Step One: Fill the sink to the brim with hot water and at least a cup of vinegar. Let sit for about half an hour. Go browse pinterest for half an hour and if you start to feel bad about not doing anything productive, remind yourself that you are actually cleaning the sink!
Step Two: Mix baking soda and water to make a thin paste. Use a soft scrubby sponge to scrub the sink with this solution.
Step Three: Place a small amount of olive oil on a soft rag and rub your sink down with the olive oil. This will make your sink shiny and beautiful.
Don't obsess over it. Your sink really doesn't need to be perfect. Just clean and shiny.
Ta-Da! A fabulously shiny sink without any dangerous chemicals!
Thank you for visiting The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking!
Awesome!! I love vinegar! And it's true: those Pampered Chef nylon scrapers are so great!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI also use the Norwex cleaning paste and one of their Enviro cloths. I've never had my sink so shiny.
I love those Pampered Chef thingys. But notice how the corners get rounded out? Sometimes I use an old credit card or an old gift card - they come in handy too. Love the article! I used to hate vinegar (because of the smell) but you've opened up a whole new world for me with vinegar! I use it for everything now.
ReplyDeleteThe smell of vinegar used to bother me too. I found that adding a drop or two of peppermint oil to the bottle of vinegar/water helps a lot with the vinegary smell and leaves the house smelling fresh.
DeleteTry lavender oil too.. smells lovely and it's a natural disinfectant.
Deletewhere can you buy lavender oil?
DeleteI have terribly hard water.. will this help get rid of the hard water spots and will it help repel them some?
ReplyDeleteI think it would help! Try it and let me know! Also, drying your sink after every time you use it will help it to keep from getting spots :)
DeleteThis will get rid of hard water spots and mineral build. Check out all the other things it clean too - amazing!
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I use Borax for almost all of my household cleaning. It works great for scrubbing sinks, the outside of pots and pans, the bath tub. I also use it for laundry. And when I have a dish with cooked on gunk, I soak it in a solution of borax and super hot water for an hour or so, then it scrubs right out. It is also great for scrubbing dirty hands after gardening or working on cars.
ReplyDeleteAnother great cleaning product to keep on hand is Fels-Naptha soap. Great for greasy laundry stains, you just rub a little in to a dampened garment and wash. Stains come right out. Plus if you get into poison ivy, wash afterwards with FN and you won't get the rash. It washes the oils off your skin.
Hi Karen! wow...That's a great tip for poison ivy! Thanks for sharing!
DeleteIs there anything vinegar and baking soda can't do?! I love 'em!
ReplyDeletei'm seriously going to end up pinning every single post of yours onto pinterest! love it!
ReplyDeleteHaha...awesome! I'm glad you like it!
DeleteI live in a 30 year old house on a Navy base, and my sink has looked gross since the day we moved in. I have tried bleach, ajax, 409 and on and on. I tried this today just to clean it having given up and getting my sink to look clean. All the discoloration is completely gone. I can not believe how clean ans sanitary my sink looks now. Thank you so much for this great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Brooke, for coming back and sharing how well it worked for you! Isn't it exciting when the simple solutions turn out to be awesome?!
DeleteThey also have the scrapers at Pier One for under $2 and they're cute colors :)
ReplyDeleteI can't remember how I found you originally, but I have just spent a few (ok - at least 30 min) here. I love your humor and all your great ideas. Clean sinks, pita bread and cupcake wreaths here I come!!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog via Pinterest and I LOVE IT!!! Looks like I won't get much done this afternoon (back reading your blog) ... er, well, other than shining my sink. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great idea!
Awesome! I will use your method for the "maitence" of our kitchen sink. We live in a rural area on well water and when we first moved in the sink was disgusting with hard water build up. After much scrubbing and frustration (and even trying to get my husband to replace it) I found a product called "lemishine"...its a natural product and its safe for the environment. But basically I just got the sink wet and the shook on the lemishine and walked away for 10 mins...I came back and all that hard water was gone. I've used it on the shower doors and our truck windows to get the spots off. I need to figure out how to make it...I'm sure its lemons and baking soda of some combo.
ReplyDeleteLemi Shine is awesome! I also use 1tsp in every dishwashing load. My glasses are spotless. And I use once a month in the washing machine - about 1/4 cup and hot water cycle - for giving a good cleaning.
DeleteBeautiful! I always feel better with a clean sink. I saw a pinterest tip that said making that paste with baking soda and peroxide is supposed to work magic. I haven't really tried it yet. But I pinned it, so I FELT like I accomplished something. :D
ReplyDeleteI've been doing this for years! I always have a sparkling sink and you can keep up with it in between those cleanings with filling up the sink with vinegar by spraying windex and wiping. This keeps it sparkling in between those cleanings
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly, my husband and I have been enjoying reading your posts together. We have been clearing out our kitchen ready for a Welsh Dresser that we are renovating and painting, and are finding it tricky organising and storing our baking supplies. Any ideas? We always seem to have packets and packets of different flours, and sugars, as well as porridge oats, dessicated coconut, cornflour etc. It always seems a mess and is tricky to dig around to find what we want. Susie Tyler
ReplyDeleteI use vinegar to teach children the importance of reading in first grade. Another use for vinegar one would never think of. I have a bottle of vinegar in my classroom that has apples on the label. This is an old bottle which I have used for this lesson for several years. I get the children excited about us getting to have apple juice for a treat, but before we taste they must first smell it. It is old and the odor is not as strong--maybe. I tell them they can not make any indication of what they are smelling. They are so adorable as they try not to make horrible faces. I then tell them that they must learn to read to be able to take good care of their babies. "Wouldn't it be horrible if you gave your baby vinegar instead of apple juice."
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this! My husband got some paint gunk on our sink and I've tried everything to get it off! This worked like a charm and my sink is shining! :)
ReplyDeleteI just tried this. Amazing!!!!! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi, I have been enjoying your blog! I'm reading up on safe/homemade cleaners.... what do you suggest for dish soap? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi! I use NatureClean dish soap. You can compare the safety of different dish soaps available by going to goodguide.com
DeleteUseful information. Thank you for sharing!
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Would you do this same thing on a cast iron sink or is it just for stainless steel? Thanks
ReplyDeleteVinegar is acidic. I would be very careful about where it is used.
ReplyDeleteHelpful, ....
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I also use those brown scrapers from pampered chef for my coundertops.... I have spray bottle about 1/4 vinegar the rest water, spray my granite, let it sit about 5 min (more or less) scrape it down to get rid of anything hard and dried that I can't see, wipe it down with a dish cloth then buff dry with a thick microfiber rag (or a cotton dish towel)... then I feel them to make sure they are clean. The granite is so good at camouflaging dirt I have to feel to make sure it is clean lol.
ReplyDeleteI also use green products to shine my sink. They now even sell Windex with vinegar and water at supermarkets. The natural trend is on. Here is my post on shining your sink: http://www.thecleaningladyblog.com
ReplyDeleteReally it is a great post, I read this post and bookmarked it, very organized information you have post here.
ReplyDelete