Home Made Dishwasher Detergent

OK, I know... this is so totally off topic of what I usually blog about, but I read this on Happy Happy Joy Joy's blog (http://www.obsessedwithscrapbooking.com/) and decided I might just want to try it out.
She got the recipe and the idea from here: http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2011/01/dishwasher-detergent.html?m=1

Here is the jist of it: Here is what you need.

Dishwasher Detergent ingredients:

1 box Borax

1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix, like kool-aid. (**Note: lemonade will stain soap dispenser yellow, another option would be to use citric acid instead of lemonade)
3 cups Epsom Salt

If you want you could cut this recipe in half or even smaller to just try it out. You will still have to buy large boxes of Borax and Washing Soda which you can store for later use.

If you need a rinsing aid use vinegar. I personally use Lemi Shine as my rinse aid and it works wonders. I just sprinkle about a tablespoon in the bottom of my dishwasher before I start it. This stuff is awesome!!

Mix Borax, washing soda, salt and lemonade together in a large, very large, bowl. When ingredients are mixed together well put soap in a container of your choice. I picked up a container at Walmart in the kitchen center with a pouring spout for $5.00 and it is big enough to hold an entire batch of dishwasher soap. The soap does harden up after a while so you may also want to store it in 2 different containers, one should be air tight to help if from hardening.

It even has a pouring spout to make things easy.

Use 1 tablespoon per wash cycle. It has no fillers so you do not have to use nearly as much to get the job done! This recipe is for hard water users, if you have soft water you may want to browse the internet for a better recipe for soft water.