Dishwasher
Rinse aid
Here again, I use my good friend: vinegar. I do dilute it (50% water and 50% vinegar) because vinegar is an acid and it can apparently be aggressive for the rubber of de dishwasher.
Dishwasher powder
I’ve finally found a dishwasher powder which is good enough for me (although not perfect) and takes 2 min to make.
Why am I using it although it is not as good as commercial tablets? 2 reasons: It is much cheaper, and more ecological.
I do use something which is the combination of 2 recipe (from “zero carbistouille” and from “famille zero dechet”). It does wash well fatty dishes, but few things are not perfectly clean (e.g. carbohydrate). About 90% of the content is perfectly clean (with tablets, i also have often dirty dishes!). And it is definitely less aggressive than tablets… with dish-washing tablet you could dissolve a dead body… with my powder you can bath it ;-).
Why not alternate? This is how I’m doing.
- 100 gr of sodium percarbonate
- 100 of baking soda
- 200 gr of citric acid
- 200 gr of soap flakes
- 200 gr of crystal soda (pure; in the supermarket is it often saturated with water which reacts with the rest of the ingredients when you will mix them).
Mix all ingredients together in a container (it is easier if you have a old plastic container; as it does gets hard after making it). The second days, it turns a little bit hard, but I loose it once, and it doesn’t get hard anymore afterwards. Then you can transfer it in a glass container if you want.
DONE!
Use a tablespoon in the soap/tablet compartment. Use a program washing at min 50-60°C (not a quick cleaning program).
If you want to make tablets you can add some drops of essential oil if you want (e.g. mint). Press your mixture in an ice cube holder.
If you want to know more about the ingredients, you can read it in the reviews.
Some people add sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) as detergent. I would expect that your dishes will be perfectly clean with it. It is a salt extracted from coconut oil. I do not use it for 2 reasons: It is a natural product, but it comes from far away and therefore increase the ecological footprint of my product, but if I would to be honest, the main reason is that I don’t find it easily in the neighborhood. 😉
Washing up by hand
I’ve tried different things, but the quest for easy and cheap DIY is still going on.
I mixed and heated black soap and crystal soda in water; then added essential oil (source: the company selling all those products). But I find the product too liquid and not worth the time I spent to make it.
I bought now a block “green soap” (made of hemp, soy or kohlrabi oil), and want to try with Marseille soap. They are both hard soap, and you only need to rub your sponge on it. If I’m happy with it, I’ll update this page and let you know via Facebook what I like most.
Up till now, I’m refilling old bottles with ecological soap. But i heard from the shop that the big plastic container is not recycled nor returned to the fabric (still better 1 big 10 or 20L plastic container than plenty of small bottles). Therefore, my motivation for an alternative solution is quite high.
Eco With Kids 