How to use dishwasher tablets

Almost everyone starts to store their dirty plates on their dishwasher. Suddenly, after a few days you have a crusty mess of plates, spoons, forks and other utensils. You start smelling a...smelly...smell that smells...smelly. Yuck, mildew. It’s definitely time to wash dishes (It was time two days ago, but who’s counting?). You look for dishwasher detergent but all you can find are those weird tablets that your significant other brought back from the store. “Now what?” you think. What even are these tablets?

Well, before the days where every detergent came packed into a convenient pod, the most popular way of manufacturing pre-measured detergent was in tablets. Both laundry detergent tablets and dishwasher tablets came in a variety of scents, from different brands and with varying degrees of effectiveness. It didn’t matter if you had a stainless steel dishwasher, if it was a small portable dishwasher or if it was a dishwasher that hooks up to the sink, lots of people used detergent tablets.

However, if you’ve never used a detergent tablet, don’t fret! It’s pretty easy, simply follow these steps:

1. Remove the tablet from the package (most tablets come wrapped in a water-soluble film, if thats the case, you dont have to!)
2. Place the unwrapped tablet in the main dishwasher detergent dispenser and close it. This is extremely important: use only one tablet. No matter how dirty your dishes are using more than one tablet will not make them “cleaner” but will instead probably flood your dishwasher and kitchen.
3. Make sure that all the items you’re going to wash are actually dishwasher safe. Tip: wash metal utensils following the manufacturer’s specific instructions. That way they will last you longer.
4. Run dishwasher as you normally would. Done!

Now that you know the secret to laundry detergent tablets and dishwasher tablets, will you make the change from liquid detergent to tablets?