Removing Build Up From The Inside Of Your Dishwasher

I was at Child #4's flag football practice a couple of weeks ago, lamenting that my dishwasher was causing me grief. The main problem being that the dishes were coming out dirtier than when they went in. I am not new to this dilemma. I am lucky to live in an area that is surrounded by mountains, trees, and rivers. It is a beautiful place, but it has some of the hardest stinking water in the U.S. (seriously, it does!). Hard water can wreak great havoc on washing machines, dishwashers (I am on #3), faucets, pipes, siding, basically anything it touches. I do own a water softener, but that does not keep things totally in check (it just slows the process down). Anyway, the combination of lime scale, hard water, and dishwasher detergent build up had trashed the inside of the dishwasher, so when I ran a load, little bits of build up were being deposited on my dishes. One of the mom's that was chatting with me mentioned that a plumber had told her to use The Works toilet bowl cleaner to remove the build up. Being a gal who is always up for a cheap answer to a problem, I thought I would give it a try.

You can buy The Works toilet bowl cleaner at the Dollar Tree and Walmart.


Basically this is what I did:

• Turn off heated drying cycle on your dishwasher.
• Place newspaper under dishwasher to catch any drips. This is VERY important if you have laminate or hard wood floors. If the cleaner sits on your floor for very long it will eat the finish off of your floor! Wipe up spill and change wet newspaper IMMEDIATELY!
  
• Squirt toilet bowl cleaner on the sides and around the entire bottom of the dishwasher.
• I squirted some into the holes of my sprayer arms because they were filled up with crud,too.
• Let cleaner sit for 5 to 15 minutes, depending on how bad the build up is. I let mine sit for 10 minutes.
• Fill the detergent cup up with toilet bowl cleaner.
• Run the dishwasher on the Light Wash cycle (that way the dishwasher doesn't drain out your cleaner before it is done working).
• When dishwasher hits the drying cycle, open the door and let the steam escape.
• Use a wet sponge to wipe out any remaining grunge.
• Run your dishwasher without anything in it through a second cycle to remove any remaining cleaner.
  
• Admire your beautifully clean dishwasher!

I had to repeat the process a second time, because my dishwasher was so funky gross, but it was worth it. Here is the dishwasher before:


Here it is after a thorough detox:



Almost like new! The best part is the dishes actually came out clean and sparkly! The troops are happy, too. They were getting tired of doing multiple loads of dishes by hand everyday to keep up. The big babies! I remember when I was growing up I had to do dishes by hand...uphill... in a snow storm....

Spring Cleaning

The sun finally shone through my French doors today, and I saw a winter's worth of dirt spots, dog nose prints, and finger prints. Alas, the time has come to throw open the windows, shake out the rugs, and do a little (okay, a LOT of) spring cleaning. I don't really mind, though. After a through cleaning I feel organized and ready to face the looming thought of my children's pending summer vacation! There is something about working up a good soapy lather (and a little bit of sweat) that is very therapeutic (at least to me). As I posted earlier, I have started making my own cleaning supplies. Partially, because it is cheaper (and you don't have to run to the store when you run out - just make up another batch), but also because it seems that they are more environmentally friendly. Here are a few recipes for cleaner's that I have really liked.

Multi Purpose Cleaner (I found this recipe off of Pinching Your Pennies; I have tweaked it a little bit so that it isn't so soapy):
2 cups of water
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 tablespoon dish soap
1 tablespoon of Borax

Whisk the ingredients together in a measuring cup until Borax is dissolved. Pour into a spray bottle.

This cleaner is great for:

• greasy kitchen messes (especially stove tops)
• dirty refrigerators doors
• cleaning kitchen counter tops
• cleaning kitchen cabinets
  
• dirty finger prints on doors and walls
• cleaning bathroom counter tops and tubs. Your faucets will sparkle when you are done!
  

Disinfecting Cleaner
(This is my favorite. I found it on Living On A Dime, and I use it to clean everything)

2 tablespoons ammonia
1/2 cup alcohol
1/4 white vinegar
2 1/2 - 3 cups water

Pour first three ingredients in a spray bottle. Add in water. Screw spray nozzle on spray bottle tightly and shake to combine ingredients.

