I recently learned that similar to the way you are supposed to clean your washing machine every month or so, you are also supposed to clean your dishwasher. I definitely had to spend some time looking up how to clean your dishwasher, because I was so baffled by the fact that it needed to be done. I mean, isn’t cleaning what it does every single day? How the heck do you clean the thing that cleans as it’s job?!

Some people break out a toothbrush, some hardcore chemicals and a whole lot of elbow grease. And good for them, really.

But that’s not how I’m going to roll. Nope, not at all. I need the lazy efficient girl’s solution. So I came up with it! I’m already pretty decent about remembering to use a rinse aid, so I decided to boost my rinse aid by adding my all-time favorite cleaner to it so that it could become the dishwasher equivalent of a daily shower spray cleaner.

In my family, we rock the natural cleaners. No judgement to you if you don’t, but do keep in mind that whatever you put in your dishwasher gets all over your plates and cups and silverware, so you are actually eating it. That realization prompted our switch. We personally use Honest Company’s rinse aid (check out my review here).  I’m also eager to try out white vinegar as a rinse aid, as I’ve heard great things about that! So you could try this with either!

To give my rinse aid what my kids would call “turbo” power, I added in two capfuls of Young Living’s Thieves Household Cleaner and gave it a really good shake. This is a product made with some kick-butt essential oils that can help your dishwasher sparkle and shine and that can help kick the grime to the curb, all without posing any risk to your family at all. It contains clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary and it smells every bit as good as it sounds! This particular formula from Young Living is highly concentrated, so just a few small capfuls will really go a long way. I added 2 when the bottle was about 1/3 empty. You could experiment with this and see if you think it needs slightly more or slightly less (no need to fret over precision!). I don’t think that adding Thieves Household Cleaner replaces the need to do a more thorough cleaning of your dishwasher from time to time, but I do personally think that it stretches out the amount of time you can go in between cleanings by quite a bit! 🙂

We’ve had out 16 oz bottle of Thieves Household cleaner for a few months and have barely used 1/3 of it, and we have been using it exclusively as our household cleaner (tubs, toilets, floors, tables, countertops, and even carpet cleaner!). You just need to snag some plastic spray bottles and get ready to make your own products for all over the house. We love it, and at $22 wholesale, it’s a total bargain. If you are already connected with Young Living, I highly suggest adding it to your next order if you don’t already use this product.

If you aren’t connected with Young Living yet, I’d love to introduce you! Email me at stuffparentsneed (at) gmail (dot) com if you’d like to hear more about incorporating essential oils into your life to promote wellness for your family. Or if you’d simply like to give this product a try, I’d be happy to order it for you using my wholesale discount (I place orders once a month) so you can give it a whirl and see what you think!