Lately my dishwasher hasn’t been doing a very good job.
As a matter of fact it’s been doing a terrible job. The glasses have been really spotty, even with using Jet Dry (sorry-the frugal alternative of subbing in vinegar just doesn’t seem to work well with our hard water), and I’ve even been able to feel grit on the plates.
Ewww.
So I decided it was time to clean my dishwasher! Now they sell products in the grocery store that do this, but why spend the money?
I went from this:
To this:
Want to know how? I just placed a bowl of vinegar, the frugal favorite, in the top rack of the empty dishwasher and ran it through a hot cycle with not soap. Then I scrubbed very lightly with a Mr. Clean Eraser.
For the full picture tutorial check out my Whrrl Story “How to Clean Your Dishwasher“.
cool, off to clean mine now. It really does need it.
Looks great. Mine could probably use a cleaning too! I’ll have to mark this for when I am back home!
It looks great! I will definitely have to do that to mine too. Are your dishes cleaner now too?
They are better. I ran the glassware through on a cycle with just a bowl of vinegar again to help take care of the spots.
Jenn-I am going to use the tip of the vinegar to clean the dishwasher. I have really good results using baking soda in the “prewash” open cup in addition to my soap. I think it helps soften the water and break down the soap. It works well with the cheap soap from Aldi’s as well. I don’t get spots or leftover debris unless my children ran the dishes and did the loading.
Tang – that is my secret. You know the drink of astronauts. 🙂
I fill the dispensers with Tang (powder) and run a hot wash. Comes out beautiful and smelling fresh of oranges.
Jenn, we have the same dishwasher and mine is looking a lot like your “before” pictures – will try this tonight.
Very smart I am going to have to try this! Our dishwasher is filthy!
So how many of you really did try this? How did it work out for you? I can’t wait to hear!
Wow! Those are some really impressive before and after photos. My dishwasher is bran-new (it will be installed tomorrow, actually) so it doesn’t need cleaning yet. 😉 But I am filing this away, mentally, for later use.
These are really great tips to clean the dishwasher on the cheap. Our friend Amy Clark also suggests doing the same thing. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it! It doesn’t surprise me that Amy suggested this as well, she’s one smart & savvy lady!
cool washing machine is hard to clean. More electric in that so I don’t like to clean dishwasher. But now I know how to clean. so I will do that.