Contents
People are increasingly buying dishwashers because it saves time, effort and resources. At the same time, equipment requires care and proper maintenance. You need to buy not only detergents, but also rinse aid, cleaning agents and regenerating salt. Sometimes all this abundance of household chemicals pretty hits the budget. Therefore, let’s talk about how you can replace the dishwasher detergent in order to wash dishes just as efficiently, but cheaper.
What manufacturers offer
On the shelves of stores there is a huge assortment of detergents and cleaning products for PMM. Even if you choose the most inexpensive of them, you still need to allocate several thousand rubles annually, which will not be acceptable for every family.
This happens:
- powder;
- gel;
- tablets or capsules.
Users especially liked the universal tablets “3-in-1”, “7-in-1” or “All-in-1”. This agent gradually dissolves during washing and rinsing, supplying the desired substance at each stage. But such pleasure is much more expensive. With the active use of the dishwasher, you will have to pay from 6000 rubles, and this is only for tablets. This amount makes you think and start looking for a more affordable alternative.
The gel is somewhat cheaper than the tablets, but more expensive than the powder. The latter is acceptable, but many people want to use an environmentally friendly detergent, and the powder can hardly be called such.
When using a gel or powder detergent, don’t forget to spend money on rinse aid to keep plates and cups from dripping. Therefore, add at least a thousand to the approximate 3000 rubles.
Important! Calculating the approximate annual consumption for tablets, gel and powder, we considered the most affordable options from low price categories.
Conclusion. Even with economical consumption and the selection of the most affordable means, you need to allocate at least 5000 rubles for the purchase of all the necessary “chemistry”. Unfortunately, PMM cannot be used without salt and detergents, but you can try to find an alternative by replacing expensive products with your own preparations. It will not be easy, but we will try to offer you the most suitable analogues of purchased products.
Do-it-yourself powder: pros and cons
Skillful housewives are still experimenters, so they came up with a recipe for dishwasher powder from improvised ingredients. According to them, the cost of it will not exceed 700 rubles annually. So, for a hand-made dishwashing product, you will need the following components:
- soda – food or soda;
- mustard in powder form;
- cheap laundry detergent for white clothes.
Mix soda, washing and mustard powder in the following proportions: 100/30/30 g, respectively. The mixture is stored in a glass or iron container. Storage conditions: dry place, low temperature. Subject to the storage rules, the composition lies without damage for six months.
Before use, it is sent to the appropriate cuvette compartment, then the desired program is selected and the washing cycle is started.
Benefits of homemade powder:
- Cost price. The components are the cheapest, so they will not hit the budget.
- ECO formula. This natural remedy will not cause allergic reactions, unlike factory-made household chemicals.
- Ease of manufacture and no special storage requirements.
- Availability of ingredients – baking soda, mustard and washing powder can be found in every home.
Of course, there are also disadvantages. Mustard powder, like washing powder, negatively affects the dishwasher. The examination, during which such home-made compositions were tested, showed that, starting from the third cycle, the sprinkler nozzles began to clog with small granules of crushed mustard. Using the product, you will have to constantly clean the nozzles with a toothpick.
With the use of mustard, the quality of washing dishes is quite good, but again, no one canceled the cost of rinse aid. And if you use such a powder constantly, you need to add regular PMM cleanings to the mandatory list of household chores.
On a note! Do you plan to constantly use a mustard-based composition? In this case, reduce its volume to 20 g.
How to replace rinse aid
How to wash, we have already figured out, but how to save on rinse aid? A safe alternative is created from the following ingredients:
- 100 g of water;
- 50 g dish detergent (manual);
- 30 g of alcohol.
Mix all the ingredients without shaking the resulting mixture. If after some time the composition exfoliates, just stir it. Some housewives who regularly use this composition report that it can also be used as a detergent when it comes to dishes with light soiling. This is how in one fell swoop you can cook an analogue of the “5-in-2” composition in 1 minutes.
Attention! Do not increase the concentration of detergent in relation to water, otherwise there will be an excess of foam in the hopper. If you take more gel for dishes, increase the volume of alcohol – it will quench the increased foaming.
Do-it-yourself pills
Universal capsules that dissolve in stages are very difficult to prepare. But you can make a great replacement for classic pills like Finish Classic. What you need:
- soda ash 200 g;
- Borax 100 g;
- Epsom salt 100 g;
- lemon juice 100 g (can be replaced with citric acid).
Mix dry ingredients and add lemon juice. If using acid, mix it with everything else and add water little by little. When the mixture sizzles, continue to create a reaction by adding juice or water. When the reaction is over, load the resulting slurry into ice molds and put it in the sun (or on a heating radiator).
After drying, remove the homemade “tablets”, put them in a container and store them out of the reach of children and animals. This product is ideal for washing dishes – they can safely replace conventional washing capsules.
As you can see, home “spill” products are easy to make, easy to store, and their efficiency is sometimes no worse than that of purchased counterparts. But always remember that by saving on “chemistry”, you risk the serviceability of the dishwasher. If you carefully studied the instructions, you might have noticed that the manufacturer strongly discourages the use of handicraft “chemistry”. If you experiment, then with machines whose warranty period has already expired, otherwise, in the event of a breakdown, you may be denied warranty repairs.