DIY Washing Machine Cleaning Tablets

Inside: how to make your own tablets to clean your washing machine. Simple and affordable to make for a sparkling clean washer.

What You’ll Need

• ¼ cup citric acid This is often with canning supplies and sometimes in the baking aisle.
• ¼ cup baking soda
• ⅛ cup washing soda. NOT baking soda! You can sometimes find washing soda in the laundry aisle, or you can always buy it online.
• ½ tablespoon Epsom salt. Optional.
• ½ teaspoon hydrogen peroxide. Just the normal kind from the grocery store in a brown bottle.
• 1 teaspoon water
• 25 drops tea tree essential oil. Optional, mostly just for scent.
• Sticker paper, for labeling your jar. Download a pretty label design here!

Tools You’ll Need

• Silicone mold. Silicone is what lets the dried tabs pop out cleanly.
• ½-tablespoon scoop
• Gloves. Not required, but a good habit. I use nitrile to keep my hands from getting irritated.
• Airtight container

Instructions

Whisk the dry ingredients

Measure the citric acid, baking soda, washing soda, and Epsom salt into a large bowl and whisk them together until everything looks even. The Epsom salt is optional, but it does help with the cleaning action, so I leave it in.

Break up any lumps as you go. A quick whisk now saves you from finding a pocket of straight citric acid in a tablet later.

Mix the liquids

In a small, separate bowl, stir together the hydrogen peroxide and water. If you’re using the tea tree oil, add it here.

Keep the liquids in their own bowl until the next step. You want to control how fast they hit the dry mixture, not dump everything in at once.

Combine into a dough

Slowly pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients while stirring continuously. It’s ok if it fizzes slightly. That’s just the citric acid. You haven’t ruined anything!

To check the texture, squeeze a bit in your hand: it should stick together like damp sand. If it crumbles apart, it needs a touch more moisture worked through. Add more water, a drop or two at a time, until the texture looks like the picture.

Press into the molds

Use a ½-tablespoon scoop to portion the dough, then press it firmly into a silicone mold. Make sure you are pressing firmly! Otherwise you’ll have crumbly tablets that fall apart.

Muffin liners, soap molds, or ice cube trays all work, but silicone is the way to go because the dried tablets pop right out.

Let them dry

Leave the tablets to dry for 24–48 hours in a low-humidity area. We put ours in a small room with a dehumidifier, and they were completely dry within 12 hours. If you have one, use it.

Check on them once or twice as they dry. They tend to puff up a little, and if yours do, press them flat with the back of a spoon. They’re done when they feel hard and dry all the way through. If your space is humid, it will take awhile, and might need you to wait for a change in weather.

Unmold and store

Pop the tablets out of the molds and store them in an airtight container.

Airtight matters! Make sure your container has a super snug-fitting lid.

I like to add a fun label to the jar. It takes two minutes with sticker paper and keeps anyone in your house from mistaking them for bath fizzies.

If you’d like to download this style, here is a free PDF.

Use the tablets

Run your washing machine with 1–2 tablets on a warm or hot water cycle. If your machine has a cleaning cycle, that’s even better.

Put them directly in the drum, not the detergent dispenser. I tend to use 2 if my machine is visibly dirty, and one if I’m just maintaining.

When the cycle finishes, wipe the inside of the drum with a rag or scrubby if there’s any residue left behind. That’s it!

Storing Your Tablets

About 6–12 months in an airtight container, and up to 18–24 months in a cool, dry, low-humidity spot. Time for a fresh batch if they’ve gone soft or crumbly, fizzed or expanded in the container, clumped together, or lost their scent entirely.

Troubleshooting and Questions

Is washing soda the same as baking soda?

No! Washing soda is much harsher and used for tough cleaning jobs. Totally different and bkaing soda won’t work in this recipe.

How many tablets does this make?

Twelve, which is perfect for cleaning yo ur machine once a month.

Is this dangerous to keep around kids?

You should definitely keep this outside the reach of little kids who might consume it. It’s not dangerous to touch, but could irritate skin over time.

More homemade cleaning products

• Homemade bar cleaning soap, great for rubbing on stains
• A base gel soap for making homemade all-purpose spray and more
• Make your whole laundry room smell fresh with a DIY fragrance diffuser.