Why?
(Almost) Everybody uses it… It keeps your windshield clean and clear, and I personally consider it pretty essential to my driving experience (might have something to do with the fact that I really can’t see at all without glasses or contacts, so a dirty windshield reminds me just how blind I am pretty quickly). Also, almost everyone that knows me knows that I love a great deal, I’m not cheap necessarily, but I’d definitely say that I’m frugal and a good deal is something that puts a smile on my face. Those things in mind this is how and why I came to love homemade windshield washer fluid.
I’ve personally been buying it for the majority of my life. Usually spending anywhere from $1.99 to $6.99 (those gas stations will rake you over the coals in a time of need… AKA during a long road trip when road grime and bugs are at an all-time high, and you really want to be seeing all the amazing views!). I always thought that buying Windshield fluid at big box stores like Wally’s World or even an auto parts store was a great way to do it since I was saving almost 5 bucks over a gas station. But comparing an okay deal to a terrible deal is no way to really measure how good of a deal you get.
Out of necessity (I was spending a week at my parent’s house where there was no windshield fluid to be found within a 30-minute drive) I decided that during some downtime I wanted to figure out how to make my own fluid. Cost really wasn’t a concern for me, simply I wanted to have a clean windshield. It wasn’t until I used the fluid I created and saw just how effective it was that I broke down the numbers and realized how much I could be saving (sure its a couple of bucks here and there, but I’m a fan of the mentality that if you could save $20 bucks a week overall you would be saving $1040.00 per year or roughly $10K over 10 years).
How?
So whats in the Windshield Fluid? Vinegar, dish soap, rinse-aid, and of course water… here’s the recipe:
1 cup Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Dish Soap
1 Tbsp. Rinse-Aid
About 15 cups of water (or the remainder of a 1-gallon water jug filled up)
How do you make it? Even simpler than the ingredient list, simply add the first three ingredients to a half full jug of (ideally distilled) or filtered water (helps prevent clogging of the windshield washer nozzles) and then top off with the remaining water till the jug is full. Give that jug a quick swirl to combine everything and… That’s it! Now you can add this to your Windshield washer fluid reservoir.
So exactly how much does this cost. Buying the ingredients at my local grocery store is how I did this, but I totally get if you bought this stuff at a Costco or big box store you could lower the cost even more.
| Rinse Aid (8.45oz) | $1.49 |
| Distilled Vinegar (1 Gal) | $2.99 |
| Dish Soap (24oz) | $2.29 |
When you buy this stuff you end up with roughly enough of the ingredients to make 16 Gallons of the fluid (with quite a bit of the dish soap left over)! With that in mind, when you breakdown the costs it comes roughly $0.33… That’s right roughly %83 savings over the best price I could find! Also once I mix up a batch (I do the mixing in the gallon jug of vinegar) I can then keep the concentrate in my trunk and mix up a batch in the vehicles Windshield washer fluid reservoir, so no more running out of the fluid while on the road! Also I don’t have to deal with the space or weight of the diluted fluid if I was to carry extra gallons as a backup.
Overall for me Homemade Windshield washer fluid has been a win for me! If you try it let me know what you think!
JIC
Also if all of that is too much, here’s a link to some fluid I have previously bought and really liked: Prestone 3 in 1 All Season Fluid.