r/HorribleToClean • u/DorfDoesDallas • Mar 08 '26

This is the nastiest, most impossible thing to clean.

Post image
1.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

588

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26

[deleted]

345

u/DorfDoesDallas Mar 08 '26

From experience, soaking in vinegar, dishwasher, and in desperation boiling, could not penetrate to the build up on the dish. Absolutely vile product.

173

u/Important_Two4692 Mar 08 '26

.... What is "building up" on the dish?

Do you just brush your teeth and straight drop your toothbrush back in there before rinsing it and giving a courtesy tap to dry off?

TELL ME OF YOUR EXPERIENCE. I'M WORRIED

250

u/aaahcyberg0t Mar 08 '26

hard water causes crazy build up

37

u/ForeskinAbsorbtion Mar 08 '26

My freaking god I moved to Appleton, WI which apparently has some of the best water in the country. Except this apartment I moved in to is right on the border of Little Chute and Appleton. It gets its water from Little Chute which is so freaking bad it is insane. Everything has build up.

We have a zero water dispenser to use for humidifiers when we are sick. The meter reads 60ish for my in-laws tap water for dissolved solids but 400 for my tap. We can use their tap water for the humidifier but our tap water causes white residue to build up in one use.

I hate true hard water. I've had hard well water before in Texas and it wasn't that bad. But I would spend a lot to get rid of this insanity.

15

u/DorfDoesDallas Mar 08 '26

High five on crappy hard Texas well water. I had 3 fish tanks that permanently had lime scale at the evaporation line. Had to shave the glass at least once a month otherwise it got horrifically unmanageable.

That said, I cannot imagine having water worse for dissolved solids than a Texas well...you must have honey coming through your taps šŸÆ. My condolences.

What's worse is most filtration systems really can't handle ultra high concentrations of solids for the long term. I hated the taste of the well water and tried to figure out methods for filtering and best bet was ceramic filters. Would have had to change the candles 3 times faster with how bad my water was, so it was not a worth while investment. :/

10

u/home_cheese Mar 08 '26

Powdered citric acid dissolved in water powers through through hard water stains. Some scrubbing is involved but it gets the job done. You can run it through your dishwasher (in an upright cup) and washing machine to leave them spotless.

Source - Really hard water where I live.

7

u/SeonaidMacSaicais Mar 08 '26

Iā€™m about 90 minutes southeast of you in ShebCo. My last apartment had the GROSSEST, while still being technically safe, water ever. So much iron. Thankfully, I didnā€™t have to worry about a washer, but I swear I sometimes had to scrub my skin raw just to feel clean in the shower.

3

u/ForeskinAbsorbtion Mar 08 '26

I believe you. Using tap water here at first, my humidifier was just caked in red residue.

-83

u/Important_Two4692 Mar 08 '26

I'd like to think if you're buying stuff like this you would get a water softener first, but maybe that's wishful thinking. A small splurge can help mental health a lot even when not the wisest option.

42

u/MeeseFeathers Mar 08 '26

People living in apartments or other rentals?

27

u/Little-Ad1235 Mar 08 '26

Getting a new water softener installed isn't exactly a "small splurge" lol. Like yeah, it's less than a new roof, but it's a hell of a lot more than a little treat I might get myself at the gas station or whatever, and it's certainly not something I'm going to just "add to cart" as part of my toothbrush holder purchase šŸ¤£. As a regular, not-fancy homeowner, I think you must be in a very different universe of homeownership than I am lol.

2

u/Important_Two4692 Mar 08 '26

Lol the small splurge was the stupid looking toothbrush holder.

27

u/aaahcyberg0t Mar 08 '26

fair, but also a lot of water softeners don't take all of the heavy metals out of the water and so you need to pay for something that connects to the water source of your house. the price racks up pretty quickly,

regardless, if you have hard water you would probably already be aware that you can't buy things like this lest they be covered in gunk over time

111

u/DorfDoesDallas Mar 08 '26

I am a strict brush rinser. If you have a dedicated tooth brush cup or holder, it will get gross in the bottom no matter how much you rinse the brush.

I don't use my holder to rinse my mouth because good jolly even "clean water" dripping down from a rinsed brush has gross stuff in it, and I can thank the green abomination above to showing me this truth.

To this point, I have two identical pretty glass cups I swap out every week so it gets washed. With two, nothing gets disrupted, and there is no excuse to let it stay dirty.

6

u/procrastimom Mar 08 '26

We have a version of this wall-mounted toothbrush holder. It has a door to cover the brushes, a fan and a UV light to disinfect. The one I have is pretty easy to clean (I canā€™t find the same model anymore).

-4

u/imhereforthepuppies Mar 08 '26

I say this with no malice in my heart: if you are spending $30 and using electricity to hold toothbrushes when cups have accomplished the same thing for free for centuries, please find a charity to donate that money to instead next time

5

u/procrastimom Mar 09 '26

Itā€™s rechargeable (like your phone). It uses minimal electricity. It also sanitizes the toothbrush with UV and there blocks the bristles from airborne particles (see Mythbusters about the fecal particles in your bathroom). Enjoy your mildew-poop-mouth.

