If I have learned anything from Pinterest it is that you can clean anything with some combination baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, Dawn dish soap (the blue one!), and vinegar.
At least that is what the Pins claim. I have had no luck using Dawn, hydrogen peroxide, or baking soda to get a grease stain from Konrad's favorite shorts. But, the instructor in my workout class claims that they are better than tomato juice at getting the skunk smell off of a dog. Hopefully I do not have to try that one out!
With such mixed results I was skeptical when I saw this Pin...
The Pin is step by step instructions for cleaning hard water stains from the little water catching tray on your refrigerator door. Mine wasn't quite that bad, but needed some attention so I gave it a try.
Basically all you do is soak the tray in vinegar for 3-4 minutes and then use an old toothbrush or scrubber to remove the hard water stains.
It's hard to tell from the before picture just how bad the original stains were because I took the picture after I had already rinsed the tray. That's the tricky thing about hard water stains. You can't really see how bad they are until the surface is completely dry. But, I promise the before and after were night and day.
So this got me to thinking. Would the same method work on other surfaces? There was this spot (and by spot I mean 1' X 1' surface area) of my granite kitchen island that is covered with hard water stains. This is because it is right next to the sink and whenever I reach up to grab some soap water sloshes all over.
Now, I will say that I do try to clean up after myself each time, but water droplets can be hard to spot on such a multi-colored granite surface. In fact everything is hard to spot on my kitchen counters. I could have bread crumbs for weeks and not ever see them!
I have tried all kinds of granite cleaners for this area and nothing has worked. I truly just gave up and decided not to think about it until we try and sell the house. That was, until I got good results from the refrigerator tray.
So, I laid some paper towels out over the area to absorb the vinegar and keep it from running off the side of the counter and then poured a thing layer of vinegar on top.
I let this sit for a little bit longer than the refrigerator tray since it was a much bigger area. I used the extra time to relocate my hand soap to a small container that I suction cupped to the inside of my sink. It took some getting used to, but weeks later I barely notice the change!
Then, I got to work scrubbing away...
After I let it dry completely I was actually pretty impressed with the results. It's not perfect, but looks 50X better than it did before!
NOTE: After taking this picture I went back and did the same thing around the faucet handle and got rid of those white marks too. Just imagine that the original stain took up about 6 times that much space!
After moving the soap I am happy to announce that the hard water spots have not come back!
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