3 Smart (and Surprising!) Ways to Use a Tide Pen in the Kitchen

Shifrah Combiths
Shifrah Combiths
With five children, Shifrah is learning a thing or two about how to keep a fairly organized and pretty clean house with a grateful heart in a way that leaves plenty of time for the people who matter most. Shifrah grew up in San Francisco, but has come to appreciate smaller town life in Tallahassee, Florida, which she now calls home. She's been writing professionally for twenty years and she loves lifestyle photography, memory keeping, gardening, reading, and going to the beach with her husband and children.
published Nov 15, 2021
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We’ve all been there: Coffee dribbles or unsightly spaghetti sauce splashes blazoned on an otherwise perfectly white shirt. Powerful Tide Pens, small enough to conveniently fit in a bag or stash in the car, are the on-the-go, stain-busting answer to save you the embarrassment of having to go through the entire day with food or ink stains stuck on your shirt.

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But handy Tide Pens work beyond the laundry, too. After testing a trusty Tide Pen in a few different kitchen applications, we found three super-smart uses that we wanted to pass on to you!

Credit: Cat Meschia

1. Take care of dirty grout lines.

While going over every inch of grout along your backsplash or kitchen floor with a Tide Pen would be overwhelming, it is perfect for cleaning small sections. The pen’s point is stiff enough and just the right size to agitate the cleanser along those thin lines. Once you’ve taken care of the small area and admired your work, be sure to take a rag and wipe everything down.

Related: How To Clean a Greasy Tiled Backsplash and Grout

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2. Clean the crevices of the microwave and the buttons on your dishwasher pad.

Run a Tide Pen inside your microwave where the walls meet. It’ll zap all that sticky crud. You can also use the pen to clean the button pad on your dishwasher, too! Again, the Tide Pen’s stiffness is key to how well it cleans these little details. It guides debris out of the way while depositing detergent, which loosens and lifts gunky grease instantly from hard-to-reach areas. 

Credit: Erika Tracy

3. Bust grease from your Instant Pot’s “ledge.”

You probably clean the liner and lid of your Instant Pot every time you use it. But take a closer look at the rim between the interior that holds the liner and the outer wall. It’s under a lip and isn’t the easiest to clean. A Tide Pen is narrow enough to be able to poke into that space and the detergent will dissolve grease splatter and other food stains effortlessly. Just be sure to take a rag and wipe everything down to clean off any Tide Pen residue once you’re done.

Read more: How To Clean an Instant Pot

What other clever ways do you use a Tide Pen for cleaning? Tell us in the comments below, and we might just write about your suggestion!

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