One of this years New Year’s resolutions that my husband and I decided on was to get our grocery budget under control. Our spending on groceries each week had seriously gotten out of control since our youngest was born. Not only were we making multiple trips to the grocery store every week (sometimes multiple times a day!), but we had gotten in the habit of not even worrying about how much things were costing. So, when the first of the year rolled around, we made the vow to knock it off and start being smarter with our money. So, it’s not almost the end of February and we’ve slowly made our way through forgotten about foods in the freezer, cleaned out our pantry, and have been trying to make more use out of the foods we already have in our house, instead of constantly buying new stuff. So far, we’ve made several creative but still tasty meals, and then a few…just creative meals that we’ll never mention again.

But why stop there? When I really began looking at our grocery bill, I was really astounded at how much so many things cost. We had never been much into buying convenience foods and items when our oldest was little, in fact, at that time in our lives, I had our grocery budget down pact. I had a menu planned out each and every week, had my binder full of coupons, and we never went over our spending limit. But somewhere between then and now, things seem to fall apart in that aspect of our lives. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been buying applesauce pouches by the case at Costco, Z-bars a plenty, and all of the dishwasher and washing machine pods. So, I may not be able to eliminate all of those things immediately, but I’m going to at least take a crack at it. And I have to start somewhere, right? So, I’m going to tackle the dishwasher pods first.

I’ve taken a few stabs at some different variations of this recipe, but this version is my favorite. It has a great mix of all of the essential ingredients to make some darn clean dishes. Baking soda (or washing soda) is what really helps eliminate grease, I mean I use it throughout my house for so many purposes anyway, so why not for dishes? Borax is a favorite detergent booster and does a fantastic job in the dishwasher, the Epsom (or course kosher salt) helps avoid the effects of hard water build up on your dishes and glassware, as does the vinegar. Not every recipe calls for Dawn in their pods, some say to just add a couple drops to every load, but that is like, way too much work for me. So I added just a teaspoon to my recipe, and Dawn is pretty much my favorite product ever and does such a great job of cutting through grease and stuck on stuff on dishes, that there was no way I was going to leave it out. Then, lastly, I added about 20 drops of lemon essential oil because first of all, it smells so amazing, and it does naturally have some antibacterial properties, so why not? Ready to get to it?

How to Make Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Pods

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Baking Soda or Washing Soda
• 2 cups Borax
• 1/2 cups Epsom Salt or Course Kosher Salt
• 1/2 white Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dawn
• about 20 drops of Lemon Essential Oil

Directions:

It really couldn’t be much easier. Simply mix all the dry ingredients together first in a large bowl.

Then, combine the wet ingredients.

Slowly, pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture as you stir. As the vinegar and the baking soda combine, it will bubble a bit, but that’s normal and it won’t mess anything up. Just keep mixing until everything is thoroughly combined and eventually you’ll have a damp, clumpy mixture.

Now, while working quickly, begin filling silicone or plastic ice cube trays. The mixture begins drying pretty quickly, so you’ll want to work fast. Really cram it down into each compartment as full and tight as you can, that way you’ll end up with a perfect little pod. Now just set then aside and wait! Now, simply set them aside and wait! They usually take at least 12 hours to fully set up, but it wouldn’t hurt to let them sit for 24.

After they’re completely dried and hard, you can fill up a big jar or if you wanna be even more hippie dippie, you can refill your old container like I did after all my Cascade pods ran out.

Look how cute they look! Pretty adorable little dishwasher pods, if I do say so myself and so incredibly easy to make.

Now, pop one in your dishwasher and give it a go! Hope your dishes come out as beautiful and sparkling as mine do! Happy DIYing!