Ben Shoemate's Notebook

Filed under: Kitchen & Bath, Small Projects, Essential Skills, Know-How

For the secret to sparkling dishes, look to your kids' favorite drink mix. Kool-Aid miraculously banishes lime scale deposits from hard water in your dishwasher, says our thrifty reader.

When my dishwasher starts to leave my dishes and silverware with spots or lime deposits caused by hard water, I forgo my ordinary dish detergent and use inexpensive Kool-Aid instead. Yes, Kool-Aid, as in your kids' favorite drink mix (but only use the lemon kind).

Give it a try. First, make sure your dishwasher is completely empty. Then open a single packet of Kool-Aid and pour the contents into the dishwasher's soap compartment. Feel free to use the less expensive store brand if you choose.

Run the empty dishwasher through one full cycle. The citric acid in lemon-flavored Kool-Aid will clean out the appliance thoroughly. In fact, you'll notice a huge improvement as soon as you open it up. The next time you do dishes, you'll also notice less spots and a lot more sparkle!


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