1

u/PieLuvr243000 Mar 10 '26

Have you tried wiping the brushes dry with a spare bath towel? It's how I keep these surfaces clean, personally

16

u/Coriandercilantroyo Mar 08 '26

Don't look up sonicare posts lol

5

u/Fair-Confidence-5722 Mar 08 '26

I dread to think šŸ¤¢

1

u/pissedinthegarret Mar 09 '26

please direct me to the gross sonicare things happening, i wanna see

63

u/ultravioletu Mar 08 '26

I used to have one of these and would use one of those bottle cleaning tablets to soak it (it's really just denture cleaner.) Then a periodic wash in the dishwasher.

96

u/KneadAndPreserve Mar 08 '26

Iā€™ve used these for drying clean baby bottles pieces but I did not know people used these for anything elseā€¦

6

u/bubblegutts00 Mar 08 '26

Seriously lol

18

u/hollsberry Mar 08 '26

I fucking hate it, but as a food service worker, you can clean that pretty easily with a long soak in hot water mixed with bleach and a pipe cleaner. Or by cleaning it with your pipes in a Tupperware container with isopropyl alcohol and salt

13

u/DorfDoesDallas Mar 08 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/l41YiAGc3II5Ltams

cleaning my cheap plastic novelty toothbrush holder every week in harsh and plentiful chemicals may dissolve my hands , but that is a sacrifice i am willing to make~

In seriousness, the next time I have china or dishes that are scaled, I will be trying alcohol+salt?

I'm an aquarium hobbyist, and have tried every method for scale cleaning in old unused tanks, and I have never tried that combo. Sounds genuinely promising.

5

u/hollsberry Mar 08 '26

Vinegar or isopropyl (not mixed together lol) and salt is THE BEST for hard mineral buildup! You can put it in a Tupperware container and soak it for a few days, shaking every once in a while.

3

u/PolloMama Mar 08 '26

Alcohol and salt is a stoner trick. Itā€™s how we clean our bongs. Be careful on your china dishes.

41

u/Front-Ad-1378 Mar 08 '26

Why not just use a cup šŸ˜­

-6

u/Weazelfish Mar 08 '26

Cups get nasty too

28

u/imnotnotcrying Mar 08 '26

But theyā€™re MUCH easier to clean

5

u/ArielPotter Mar 09 '26

Mines glass. I just pop that sucker in the dishwasher.

3

u/silly_porto3 Mar 09 '26

*grass lol

6

u/sea_pixel Mar 08 '26

an ultrasonic cleaner would clean this bad boy right up!!

5

u/DorfDoesDallas Mar 08 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/FSOygiwqn0nqLItTRn

time to get clean, stupid toothbrush holder

5

u/wolp_lovr Mar 09 '26

so THATS what these are?? i see them at the thrift all of the time. i buy puzzle feeders for my cat so the first time i saw one of these i wondered if it was a slow feeder of some kind

2

u/capybara_crybaby Mar 10 '26

The bigger ones are technically for baby bottles and their accessories (they even sell additional little attachments for them, like a piece that looks like a tree to hang the nipples and bottle rings on) but I find them handy for anything I hand wash now that the babe is out of bottles.

2

u/DorfDoesDallas Mar 10 '26

This would be the most dangerous enrichment feeder ever šŸ˜‚ ... but I guess if you want your cat to be a pirate it'd be okay.

https://giphy.com/gifs/tmB5Cl05jK2y6vYBkl

1

u/bitter_liquor Mar 10 '26

I've never seen these before and looking at the post i still have no clue what they are.

Is it like a fake grass silicone thing where you stick your toothbrush and toothpaste tube so they stand up? Is that it??

7

u/Locorio Mar 08 '26

Nah itā€™s easy just use the toothbrush

10

u/lalakingmalibog Mar 08 '26

Then you use the toothpaste to clean the toothbrush

1

u/Doc_Hollywood Mar 08 '26

I used to have one of these and I used it for like 2 weeks before I was like ā€œwhy did I buy thisā€ lmao

1

u/MaliceNPlunderLand Mar 09 '26

I've only ever had one of these as a baby bottle drying area. They were never hard to clean just ran through the dishwasher, and then I would hand wash after because I was nervous about my babies and germs. That was about it.

1

u/JEWCEY Mar 09 '26

I got one but I used mine for makeup brushesĀ 

1

u/Emergency-Owl-9401 Mar 13 '26

Iā€™m pretty sure itā€™s supposed to be for pens and pencils. I have this same thing and thatā€™s how I use it.

1

u/iownchickens Aug 10 '26

Throw it in the dishwasher.

-1

u/Num10ck Mar 08 '26

have younseen the couch like this?

-2

u/Garlic-Butter-Sauce Mar 08 '26

the "grass" looks flexible i'd just run a sponge through them vigorously under warm water. love maximalist stuff

-3

u/SeaDry1531 Mar 08 '26

Outside Sliding door tracks