Undercover Mother

Tip: Use vinegar to rid your sink fixtures of hard water spots.

I am in the process of writing a book that I plan on calling: “How the #%@& did the toothpaste get there?” I am sure it will be a best seller, like all true crime thrillers. Today, when I was working on my weekly bathroom cleaning, I noticed that underneath 3 layers of glittery pink toothpaste, I had some pretty nasty hard water stains on the sink faucet.

Quite frankly, water stains are the least of my worries. But today for some reason, they got to me. I know having shiny faucets won’t last more than one visit to the bathroom from my kids, but I can feel good for at least a few moments. I actually have a house rule that forces my kids to eat their meals outside for one day after I clean the kitchen floor. I would like to do the same thing with the bathroom, but I would most likely be arrested or at the very least reported to Child Protective Services and looked down upon by my neighbors.

But back to my water-stained faucets, as I know you are on the edge of your seat wondering what I was going to do. I found a tip using, what else? Vinegar!

Tip specifics

Soak a rag in white vinegar, lay the rag over your hard water stains, and let it sit for a few minutes. The hard water spots will scrub right off.

True or bull?

True. The vinegar-soaked rag worked on removing the water stains from the faucets.

Undercover Mother’s revelations

It’s a quick fix if your issue of the day is water spots on your hardware. I felt good about myself for making something look pretty, but my kids complained about the smell of the vinegar making the bathroom smell disgusting. Apparently they are immune to what it smelled like beforehand, as vinegar is a tremendous improvement to my nose.

Tip: Use hot water to get sticky ingredients cleanly out of measuring cups.

Occasionally I get a craving for something sweet and reach for something with chocolate. Okay, it’s more like daily, but I don’t like to get caught up in the details. One of my favorite quick treats to make is a no-bake cookie, as I have convinced myself that the oatmeal contained in these little pieces of heaven are healthy enough to counteract the cocoa, butter, sugar, milk and peanut butter that I need to consume to make that dry oatmeal taste so delicious.

That these are called no-bakes is deceiving because you still have to cook them, which is followed by a cleanup. My least favorite part of the cleanup is the measuring cup that once held the needed peanut butter. Cleaning peanut butter off, or out, of things is far tougher than removing baked-on gunk from a pan or taking off my workout clothes after 45 minutes on the treadmill. (Seriously, I have contemplated calling 911 a couple of times.)

I discovered a tip that sounded like it might work on my sticky dilemma and decided to give it a try.

Tip specifics

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill the cup with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

True or bull?

We are going to call this one “Trull,” a combination answer. If you use it immediately, it works great. However, I measure out the peanut butter a few minutes ahead of time so it is ready to pour quickly into the boiling chocolate lava that I need to be stirring constantly. The peanut butter that sat for about 3 minutes in that cup refused to slide out, and I had the same old mess.

Undercover Mother’s revelations

I was really excited when I started the experiment and saw how smoothly the peanut butter slid out of the preheated measuring cup. Actually, it fell out so quickly it landed in my sink and clogged the drain, leaving me to dig the peanut butter out with the skinny end of the spatula. After using a few choice curse words and cleaning it up, I convinced myself that I could easily get over that issue when I was able to avoid the peanut butter aftermath that I am usually left with, BUT I was disappointed.

I hate sounding like a Debbie Downer, so let’s try to end this on a happy note. The sticky substance will actually dive out of the measuring cup and leave it clean if you use it immediately after you fill it. But if you wait, you will have to soak and scrub your measuring cup to get it clean. At least you can look forward to a tasty treat either way!