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Homemade Dishwasher Tablets (without Borax)

Essential Oils

Save money by making your own homemade dishwasher tablets. Here’s a simple recipe, without borax, that works incredibly well.

Save money by making your own homemade dishwasher tablets. Here's a simple recipe, without borax, that works incredibly well!

Over the last several years, we have been making our own beauty and personal care products – we have also been making our home household cleaners with essential oils.

My goal to making these dishwasher tablets was to avoid having to go to the store.  Having to take all of the kids to get stuff isn’t the most exciting experience. Over the last six months, I tried to make dishwasher tablets over a half dozen times and failed miserably.  

Talk about a HUGE challenge. 

I googled a million homemade dishwasher tab recipes, and tried over and over, without any success. Talk about complete frustration – some of those recipes were totally horrible!

I was starting to wonder if it was just me… or if the recipes shared online were just ineffective to start with.

Save money by making your own homemade dishwasher tablets. Here's a simple recipe, without borax, that works incredibly well.

Save money by making your own homemade dishwasher tablets. Here's a simple recipe, without borax, that works incredibly well.

One thing I noticed while perusing through recipes is that some people use borax and some people don’t.   It seems to be an ever going debate.  After trying a series of recipes, I modified what worked and eliminated what didn’t, and came up with my own recipe.

This recipe does not include borax.

In all honesty, I don’t mind including Borax. But I was looking for something that didn’t have borax because I didn’t have any at home. I also wanted something that would incorporate my essential oils.

I let these dry over the course of a weekend, and then I used them several times for some heavy wash loads that I had. They worked. My dishes were clean.  Over the next week, I used them over and over numerous times.

They continued to work.

I felt incredibly successful – who ever thought a few simple ingredients could replace the traditional dish tabs we had been been buying for so very long?

One thing to remember when it comes to homemade dishwasher tabs is that rinsing your dishes is essential. If your kids are loading the dishwasher, it’s imperative that they scrape and rinse as much off as possible.

(That rings true whether or not you are using homemade dish tabs or  commercially purchased tablets. You should never put your dishes in the dishwasher with tons of gunk on them!)

Homemade Dishwasher Tablets:

  • 1 C. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (cleans) – I recommend buying at your grocery store for a better price
  • 1 C. Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (helps cut the grease)
  • 1/2 C. Epsom Salt
  • 1/3 – 1/2 C. Lemon Juice (we used fresh squeezed but you can use bottled)
  • 25 drops Thieves Essential Oil (added cleaning power)
  • 15 drops Lemon Essential Oil (added cleaning power)
  • Wilton Square Mold (this works perfect for dish tabs)

To Make: 

  1. Combine your washing soda, epsom salt and baking soda along with the lemon juice and essential oils and mix until combined. Avoid using a plastic bowl since you are using citrus essential oil.
  2. Add more lemon juice, 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture is damp (not crumbly, but damp enough to hold together with your hands)
  3. Press the mixture into ice cube trays or, use the Wilton Square Mold – making sure you push completely down to form the squares properly.
  4. Allow to dry overnight preferably (or, up to 24 hours), before popping them out and storing them in a tight, sealed container. 
  5. Add a tablet in your dishwasher tray upon washing a load.
  6. *Tip: it helps to add a little distilled water or vinegar to the compartment that you would add Jet Dry to ensure that you soften your water a bit (it’ll prevent spots and streaks on the glasses).

If you like this DIY, you might also want to try this easy DIY.  It’s super handy for those times when you don’t want to push a mixture into molds.

DIY Dishwasher Detergent without Borax


 

Save money by making your own homemade dishwasher tablets. Here's a simple recipe, without borax, that works amazing!

Shared by Sheryl

Comments

  1. Stacey says

    September 8, 2019 at 7:44 pm

    Could you replace the Thieves oil with another if you don’t have it?
    If so which one?

    Reply
    • Sheryl says

      September 9, 2019 at 3:09 am

      Absolutely! Pick something that you have.. lately I’ve been using Lemon because I have more of that but you could use whatever works best.

      Reply
      • Jill McDonald says

        October 26, 2019 at 12:16 pm

        I think Stacey is asking the same thing I want to know. If I already have a small supply of something like Bronner’s can it be substituted for Thieves unti gone?

