Isn’t it frustrating to spend a great deal of time washing glassware only to find them nice and dry with a bunch of unsightly cloudy spots flawing the surface of all your glasses? Why is this happening? Well, tap water can be hard water, containing all sorts of minerals like magnesium and calcium that adhere to the once-perfect surface of your glassware. The high mineral content in ordinary water is to be blamed for the same deposits you notice on your mirror, sink or tub, but whilst the latter can be regularly cleaned with chemical household cleaners, you can’t use those for dishes as well. Throwing your glassware away is also not a very appealing idea. So what do you do? Fortunately, there is more than one method you can use to wipe your glassware clear of any mineral deposits.

Buy cheap, ordinary white toothpaste and use a soft toothbrush to scrub the cloudiness away from the glasses. Rinse the toothpaste off your glassware and wash the glasses with mild dish cleaners.

A very common solution used to remove the mineral deposits staining your glassware is based on vinegar. Take a large, deep pan, fill it with water, add a cup of white vinegar and heat this mixture to boiling point. Put the pan into the sink and place your glassware in it, leaving them to soak in for a few minutes. Then wash your glasses like you’d normally do and rinse them. If you still notice stains on the glasses, let them sit in the vinegar & water solution for a larger amount of time, or simply soak a sponge into vinegar and use that to rub away the cloudiness from the glassware.

A mixture of baking soda and water can also help you get rid of glass stains. Use a toothbrush to scrub the mix onto the cloudy spots, rinse the glassware completely and wash them using a mild dish cleaning solution to make sure you get rid of the residue left from the baking soda.

Last but not least, use hot water with a little bit of ammonia in it to remove cloudiness from your glasses. Let your glasses sit in the solution for half an hour, rinse them and use a mild detergent to get rid of ammonia traces.

To prevent future mineral deposits when using dishwashers, add a tablespoon of white vinegar during the unit’s rinsing cycle.