Descaling the Kettle

If you live in a hard water area like me, limescale builds up on your kettle very frequently.  Not only does this affect the taste of your drink, but horrid chalky bits end up in your tea or coffee and it's just vile!  Look at mine today - gross!

In order to combat this, you can fork out on chemical descalers.  However, apart from the cost of these, my main problem is the fact that it's so unnatural and I imagine if it's not rinsed from the kettle properly, it would be nasty.  Which is why I was so pleased to discover that plain old malt vinegar does the same thing as a chemical descaler.  Any malt vinegar works; I usually use supermarket own brand, but I guess they had run out as I was substituted with some posh stuff!

To descale the kettle, pour the vinegar into the kettle - use as much as you like.  I then top it up with water to cover all the limescale, but you could use more vinegar if you don't want to dilute it too much.  Wait at least half an hour, rinse and voila!  A sparkling clean kettle, at a cheap cost with no chemicals (albeit a bit smelly - rinse, rinse, rinse)!  Perfect!

Cleaning Stainless Steel

A great, cheap way to clean stainless steel like your stove or sink tops is to mix one tablespoon of cream of tartar with a few drops of water to make a paste-like substance. Rub it on to the surface, wipe with a damp sponge and then dry clean with paper towels. Voila! Quick, easy, effective and hopefully free with products that you've already got in your home.
A great alternative product is Bar Keeper's Friend. It works exactly the same as the Cream of Tartar and may sometimes work out cheaper if you aren't much of a baker...