Cleaning and Winning!

I hate cleaning. I told my buddy Becca that I need to cultivate a cleaning hobby. It didn't work at the old house, it isn't working much better at the new house. I'm getting the kids more involved in the cleaning (The dishwasher in the new house was on it's last elbow and is now gone. Hey, isn't that why I had kids?) and am making a point of doing a cleaning project, even if it's just sweeping the entire house, once a day. It's a small dent, but at least it's a start.

We have the best tasting water around. It's straight out of the well and so clean, cold and pure! It does come with a lot of minerals, though, and that means our water is VERY hard. Therefore, we have lots of mineral build up in our water using appliances. (Remember that broken dishwasher?) What I want to discuss here is how to clean out those lovely minerals from my most used small appliance: the coffeemaker.

I'd been using this method for years (thanks mom!) and didn't think to share it around until I read an article on Creative Homemaking about 5 ways to speed clean your coffee maker. We have a Bunn coffeemaker with the hot water reservoir (fresh coffee in just 3 minutes!) and that builds up bad. To combat the minerals, I run a pot of white vinegar through the brew cycle and then rinse with enough water to have no lasting vinegar smell.

Because we have the hot water reservoir, I empty the water out of the holding tank and then put the vinegar in and let it sit for a while to help cut the build up. I then dump the vinegar and rinse as indicated above. This not only makes the coffee maker run faster, but also seems to improve the taste of my coffee.

And speaking of awesome coffee, have you heard of Steve and Harry's Coffee Co? They roast fresh right in the small Idaho town we live near - freshest, best coffee I've ever had! Steve is a friend of my dearest Hubbers and is a big mean (looking) biker dude. We've been in to see his roaster (see that picture?) and the process and I can't say enough.

No, Steve didn't pay me for this post, but if he wanted to, I'd take my trade in coffee beans... I especially like the Sumatra Mandheling!

Hey! You wanna win a Clover Getaway Knitting Needle Gift Set (29" Circular). The set contains one each Takumi Circular 29 INCH sizes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 & 15. They are stylish, portable and easy to carry.

Also included in this giveaway is a Getaway Knitting Needle Gift Set (13" Single Pointed). In this gifts set you can find Takumi Single Pointed 13 INCH sizes 8, 9, 10, 10.5, 11, 13 & 15.

About Clover:

A distributor/manufacturer of Clover Brand Products in the U.S.A. Clover specializes in high quality sewing notions, quilting accessories, embroidery tools and the well renowned “Takumi” Bamboo Knitting Needles and accessories. Clover products offer the highest quality, dependability, and overall value. The best part about Clover products is that you make them on your own. Crafting is such a great way to have your homemade products presented.

I do love me some Clover!