DiY Dishwasher Powder

Since making my own laundry soap was so easy and has been working wonderfully for us, I decided to try one of the homemade dishwasher powders. We have been using it for about 6 weeks and it works great! Our dishes are clean and spot free. We have so much milk residue on our dishes that I can assure you this recipe is thoroughly cleaning the dishes!

1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup citric acid (you can find this in the canning section)
1/2 cup kosher salt (or other coarse salt)

Mix everything and store in an airtight container. Use 1 Tbsp in the wash part and 1/2 Tbsp. in pre-wash per load. We don't have hard water and it works great with our dishes. Depending on your water quality, I have been told that results vary. You can look up alternate recipes if this one doesn't work for you. This was so cheap and it works better than the cascade packs we were using. Some of our sippy cups came out a little stinky with cascade and we haven't had a single stinky cup since switching.

Update: if you add a few drops of dishwashing liquid in the compartment with the powder, your dishes will come out super sparkly and crystal clear! If you add too much, the dishes will have a film on them.

On the right, a film from adding too much. On the left, sparkly dishes from adding dishwashing liquid.