It’s quick, it’s easy, and it uses items you’ve probably already got at home. things One Reddit user said: ‘Can’t believe how simple it was. I wish I’d tried it sooner’
The kitchen sink is where we do some of our messiest daily chores, so it’s no surprise it’s prone to getting pretty dirty. A quick scrub after doing the washing up will help keep it clean, but after a while it’ll inevitably start to look less-than-pristine.
Posting on Reddit, one user revealed how they had removed rust stains from their sink after months of trying to get rid of them. The user posted two pictures on the CleaningTips page, one showing what appears to be a kitchen sink looking rusty and grubby, and the second showing it looking sparkling-clean.
They said: “I had rust stains in my sink for months and nothing seemed to work. This time, I mixed baking soda, lemon juice, and white vinegar, let it sit for a while and voila! The stains lifted right off.
“Can’t believe how simple it was. I wish I’d tried it sooner.”
Other Reddit users were amazed by the tip. One wrote: “The rust stains in the sink look really tough. The baking soda – lemon juice – vinegar mix method sounds amazing. Gotta try this trick some day.”
Another said: “That combo is seriously magic for cleaning! I’ve used baking soda and vinegar on my bathtub stains before, and it always works better than anything store-bought.”
And a third wrote: “Here’s a tip: make a batch of that and put it in a spray bottle near your sink, then spray your sink down regularly.”
But others questioned the effectiveness of the mixture. One said: “The vinegar and baking soda will have cancelled each other out and just have made water. The lemon and maybe the abrasiveness of the baking soda did all the heavy lifting here.”
But another user replied: “Vinegar plus baking soda makes more than just water btw. It makes water, carbon dioxide, and sodium acetate.”
And someone else replied: “Trying to justify that mixing baking soda and vinegar is going to make a superior cleaning agent than how they are on their own is maddening. Baking soda is a great alkaliser and scrubber, and vinegar is a great acid for removing residue and deodorising.
“Putting them together just makes them less effective FULL STOP. Maybe the bubbles can help ‘lift’ in places you can scrub, like a drain.
“But you’re waaaay better off cleaning and scrubbing with baking soda and dish soap followed by vinegar to rinse.”
Another user suggested a different approach. They said: “You just need either vinegar or lemon juice for rust stains – the key is to leave it a few moments. The hydrogen in the acid is strong enough to strip the oxygen from the rust to make iron and water.”
And someone else had a far more back-to-basics strategy. They said: “I like to use steel wool, dishsoap, hot water, and elbow grease lol.”