Stop the Dishwasher Leaving White Film on Dishes!

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When we moved into our home, I was so excited to finally have a dishwasher for the first time! However that excitement quickly faded as I discovered the dishwasher leaving white film on the dishes!

I tried so many different detergents hoping one would work.

However, every detergent I used caused the dishwasher to leave white film on the dishes and some didn’t even clean very well.

I thought, “What is the use of having a dishwasher if it won’t clean my dishes!”

But I didn’t give up and finally tried Oxiclean Extreme Power Crystals Dishwasher Detergent, and LOVED it. The problem was it seemed like I was buying it every month which was getting expensive.

I decided to give a DIY detergent a try. You can watch a video of the recipe below. You can also download the recipe totally free here: DIY Dishwasher Detergent.

At first, I was so disappointed with the outcome. There was still a white film all over my dishes. It was worse than with the store bought detergent!

I really didn’t want to have to throw out my DIY detergent, and I didn’t want to have to revert to buying more from the store.

I searched and searched for a solution to my filmy dishes. Finally, I came across Jillee’s One Good Thing. She suggested adding a couple drops of dish soap and some vinegar to the load. The vinegar helps disintegrate the soap on the dishes.

It was a miracle worker!

My dishes came out so clean.

There was no white film on the dishes from the dishwasher!

I have continued to add the vinegar and dish soap with each load, and the dishes look great. Problem solved!

This is the same glass bowl as the picture above. All I did was put it back in the dishwasher (white film and all) and used the vinegar and dish soap. It came out crystal clear!

I use vinegar all over my house as a safe household cleaner. The rest of my cleaning supplies come from Grove Collaborative.