This cleaner is great for:

• cleaning windows, mirrors, and glass ( it cleans streak free, and is great for getting hairspray off bathroom mirrors)
• cleaning ceramic tile in showers (gets off soap scum and hard water)
• cleaning bathroom and bedroom doors
• shining surfaces
• cleaning and disinfecting toilets
• cleaning and disinfecting bathroom counter tops
  
• spritzing micro fiber (or regular dust clothes) before dusting
• use it to dampen a cleaning cloth or paper towel to wipe down computer keyboards
• disinfect hard surfaces (door knobs, toilet handles, refrigerator door handles, etc.)
• DO NOT USE ON PAINTED SURFACES. IT WILL TAKE OFF THE PAINT.

Baking soda is great for:

• Cleaning toilets. Plunge excess water out of toilet bowl with a toilet brush. Sprinkle one cup baking soda around inside of the toilet bowl. Pour 1 cup of white vinegar over baking soda. Let it foam up and sit for 10 minutes. Use brush to scrub toilet bowl, and under the rim; flush. It will clean, disinfect the toilet, and prevent hard water rings.
• Scrubbing grimy tubs and counter tops. Sprinkle on a damp sponge and scrub away. You can use baking soda with both of the cleaners listed above for a little more cleaning power.
• Scour kitchen sinks.
• Remove scorched food from cooking pans. Dampen scorched food and sprinkle with a thick layer of baking soda. Let sit for 5 minutes. Fill pan with three inches of water and bring to a boil on the stove. Boil until black bits begin to surface. Turn off heat and let pan sit until water has completely cooled. Pour out water. Wash pan as usual.
• Sprinkle on carpet. Let it sit for 15 - 30 minutes. Vacuum up to remove stale odors and pet smells.
• Sprinkle on counter top stains and dampen with lemon juice. Let sit for a 5 - 10 minutes and wipe up with a damp cloth to remove stains.
  
• I keep old Parmesan Cheese containers filled with baking soda in both bathrooms and under the kitchen sink. Make sure you label the containers so somebody doesn't see it sitting on the kitchen counter and sprinkle it on their Spaghetti (this is a true story).

White Vinegar is great for:

• Removing hard water from faucets, and drains. Soak paper towels with vinegar and place around drain openings and on hard to reach faucet areas to dissolve hard water.
• To remove sour smells from kitchen dishcloths, kitchen towels, and bathroom towels. Add 1 cup vinegar to wash water (1/2 cup for front load machines) as washing machine fills (with hot water). When machine is full agitate for a few minutes, turn off machine, and let towels sit in vinegar water overnight. In the morning drain the tub, and wash towels as usual.
• Add to dish water to remove hard water on glass ware.
• Use in place of Jet Dry in dishwashers (just add it into the dispenser cup, or place a plastic cup full of vinegar in the bottom rack of the dishwasher(just secure it so it won't flip over. I use a rubber band to secure it to the silverware dispenser).

Don't forget that old toothbrushes (perfect for cleaning grout, around faucets, and window tracks), cloth diapers (wonderful for cleaning windows and mirrors), cotton T shirts and socks (great for scrubbing and wiping) are all great (reusable) cleaning tools.

The Great Dryer Drama of 2010 (So Far....)

I had originally planned on sharing something entirely different today, but I decided I had to share my dryer dilemma with you instead. I am hoping it may save you an hour or two of anguish someday! Saturday is my typical catch up the laundry day, and things were going pretty well until I went downstairs this afternoon to quickly change the laundry over when I discovered a HUGE catastrophe! Someone (who I discovered later was my seventeen year old, WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER) had left a brand spanking new package of gum in their back pocket (I swear I checked every pocket). The package of gum made it through the washing machine, and unfortunately, the dryer. At some point in the dryer it fell out of the pocket and melted all over the inside of the dryer. There were streaks and globs of gum goo all over the drum! Luckily, the gum did not do any irrevocable damage to the load of laundry ( and hey, those Levi's did smell minty fresh). After my head stopped spinning (and I questioned why the good Lord had sent me the children out of the Heaven's scratch and dent bin ), I knew I had to do something quickly before the dryer was completely ruined (which would totally ruin the WNWN challenge!). I turned the dryer on for a minute to warm the gum up a little bit, and then took a plastic spatula (the kind you use to spread mud on the wall when you are taping and mudding sheetrock) and starting scraping the globs off of the drum. When I had gotten the big chunks of gum off , I took a green scrub pad and my bottle of homemade cleaner and started in on the sticky streaks of gum. I sprayed my wonder cleaner on the mess (the combination of ammonia and alcohol broke down the gum) and started scrubbing. With a little elbow grease and a lot of scrubbing it came off! I did have to spray some areas twice to get the last of the sticky residue off, but HALLELUJAH it worked! Tragedy was adverted, and the children (one in particular) will live to see another day!