Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[kannie]

Just to be clear - I don't have anything against offspring who live abroad, and I think there can be very good reasons why people don't give much practical help to their own parents - I just think that older people shouldn't deprive themselves of a bit of luxury & should enjoy their retirements!

 

Sorry - gone a bit off topic here. Maybe they should all just go buy dishwashers , put their feet up, & enjoy their clean crockery!

[Linda]

Haven't got room for one so my dishwasher is yellow and rubbery .

That's not a very nice thing to say about LSH!!!

[Egluntyne]

Just wondered if anyone had a recipe for an eco friendly home made dishwasher powder or liquid that actually works?

 

I use the economical programme and Ecover tablets. They are very good but veeeeery expensive.

 

Ta muchly

 

Egluntine

[Egluntyne]

In answer to my own question, I have been eggsperimenting this week.

 

I have been using just HALF an Ecover dishwasher tablet on the economy cycle all week.

 

I have to say that the results are every bit as good as if a whole tablet had been used. Only one item had to be re washed, and that can happen anyway.

 

I use Ecover Rinse Aid but don't bother with salt as I live in a soft water area.

 

I am a bit of a stickler re washing up, and only have white crockery, so that I can see at once if it is clean. There have been no teas stains to date on the cups.

 

Give it a try. You will get 50 washings up for £3.99 instead of 25. Softens the blow a bit. Also must be less damaging to the Planet.

[Trish]

I can back that one up. We have a half size dishwasher and therefore use a half tablet. The only stuff that ever comes out back is if it's been left with load os stuff still on the plate, stored under a teenagers bed till rock hard then ptu into the dishwasher. If you are stacking things to go in the dishwasher, ie it's in use or full of clean things to take out, then you can try sprinkling with a very little bicarb. It helps to break down the grease and stops it drying out too much before you can get the next load on

[kannie]

We have a half size dishwasher and therefore use a half tablet.

What a good idea! Don't know why this hadn't occured to me!

 

I always use less clothes washing liquid than they recommend, and refuse to use pre-measured things in the washing machine because of this. I guess its because we had problems for years with our current dishwasher performing poorly and so I didn't dare use less cleaning stuff in it. Finally I discovered that a vital hole in one of the water spraying arms was totally blocked and probably had been since the machine was delivered - repair men had failed to discover this

 

But now - half tablets here I come! Do they break easily? I suppose you have to use those ones without the little ball in them - that wouldn't break in half...

[Eyren]

One suggestion I came across for making your dishwasher greener is to connect it to the hot water supply instead of the cold. You can only do this if you have set the thermostat on your hot water tank to less than 60 degrees C, otherwise you could damage the machine - but you should be doing that anyway (setting the thermostat, not )damaging the machine)

 

Thanks for the half-tablet tip, Trish - we have a Bosch slimline too, so a half should be enough

[Trish]

we use the Ecover dishwasher tablet and they break easily. Using a half tablet per time makes them very economical too

[Guest]

I have been using half an Ecover Dishwasher tablet for a few months.

 

But I have just made my own dishwasher powder - equal measures of Borax and washing soda. (Put a bit more washing soda in if your water is hard).

 

I have to say that I am thrilled with the results. As with my hair, I have found that less is definitely more. if I put in too much powder, my saucepans were coated with a white dust, which I wiped off. When I put less powder in, I was staggered at how sparkling the glasses and cutlery were. I wasn't thinking about it either, just unloading the machine as you do, but I was struck by the sparkle.

 

I've said before, I seem to have morphed into a housewife. I'm still not very good at it, but I am excited by all these natural methods which really work!

[kannie]

Wow! That sounds good Ginette! But how much do you use? And do you still have to use salt and rinse aid, or does this do the lot?

[Karen & co.]

Hadn't thought of doing that sounds like you have hit on a really good idea

 

karen x

[Guest]

I found a recipe on a website - can't remember which one!

 

I add about a teaspoon of the powder and this comes up to the first level indicated on the machine.

 

I imagine I'll still have to add rinse aid and salt, but the machine will let me know!

 

It must be really cheap too - it cost me £2.40 to make 700g powder. At a teaspoon a go, that must be very cost effective.

[kannie]

Erm, sorry to sound a bit dumb , but what is washing soda? Is it the same as soda crystals? And where do you get borax - chemist or supermarket?

 

Think I'll try this - especially as our tablets are about to run out!

[Cate in NZ]

Thanks for that idea Ginette, I'll definitely be giving that one a go. I've got some borax sitting under my kitchen sink that I bulk bought a few months ago when I decided to make my own washing powder and then I gave up on it as a bad idea because I was dissatisfied with the results

Kannie, I don't know where everyone else gets their borax from, and whether they can recommend any good suppliers, but I got mine from Boots.

Can't answer the washing soda question though

[Charlottechicken]

Not sure but I think washing soda and soda crystals are the same? I have soda crystals and they make your glassware sparkle!

[Guest]

I bought washing soda and borax from our local hardware shop - the independent, small but has everything sort!

[Charlottechicken]

I bought washing soda and borax from our local hardware shop - the independent, small but has everything sort!

 

Same here, Ginette, my local independent pound shop sells everything and you never know what you will find!