I have decided to start a weekly segment on getting to know items in your home. I got some emails and comments about my post yesterday, regarding some tips for your dishwasher, and I thought it would be great to start a little segment explaining frugal tips for caring for your appliances. If you have an appliance or item in your home that you would like to be featured, or you have a question about an item in your home that you would like to know more about, please email me at amy@momadvice.com and I will try and hunt for all those answers for you. Consider it a Frugal Momma question and answer column and ask away! I am not an expert in anything so take my advice with a grain of salt!
I don’t know what I would do without my dishwasher! There is an urban legend out there that says that washing dishes by hand is cheaper than washing them in the dishwasher. You actually waste less water by using your dishwasher, which makes the dishwasher a great addition to a frugal homeowner’s house.
First, there is no exact science to loading a dishwasher, but there are a few guidelines. Heavy duty stuff (pots, pans, plates, & utensils) go on bottom & delicate items and glassware go on top. Place everything in the upper rack facedown and put everything on the lower rack aimed towards the center. Silverware should have forks and spoons alternating, otherwise you will get spoons stuck together and they will need to be rewashed.
The important things to know to keep your costs low for running a dishwasher are pretty simple and straightforward. First, it is not economical to pre-rinse your dishes, especially with the newer models that they have out now for dishwashers. If you have an older dishwasher, like me, a quick pre-rinse with cold water only is the most efficient way to get your dishes clean.
Secondly, try and run the most cost-effective cycle on your dishwasher. Try the shorter cycle first and see if your dishes come out clean. If you need to still run the full cycle, don’t run the drying cycle and allow the dishes to air dry. It is more cost-effective and there is less chance of spotting on your glassware.
It is also important to read the manual for your dishwasher to see the recommended amount of dishwashing detergent you should use. The manufacturer will have the best suggestion for the amount of detergent you should use. Are your dishes looking a little gritty? Do you have a nasty residue on your glasses? The remedy to that problem is decreasing the amount of dishwashing detergent. If you don’t have the guidelines handy, you can always look them up on the manufacturer’s website or you can do your own test run to see how much you actually need to get those dishes clean.
If your glasses are looking spotty then you might need to add something to your dishwasher to make it perform better. I fill our rinse agent dispenser with white vinegar. Vinegar is great for removing spots on dishes and it leaves everything squeaky clean. Just fill the rinse aid dispenser as you would with the commercial stuff and stand back in amazement. You won’t believe how much better your dishwasher will perform with just this simple household solution.
I noticed that our dishwasher was looking pretty bad on the interior and I found the quickest way to get your dishwasher looking like new again is just running an empty cycle and filling the detergent cup with a drinking mix with citrus in it. You can use any citrus drink mix and fill it just as you would with your regular detergent. Any drink mix will do- lemonade, Tang, Crystal Lite, or any other drink mix with the citrus ingredient in it. We had a drink mix that the kids just didn’t like and that ended up going in the dishwasher instead. Doing this once a month will help keep your dishwasher looking like new.
Stubborn spots on the dishwashing door are also bothersome. If running a cycle of citrus drink powder doesn’t do the trick, you can try using other products on the door to get rid of the stains. Tomato-based stains will just have to fade with time, but you can sprinkle a little baking soda on your door and let it set for awhile. Take a soft dishtowel and add a little water to make a paste. Then rub the heck out of it and see if that removes the stain. The baking soda paste is also great for countertops or for burnt on gunk on your dishes.
There is a feature on dishwashers that I have never used, and only after writing this article would I even be aware that it even exists. The feature is the Rinse & Hold feature. This is a great feature for those dishes that you just absolutely cannot picture leaving in the sink until the dishwasher is run in the evening. Instead of washing a few dishes, you can run the Rinse and Hold cycle and have the dishwasher rinse them off for you. But how frugal is this feature? According to Consumer Reports, using this feature only takes two gallons of water compared with four gallons for a typical hand-washing. The energy needed to heat the water though, makes this a less than frugal feature so only use this feature when absolutely necessary. It is much more energy efficient to run your dishwasher with a full load.
Finally, you can make your own dishwashing detergent for a fraction of the cost. All you need to make dishwashing detergent is Borax (at our local store a box of this runs about $3.99), baking soda (cheapest at your wholesale club store) and regular old salt. Mix one cup Borax, one cup baking soda (you can also substitute this with washing soda, but most people don’t have this on hand) and 1/4 cup salt. Add a tablespoon of this to your detergent dispenser and run it through a normal cycle. With vinegar added as a rinse aid, the dishes will be clean & spot free.
These blog entries will be added as articles to our Organize section of the site, for quick reference.
Up next week, Amelia’s question on making your own cleaners! I can’t wait to talk about this one!
Don’t forget to submit those questions. I hope that this will be a fabulous addition to the blog!
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16 Responses to “Ask Frugal Momma: The Amazing Dishwasher”
Amy, I love you!!! Thanks so much.
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Amy, I am so glad you posted this. I have received a lot of flack about the fact that I use a dishwasher and “claim to be frugal.” My mom and I did a comparison of her water bill and mine (I have a dishwasher and she does not). All other things being equal (# of people in the house, gallons of water used washing clothes, etc.) my water bill was less because of my dishwasher use.
