapted this recipe for laundry soap. It's super easy: 1 c. Borax, 1 c. Baking Soda, 1 bar pure soap. I use 1 heaping tablespoon full per normal load. The original recipe uses washing soda but I could only find baking soda. Also I did a little research and found out that washing soda is more caustic than baking soda. Basically it is an 11 on the pH scale, just short of being considered toxic. Even though fumes are not harmful, extra measure should be taken when handling it. This article was very helpful. Also I used Ivory as my soap simply because it is dirt cheap.
So after being inspired to make my own laundry soap I decided to find a homemade dishwasher soap. Dishwasher soap can get expensive and a lot of them contain chlorine bleach that can discolor clothing and wear down on dishes. After searching, this is the recipe I found.
1 c. Borax
1 c. Washing soda (or baking soda)
1/2 c. Citric Acid (found in the home canning aisle)
1/2 c. Kosher salt (or sea salt)
The borax and soda are obviously your cleaners. The citric acid helps keep the dishes from getting cloudy. I also read you can use unsweetened lemonade instead, but I haven't tried it. And lastly the salt is your scrubber. The more coarse the salt the more scrub. I only have sea salt at the moment and should be fine. You can also use vinegar as your rinse agent.
Truth be told I haven't used it yet. I'm still using up a bottle of store bought detergent, but as soon as it's out I'll be using this. From what I've read it's a good recipe. I'll repost with first hand results later.
