Friday, May 16, 2014

Soap-B-Gone

Last weekend Hubby Tony needed a new coffee cup for work.  He went to one of the local thrift stores and found a nice stainless steel travel mug with a black plastic interior and tight-fitting screw off lid for the princely sum of 75 cents.  The cup was in great shape on the outside, with no scratches or dings.  He cleaned it out and put it by his work bag to take to the office.

On Monday morning when I came down to the kitchen Tony had left for the day and the cup was sitting on the counter.   That night when I asked him why, he said the cup made his coffee taste soapy.  He was going to toss it in the trash unless I had any other ideas.  I told him I'd research the issue, then Googled "removing soapy taste from cup" and clicked on the first result.

The site had several suggestions, all of which used things I already had in the pantry.  Mainly because it was listed first, I decided to try baking soda.  Following the directions, I put the lid into a small bowl, dumped in a tablespoon of baking soda, then added enough warm water to cover.  The water immediately started turning a nasty brown color, which I took as a good sign. Even though Tony had said he thought the lid was the offending part, I went ahead and treated the cup too, filling it with the same mixture.  I let everything sit on the counter overnight.

When I caught up with Tony the next evening I asked him how the cup was.  He indicated it was better, but still not completely soap free, so I moved on to the next recommendation-a solution of vinegar and water.  I'm happy to report that this time the procedure was successful.   Tony told me his coffee was now soap-free.

Five years ago today: Destruction

2 comments:

  1. Vinegar is the solution to so many household problems. Glad you were able to solve Tony's problem.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, vinegar is quite a super cleaner. But baking soda doesn't lag far behind.

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