        Reply
        • Sheryl says

          October 28, 2019 at 8:58 pm

          Jill ~ Thieves is an essential oil and Bronner’s is castile soap.. adding a bit of Bronner’s might make them a tad bit less “stiff” (so to speak), so you may have to up the washing soda & baking soda a bit to compensate. Just keep an eye on it and see… if you don’t have Thieves you can skip it altogether though, it’s not 100% needed. Let me know how they work for you!

          Reply
  2. Deb says

    March 2, 2020 at 1:33 am

    Are these suitable for use in a dishwasher lined with stainless steel?

    Reply
    • Sheryl says

      March 4, 2020 at 10:45 pm

      Deb, yes -my dishwasher is lined with stainless steel and they work great.

      Reply
  3. Sarah says

    April 11, 2020 at 11:18 am

    Hi, I gave this a go & everything came out squeaky clean, but the glass dishes are now cloudy? I already have vinegar in the rinse compartment. Any ideas to prevent this happening?

    Reply
    • Sheryl says

      April 13, 2020 at 12:56 am

      I think the biggest thing with homemade dish tablets and soap (from my experience of trying a MILLION recipes..) is that the quality of your water will help or hinder. It seems like that is what the hang up is for most folks — do you have soft water? Or hard water? If you have hard water (or water with a high mineral content), then that tends to make for the cloudy effect after the washing. You might want to try using a half of a tablet or making your tablets a little smaller (as too much detergent can only make cloudiness worse and not better).

      Reply
      • Jessica says

        September 3, 2023 at 1:51 pm

        I’ve heard that using vinegar in the “rinse aid” compartment can help with the cloudiness with hard water. I plan to make these & try that as well!

        Reply
        • Sheryl says

          September 5, 2023 at 1:14 am

          That is absolutely correct! I actually do that and it works well (sometimes I run out of vinegar but I use vinegar for my yard for the weeds so I always “try” to have it in my pantry!)

          Reply
  4. michelle says

    April 19, 2020 at 5:14 am

    Thanks for this! i choose not to use essential oils – mainly because i wanted share with some of my friends who don’t use essential oils. i just needed more lemon juice. Turned out great and worked great. So happy i can save some money this way.

    Reply
  5. tiphaine says

    July 8, 2020 at 2:49 pm

    trying, once again, a dish washer detergent recipe. I have never tried wth epsom salt before so I have high hopes.

    Reply
  6. Danielle says

    September 2, 2020 at 4:57 pm

    How many dish tabs does this recipe make? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Sheryl says

      September 4, 2020 at 8:36 pm

      24 – for me, using my mold. The number it makes for you may vary based on the size of your mold. Hope that helps!

      Reply
  7. Abhaya says

    January 26, 2021 at 11:02 am

    Aloha and thank you for this recipe! Do you think that we Could we press this between 2 sheets of parchment and cut squares?

    Reply
    • Sheryl says

      February 1, 2021 at 7:57 am

      I think it might be very difficult!

      Reply
  8. Naomi Williamson says

    November 14, 2021 at 11:12 pm

    Hi just wondered is it on to make and sell from your recipes ? I have a ecofriendly business and this would be a good low waste option. Thanks Naomi

    Reply
    • Sheryl says

      November 18, 2021 at 12:47 am

      I don’t mind at all 😉

      Reply
  9. Michal says

    July 15, 2023 at 3:33 am

    But the lemon juice reacts with the sodas, is that intended? I think the resulting substance will not be good anymore for washing dishes…

    Reply
    • Sheryl says

      July 17, 2023 at 9:40 am

      Yes – it’s intended. Lemon juice is rich in citric acid. Citric acid helps with cutting the grease in the dishes as they wash in the dishwasher while also being a food-safe method of cleaning and refreshing the dishwasher. Please do not leave it out.

      Reply
      • Michal says

        July 23, 2023 at 4:01 am

        But if they react together before the washing, then they cancel each other out and the resulting substance is neutral and ineffective for washing, right?

        Reply

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Hi, I'm Sheryl!

Hi there, I'm Sheryl!

Rebooted Mom was created out of my own journey to live and think differently about the food I eat. I share everything from gardening to DIY, recipes, and sustainable living.

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