Ants in my dishwasher
June 1, 2010
No, I don’t have those. But I ran across a blog post somewhere that began with a girl pouring Kool-Aid in her dishwasher and ended with a very unfortunate ant infestation.
My guess is she tried a sub-par or incomplete version of this and something went horribly awry.
To avoid any risk of ants, and to avoid giving money to companies cranking out gratuitous, childhood-obesity-inducing products, I’ll skip the Kool-Aid, but I’m totally going to try that recipe. Tomorrow. Right after I whip up that batch of toothpaste. I swear.
(Note, some more googling reveals that the above-linked recipe might be geared toward advanced eco-home-makers and/or those who really like their dishes to be sparkling, and that you can probably get away with fewer ingredients.
Bare minimum = one part baking soda and one part Borax + vinegar for the rinsing agent. Suck on that, Jet-Dry.)
And is anyone else noticing that the ingredient-trend in our homemade cleaning products is becoming downright…obvious?
Update: I am not happy with how well the bare minimum works. I would say go for the full recipe if you’re going to try it!
June 1, 2010 at 7:17 am
Hi there. I have a post on my bog about cleaning dishes with Kool-Aid, BUT it’s NOT the only ingredient. It’s mostly Borax, Washing Powder, and then a packet or two of Lemon ice Kool Aid. The kind WITHOUT SUGAR. That’s the kind that comes in the packets, NOT the plastic containers. The reason Kool Aid works is because of the high amount of citric acid found in the product. So if you’d rather not take your chances with the Kool Aid, just get some food-grade citric Acid. (You might be able to find some at a health food store, but I sell some in my store at my blog as well.) HTH
- savvy
http://savvybrown.com
June 1, 2010 at 7:25 am
And I am so excited to try your recipe, Savvy! Going out to get the ingredients today. And I’m REALLY glad to have stumbled across your site–tons of great ideas there!
June 1, 2010 at 1:03 pm
This is awesome! Dishwashing detergent was one thing I hadn’t even bothered looking for homemade alternatives to – I just figured switching over to a greener brand was the only option! I should have known better!