Fight Hard Water in the Bathroom & Kitchen

I came across this recipe on Pinterest a month ago & gave it a try. It worked, but not quite as magically or quickly as I had hoped. Also it made suds F.O.R.E.V.E.R. when rinsing. It worked better than any cleaner I have used on the soap scum, the tub and the chrome, but I still had mineral deposits on the wall of the shower. We have really hard water here, so the original recipe may be just fine as a cleaner in your neck of the woods. However, our water is hard enough that if I didn't clean my shower weekly we might develop stalagmites on the bottom of the tub. As it is, we get orangish goo in the toilet and around the edge of the shower after only 2-3 days. I swish my toilet with a brush daily. So I was happy with the results I did get, I just wanted MORE. Because I am an American, and we like MORE.

I tried a version that decreased the soap by half to minimize suds. I tried a version that used cornstarch as a thickener so that the solution would stay where it was sprayed and work longer. Neither seemed to make a difference, and I was worried about the starch in my drains. I tried using the liquid along with a green kitchen scrubber on the walls, but nothing was cutting through the hard deposits. You'd think I would give up at this point, but there is more to this post, so obviously, I persisted. I used the mix of 1 cup vinegar & 1/2 cup soap in the meantime while thinking about what I could do to oomph up the cleaning power.

Then, while I was doing laundry one day, I happened to read the side of one of the bottles sitting there.

It was leftover from a previous natural cleaning spree I had been on and had been sitting there for a few years. Among other uses, it listed that it could be dissolved in water as a cleaner to dissolve hard water deposits... 

The wheels started turning, and I thought, I wonder if I dissolved this in the vinegar. Would it strengthen the cleaning ability? So, I heated 1 cup of vinegar, dissolved 2 TB Lemishine, added 1/2 cup of Dawn and sprayed it on the most mineral encrusted thing I could find: The water dispenser drip tray on our fridge.

I have tried every cleaner I can imagine on this baby. I have tried the toughest scouring pads, including steel wool on it. Nothing touched the crusty mineral layer in the grooves. I was sure that this would be the same, so I didn't even bother taking "Before" pictures. Still, I sprayed it on before bed one night and let it work.

 Imagine my surprise when I started cleaning the next morning and it wiped off. I didn't say scrubbed off - it wiped off. With a towel. After wiping out four of the grooves, the shock wore off enough for me to realize that I wanted pictures of this because it was a modern miracle. Lest you think I am exaggerating, take a closer look at that orange crud in the top groove. That was on the bottom and sides of every groove, even after I had cleaned it. It was hard. It was orange. It was ugly.

This is the after. White. Smooth. Shiny. Pretty.

Let's take a look at the area where the drip tray sits.

 I did get a "Before" picture of this.

 And "After."

The whole enchilada. Beautiful.

Shortly after trying this, I came across a similar solution at this link. I haven't tried it because I have a whole bottle of Lemi-shine to use, but it might be worth a shot before you go buy something you don't have.

I now keep this recipe in a spray bottle in my shower and spray it on the surfaces almost daily. The next morning, when hubby takes his shower, it rinses clean, no scrubbing at all. Weekly-ish, I wipe the tub portion and walls to get a little deeper clean.  I also spray it in my toilet to prevent the orange-ish slime layer from forming. And a quick spray and rinse of the sink keeps it just as shiny as everything else!

Now my bathroom fixtures stay permanently clean. If I could just keep my dirty cat from jumping on the counter to get his drink, things would stay so clean that I wouldn't know what to do with myself.