brookiki

I was discussing water bottles with hemisphere and the subject of stainless steel came up, specifically that metallic taste some people notice. I haven't had a problem with it myself, so I'm inclined to think it's some sort of genetic trait or something.

That said, I found a tip for getting rid of the taste at eHow. In case the page goes missing later, here are the steps.

How to Get Rid of a Metallic Taste From Stainless Steel Water Bottles by Karren Doll Tolliver

1. Wash the stainless steel water bottle in hot soapy water and rinse well.

2. Mix enough of the distilled or filtered water in equal proportion with the vinegar to fill the water bottle. For example, if your water bottle is 16 ounces, mix eight ounces of the water with eight ounces of the vinegar.

3. Fill the bottle with the water and vinegar mixture.

4. Allow the bottle to sit undisturbed overnight with the vinegar-and-water mixture in it.

5. Pour out the water-and-vinegar mixture and rinse the water bottle well. The metallic taste should be gone. If the metallic taste comes back, simply repeat these steps to get rid of it again.

I thought I'd add a cleaning tips tag on my LJ, since I'm forever looking up how to clean this, fix that, or general care. Last night, I had to look up two things.

First, it was removing water rings. I accidentally set a pot of tea down on a table and when I picked it up, I noticed there was water damage on it. I found the answer from Heloise. Here's the tip:

Erase white heat marks and water rings on wood furniture?
If the wood has a good finish (don't try on bare wood), mix equal parts of baking soda and regular white, nongel toothpaste. Lightly dampen corner of a clean, soft white cloth with water and dip into the paste. With circular motion gently buff the marks for a few minutes. Wipe area clean, and buff to a shine. Follow with furniture polish. (If rings remain after buffing five minutes or so, they may have penetrated the wood; you might have to refinish the piece).

It worked like a charm. I had to use Crest Pro-Health Night toothpaste, since it was the only white toothpaste i had (and even then it had little blue flecks in it). Then I used a bar cloth to just buff the mark out. The only caveat I'd add is that you really don't need much. I used about a teaspoon of each and I had to throw 90% of it away.

And my second problem was laundry care. I bought new embroidered handkerchiefs to use to dry my hands when I'm out and a public bathroom is either out of towels or has those hand dryers. They didn't have actual care instructions, just symbols on the back. So, some quick googling gave me Laundry Guide to Common Care Symbols. (It's also available as a PDF t download.) The only problem I had was that the instructions had a 60˚ symbol but didn't specify Celsius or Fahrenheit. I was a little worried since they were white handkerchiefs (which makes me think wash hot), but they also had colored embroidery (which made me think wash cold). I took a chance and washed them hot water (although it only got up to 50˚) and they came out fine. So, in the future, I'm just going to assume that anytime it says a temperature, it refers to C even if it isn't specified.