Cleaning hard water stains with vinegar

Thrifty and Chic
by Thrifty and Chic
Vinegar can clean years of encrusted hard water stains in a matter of seconds! Who knew???
years of hard water stains
water dispenser before and after
cup with and without cleaning with vinegar
silverware with and without cleaning with vinegar
Thrifty and Chic
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 4 questions
  • ARIES DIVA ARIES DIVA on Jul 02, 2016
    I'd love to try it, but I recently read that using vinegar in a dish washer or clothes washer is hard on the rubber seals and could make them deteriorate faster than normal. Anyone had this problem?
  • Carol Carol on Jul 03, 2016
    Can you use vinegar to clean the "fog" from the head lights?
  • Baby Baby on May 26, 2017

    What's the ratio for the fogged glasses?

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  • Lilbit0609 Lilbit0609 on Oct 02, 2018

    You go ahead and use your vinegar method if you like it, but what could be any easier than emptying 2 packets of plain lemon cool aid, no sugar in it, into the dishwasher, then running it thru just the wash cycle for maybe 2 times. Just don't let it drain, reset it to wash again. You can repeat this with the same two packets until its sparkling white. How much effort is it to pour 2 packets of the lemon cool aid into the dishwasher and let the dishwasher clean it for you. Also,plain cool aid is cheap, I never pay more than 10 cents a packet for it, can't get any cheaper than that with hardly no effort at all, unless you consider that a lot of effort just opening 2 packets of cool aid. Your not wasting water either by recycling it back to wash (not letting it pump the water out) for however many times it needs. Besides, most people won't let their dishwashers get as bad as the former owners of our apartments did, so it probably would only take letting it wash the first couple of times. I had never seen dishwashers this bad and thought we might have to replace them but after another owner shared this cleaning tip with me they all looked new again! Since then, I have been sharing this tip with everyone I know too.

    PLUS, when your through, your house smells so good and clean.











    • Pam Murray Pam Murray on Nov 26, 2018

      I have used kook aid many times to clean my dishwasher. I have just run it through on a regular cycle, flavor and sugar free did not make a difference. I have even used the red flavors and the dishwasher came out clean.

  • Chi Bi Chi Bi on Oct 28, 2019

    Thank you for sharing this great post, I am very impressed with your post, the information given is very meticulous and understandable. I will regularly follow your next post.

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