Frugal Dish Washing
On this Frugal Friday, I’d like to share how I changed a hit-or-miss operation into a huge HIT!
I have always had a problem with things coming out of my dishwasher looking streaked, spotted and sometimes not even completely clean. And that’s after scrubbing each and every piece before I placed it in the dishwasher! Someone I know—maybe my forever friend Donna?—referred to her dishwasher awhile back as a “dish wetter.” Oh, how true that was for me! And using a rinse agent didn’t help at all. I know, because I tried lots of them.
Until … about a month ago, I decided to pour some white vinegar (approximately 1/2 cup) into the bottom of the dishwasher before starting it up. I still use dishwasher detergent, but the addition of the white vinegar seems to enhance the cleaning effectiveness of the detergent. AND I end up with a little something extra: a very clean dishwasher!
If you’re worried that you’ll be able to detect a vinegar odor on your dishes and glasses, don’t give it another thought. It just isn’t an issue. What you should find when you unload your dishwasher is squeaky clean everything!
These days I don’t scrub anything. If something crusty is on the plate, I do rinse it a bit before loading the dishwasher. Also, I have a tendency to overload my dishwasher, so before I thought of the vinegar method, I tried running lighter loads. That didn’t help at all. And white vinegar is a super buy, especially if you purchase the gallon size like I do.
Happy dish washing!
Posted on March 23, 2012, in cleaning, frugal and tagged cleaning, dishwasher, frugal, home, vinegar. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
This is amazing I am going to give it a try in my dishwasher. I am just like you I drub my dishes (pretty much wash them) before I put them in. I appreciate that you have shared this secret to the public. Thank you again! Do you know if it is okay to use with the prepackages dish cleaners like Finish?
I am currently using Cascade Action Pacs but I’ve recently learned that these pack thingies can be damaging to dishwashers in the long run. Stay tuned for a post with links to several good sites a good friend sent me where you can find recipes for making your own dishwasher detergent, among other things.
Thank you again I appreciate it.
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