Homemade Natural Jet Dry (Rinse Aid): 2 Ingredients, 5 Minutes and .30 Per Bottle

Homemade Natural Jet Dry is a perfect DIY solution to the expensive rinse agent. This homemade natural Jet-Dry, which is a dishwasher rinse aid, this version is a CHEAP, EFFECTIVE, EASY, NATURAL, and SAFE alternative to use rather than the storebought stuff. I have been using this solution for close to 8 years. I haven’t purchased a rinse agent in all of that time, saving time, money and avoiding harmful chemicals. I have used this in both the plastic interior dishwashers and for the past few years, the stainless steel dishwashers too!

So if you would like to learn how to make homemade natural Jet-Dry too, I can show you quite simply in this post! You will have your own rinse agent to save money too. 

Here’s what we will be talking about. You can click on anything in the list and be taken right to that section:

• Why Make Your Own Natural Rinse Aid?
• The Essential Oils Brand I Use
• How to make Homemade Natural Jet Dry, a.k.a. DIY Rinse Aid
• What to do with the leftover rinse aid solution
• Even works great for Stainless Steel Dishwashers
• Video instructions for Homemade Natural Jet Dry
• Here’s the cost breakdown for Homemade Natural Jet Dry
• Here’s a printable recipe that you can put in your home binder

Why Make Your Own Natural Rinse Aid?

Before I share the recipe for homemade natural Jet Dry, we previously shared our Homemade Natural Dishwasher Detergent for only .05 per load, which is an awesome recipe that you will want to chek out. This is the perfect recipe after much testing and tweaking. It’s great. 

BUT…there was something still missing.  It was that perfect finish to the load – rinse agent like Jet Dry! So I made up my own Jet Dry with 2 ingredients, less than 5 minutes to make and only .30 each Jet Dry bottle equivalent to end up with a finishing wash! When you combine the Homemade Natural Dishwasher Detergent and the Homemade Jet Dry, you will have beautiful wash results too. 

The Essential Oils Brand I Use

As a reminder, you may know that I use essential oils for many things, including cleaning. These are the “secret” ingredients to make these cleaners have their “antibacterial effect.”  I have used many different oils over the years. I currently use the oils from Young Living (and have been for nearly two years now) and have found that the quality does exceed that of many others. I have tried many.  Read up on my Young Living and general essential oil experience. I have been using essential oils in general for about 14 years now. I FINALLY tried Young Living after fighting it for many years. 🙂 

If you want my honest opinion, I think it is acceptable to use a 100% pure lemon essential oil for Amazon for half of the price as Young Living for this purpose as well. With the oil from Amazon, each batch of rinse aid will cost around $0.30. With the bottle from Young Living, your price is around $0.55 per batch.

How to make Homemade Natural Jet Dry, a.k.a. DIY Rinse Aid

Ingredients needed for Homemade Natural Jet Dry: 

• 1 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (around $0.22 for each cup)
• 10-15 drops of essential oil (I like to use lemon, cinnamon, or lavender oil)

Directions for Homemade Natural Jet Dry: 

• Step #1 – Add 1 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to a measuring cup.

Step#2 – Add your 10-15 drops of lemon or other essential oil to the Hydrogen Peroxide.

Step #3 – Pour into your rinse agent compartment of your dishwasher. I have to do this about every 30 days, just like Jet Dry. 

What to do with the leftover rinse aid solution

If you have any left over, I usually use it to clean my sinks and other spots in the kitchen.  Fill-up your sink with some hot soapy water (not very much as you don’t want it diluted a whole lot), maybe about 1″ deep. Then pour your remaining Jet Dry mixture into the sink.  Let it soak for a few minutes and then use a rag and shine up your sink, oven, microwave, counter tops, appliances, etc. You can also dump the remaining in the bottom of the dishwasher and run an empty cycle for a good dishwasher cleaning too. 

Even works great for Stainless Steel Dishwashers

I have used this solution for so long that I used it for years in my old dishwasher with the plastic interior (as you can see in the pics). In 2015, we got a stainless steel dishwasher when we remodeled and upgraded our kitchen and it works EVEN better in stainless steel. Stainless steel interior dishwashers can get quite nasty, so along with making for sparkling dishes, this helps the dishwasher keep clean too!

Video instructions for Homemade Natural Jet Dry

We did a live video of this process and recipe on our Facebook page. So I have included the video below in case you are a visual learner. 🙂 

Here’s the cost breakdown for Homemade Natural Jet Dry:

• 32 oz. bottle of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide for .88 – this will make 4 batches (or 4 months worth) = .22 each batch
• Essential Oil around $6-$12 (depending on where you get it) for a 15 ml bottle (approximately 300 drops) a bottle which will last for a LONG time (ours has lasted forever) so we will estimate around $0.28 to be conservative?

TOTAL per batch = .30 per 8oz. bottle compared to $3.50 each 8oz. bottle of Jet Dry at Walmart. But the homemade version would also be a natural option as well! 

Here’s a printable recipe that you can put in your home binder:

We also HIGHLY recommend that you put this in your home binder along with many more things we will be sharing! See all of the information on this in our previous post HERE about Put Together Your Home Binder with Free Downloads.

Don’t forget to print off your shopping list to make 23 Homemade Products for around $12 that includes the items for this and the other 222 products!

Finally, use this new thrifty and healthy cleaning product as part of our Spring Cleaning Challenge. 

Join us for our Spring Cleaning Challenge to Organize and Clean for a Thrifty and Healthy Home!