[This only works if you run full loads all the time]
Thanks for getting the word out.
Molly
http://www.cuppa-cuppa.blogspot.com
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Thank you so much!! i’m new to your blog today and you have made my day.
thanks, lynne
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How many loads do you think the 1 cup of Borax/Baking Soda/Salt gets you? I’m just curious of the cost comparison to say, store brand dishwashing liquid.
Thanks loads.
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GREAT article. I posted a link to it on my blog. AND thanks for the recipe!
Catherine
http://angelfoodcakeisntacandle.blogspot.com
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Ah I was just thinking today that after making my own laundry detergent I should try some others and dishwasher was at the top of the list. Now I don’t have to go looking for a recipe and I even have all the ingredients. Thanks!
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I have a new low water use dishwasher, and believe it or not, when I used just vinegar in the rinse agent thingy all my glasses came out spotty. I had to actually spring for the “jet-dry”. I guess it had something to do with the fact that it uses so little water. Oh well, I guess that it is worth it for the water savings.
I too do the “air dry” method-I run the dishwasher, then before bed I just open it and pull out all the racks and dump anything on the top rack that has accumulated water (like the bottoms of some of my glasses). By the morning everything is nice and dry.
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Dear Amy,
Based upon a different concern, I contacted the customer service number on the back of my box of 20 Mule Team Borax. The customer service representative told me that Dial Corp., the maker of 20 Mule Team Borax, recommends you never run Borax through the dishwasher because it will damage the dishwasher’s hoses. Who knew? I guess it’s not frugal for me to save money on dishwashing soap and then have costly repairs to my dishwasher!
Serena
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Serena- That is very interesting. Thank you for sharing your concerns! I actually have been using this mixture for awhile now with no adverse problems to my dishwasher. In fact, I think the performance of my dishwasher has actually improved because I am no longer getting a residue on my dishes as I was with the commercial detergents.
I did notice a slight improvement if I just use a tiny dash of the commercial detergent to the homemade recipe.
I find it interesting that borax would not back the product, yet every single site that I have found offers this detergent recipe as a great homemade alternative.
It is great to get so many opinions and thank you so much for sharing!
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Hey I made it! And loved it thanks!
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Don’t say if you got a new 2007 dishwasher soil senor.. I’ve been looking to see what dishwasher detergent to use with my 2007. DW
Cascade 2-in-1 pads is highly rated to get your dishes, pots and stainless steel clean at 95%.
Cascade Complete Power is second highly rated to get your dishes pots clean and stainless steel at 90%
Costco Kirkland Signture Series Auto Dish Power is only good on dishes at 79%, I’ve tested it myself and it doesn’t clean anything metal as good as Cascade Complete Power.
Best method:
Sometimes it good to mix 2-in-1 pads and Completed to get 100% clean dishes.
I won’t use your Boax method that stuff I use on in the washing machine with Tide or Costco Ultra HE Laundary Detergent.
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Something seemed odd about the supposed problem with Borax damaging dishwasher hoses. I checked the 20 Mule Team Borax website and one thing it specifically says is that it will NOT damage plumbing. It is possible that somebody on the customer service line made up an answer when they didn’t know it. Borax doesn’t damage laundry hoses which are made of the same material.
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Amy–my portable dishwasher empties into my sink. When I plugged the sink and watched how much water drained out of the dishwasher during one normal cycle (wash and rinse)it only filled the sink ONCE. So dishwashers really do save water. About pre-rinsing: It is NOT necessary IF you are going to wash the dishes while the food particles are still moist. However, if you don’t wash the dishes immediately, the food dries and is too hard for the dishwasher to remove. One other tip I found: the seals inside the dishwasher depend on moisture to remain intact. If a dishwasher is not going to be used for 2-3 weeks (like my mother who will only use hers for company!) you need to dump 1/2 cup bleach and 3 tablespoons mineral oil into the dishwasher to keep the seals from drying out. To remember this, I wrote this in permanent marker along the inside of the dishwasher door where water doesn’t reach. Leaky seals can ruin a kitchen floor and floor joists!
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I’ve been using a 50/50 mix of Borax & Washing Soda for my dishwasher the past month.
Everything comes out with a white chalky film on it. Normal commercial powered detergent was working fine. I only changed due to going “green” and trying to save $$$.
I called the makers of 20 Mule Borax and they stated they recommend NOT using their product in the dishwasher for this very reason and my problem is common.
I live in Florida, so our water is hard. I’ve tried using less and more of the mixture but still get the same poor results.
I purchased the 7th Generation powder as it’s “green” but very expensive.
Any other suggestions?
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Thanks for the tip on using citrus mix drink to clean out inside of dishwasher.
I’m going to try it tonight.
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I have had terrible trouble with chalky film on my dishes. I found that if I used cascade it was the worst. After some experimenting with making my own diswasher detergent, I found that the borax and baking soda didn’t quite get out the coffee stains, etc. So I switched back to regular detergent. However, my dishes were chalky again. So I did an experiment, I ran the short cycle and filled the closed cup with regular detergent and the outer cup with borax. It seems to work great.
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