How To Make 3 Ingredient Natural Dishwasher Rinse Aid

This dishwasher rinse aid is natural, chemical-free, and made with only 3 ingredients. It’s so easy and quick to make, it’s a perfect DIY solution to the expensive store-bought rinse aids.

We are always trying to find easy, effective, and environmentally friendly alternatives when it comes to cleaning supplies that are used in our home. It is important to us to eliminate as many toxins from our home as possible.

I have been making my own dishwasher tablets for some time now and thought, why not also make my own dishwasher rinse aid that can work in conjunction with the tablets. I have found that there are times that I would put dishes through the dishwasher cycle, without a rinse aid and they would come out cloudy and with a white residue. Then I would need to wash the dishes by hand which is of course not efficient. This rinse aid in combination with the dishwasher tablets leave our dishes perfectly clean!

Why Use Rinse Aid

Dishwasher rinse aids work great! They are very good at ensuring food particles don’t settle on dishes, leaving you with clean dishes. Rinse aids also help with hard water, as there will be more mineral deposits in your water and this can help get those off.

Why Make Your Own Dishwasher Rinse Aid?

For us there are three primary reasons to make our own cleaning materials; trust, cost, and quality. We have a hard time trusting that corporations care as much for our family as we do, it’s usually significantly cheaper to do it yourself, and ultimately you get a high-quality product.

Store-bought cleaning materials such as dishwasher rinse aids are typically full of chemicals and the ones that are “non-toxic” can be expensive. Most of the time I look at their labels and don’t understand the list of ingredients and end up spending too much time trying to decode them. I much prefer to choose the ingredients and know exactly what is in the rinse aid that we use. So if you want to save money, and make something that’s biodegradable, and safe for the environment then this recipe is a great option.

How To Make Homemade Dishwasher Rinse Aid

Ingredients

• Citric Acid
• Distilled White Vinegar
• Lemon Essential Oil

1. Pour 2 cups of distilled white vinegar
2. Add 2 tbsp of citric acid
3. Add 10 – 15 drops of lemon essential oil
4. Unscrew the cap from your dishwasher’s rinse aid compartment, and fill the well with your homemade rinse aid
5. Replace the cap, and run your dishwasher as usual
6. Store the remaining rinse aid and refill the dispenser as needed

Notes
*Citric acid is the key ingredient in this recipe as citric acid is what’s able to loosen stuck-on particles.
*Lemon essential oil is great to use in home cleaning products, as it acts as a natural disinfectant for surfaces and provides a citrusy scent.
*If you run your dishwasher often, then you will likely need to fill up the rinse aid compartment more often.

Can I Use Only Vinegar As A Rinse Aid?

Sure! There are many people who find using vinegar on its own as a natural dishwasher rinse aid to be sufficient. I however am not one of those people, as I haven’t been satisfied with this solution. If it works for you that’s great, if not then I highly recommend trying this easy homemade mixture.

Tips When Using Natural Rinse Aids

• Rinse dishes before loading, this is to stop heavy food particles from getting in your dishwasher.
• Try not to overload the dishwasher, overfilling it will not allow it to wash properly. You do however still want to run it when it is full because this saves time and resources.
• Don’t use too much dishwasher detergent as this can cause the dishes to come out with a white film on them.

I’m continuously looking for environmentally friendly cleaning products and this homemade dishwasher rinse aid is another natural, non-toxic alternative for my home and I’m all for it!