OK, I admit I let this little tray go a long time before
cleaning it. It's disgusting and for
some reason, even if you wipe it down each time water gets on it, it still ends
up looking pretty gross. In the past I
have tried ways to get the yuck off and it always ends up not turning out so
well. So when I saw this simple way to
clean it on Pinterest, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try again.
Ingredients needed:
White Vinegar
Dish Soap
Toothbrush (not to be used for actual teeth cleaning
afterwards!)
I had 2 gallons of vinegar left over from when I was told
that it helped removed wallpaper. (BTW,
it didn't and only made my house smell terrible!) Of course we all have dish soap. And I had a toothbrush left over from last
dentist appointment.
OK, let's get started.
I took the tray out and placed it in the sink. As the original said, I poured the vinegar in
the tray. (Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of this stage). I filled it up until it
started coming out over the top (what? I wanted to make sure I had enough in
all the grooves!) The pin said to wait
only 3 minutes, however I did not feel that was long enough so I waited for 7.
The pin stated to put dish soap on it at this point, but
I decided to start scrubbing with the vinegar still in the tray. So I gently brushed the toothbrush around in
the little grooves. It really didn't
take much effort to see the yuck coming off.
Once it looked like I couldn't get anymore off, I dumped
the vinegar out, put dish soap in the tray (no water) and started brushing
again.
It seemed like it was working... I rinsed the tray and here is the end
result...
Not completely rid of all the yuk, but a vast
improvement.
Next I figured, Hey!
Its 7:00am on a Saturday morning, I'm waiting for fabric to dry for my
next project (blanket for my cousins 5th birthday, pictures to follow!) why not
make the house smell like a little more vinegar?!?! (I'm sure my husband is
appreciating this while he is sleeping!)
I decided to fill a tupperware dish up with about an inch or so of vinegar,
emerge my tray upside down in it and let it soak for another 20 minutes.... I
really want this thing clean!
After the soaking I brushed the tray again with the
toothbrush while still in the vinegar. I
could still see that some of the yuck was still not coming off, so I took the
scrubber side of the sponge to it. When
I was satisfied, I pulled it out and did the dish soap thing again. Rinse
and.....
Not bad! It turned
out pretty darn clean. Now, to make it
shiny again and to hopefully help prevent some yuck in the future.... the
husband suggests Paste Wax.
Paste Wax provides rich, satiny lustre and protects
multiple surfaces including plastic! WOOT WOOT!
This can help! I took a paper
towel, folded it up, swirled just the corner in the wax (you really don't need
very much!), and then rubbed it all over the tray. VOILA!
Thanks all for reading and happy cleaning!
Amanda
