Washing Dishes - Getting out Tough Coffee and Tea Stains

I've recently found that even good dishwasher detergents don't always completely clean coffee and tea stains out of mugs and cups. If you also have a rather unappealing collection of stained mugs you'd like to get truly clean, here are a few tips to try:

1. Lemon and salt - Cut a fresh lemon in half and dunk in some regular table salt. Use this as a little natural scouring pad to get stains out. (This is also really useful on laundry stains, believe it or not!) Keep a few fresh lemons on hand anyway, for a variety of cleaning purposes.
2. Baking Soda - Dip a damp rag into a bit of baking soda and use this as your natural scouring powder for edging away those tough tea and coffee stains. It may take a little effort, but this can really do wonders for stained mugs.

John's Creative Way to Clean the Coffeepot

You readers are geniuses - and here's more proof. John has come up with a clever new way to clean the coffeepot for all of you Happy Slobs who don't mind using bleach:

Christina-

Always fought with this problem until a moment of creative laziness. Figuring that if regular cleaner (like Fantastic) wasn't doing the trick, then maybe switching to address the problem as organic made more sense. Sprayed the coffee cup with Mildew remover and all evidence of having held coffee melted down the sides of the pot (glass or stainless) and any mugs.

And as mildew remover is nothing more than regular household bleach at 6 to 10 times the price, just dilute bleach from a jug by half, spray the coffee or tea item, and you'll have "brand new". A little soapy water to get rid of the bleach, and you're on your way without a scrub, and with better results.

JB

Thanks for the great tips, John! Creative laziness is a fantastic thing, isn't it? Any of you can send me in your funky, quirky or otherwise amazing cleaning tips to share with Happy Slobs all around the planet. Just email them to me - christina@happyslob.com

P.S. I think that using regular strength white vinegar might also do the trick, if any of you (like me) are not thrilled about using bleach to clean. :)