Today as I was looking at my coffee mug with its coffee stains, I was recalling how those stains used to be difficult to get off.  So I decided to write a little note today about how we wash dishes with Norwex!  Most of us have an automatic dishwasher, but if you’re like us, there are some dishes that you still choose to do by hand.

The Norwex netted dish cloth is for cleaning your dishes with dish soap.  (I love the Norwex Dishwashing Liquid!  It’s low-sudsing (takes a bit of getting used to), and it does a GREAT job at getting dishes clean!) I guarantee that if you try to wipe your counters with this cloth you will leave puddles!  It’s not intended for that purpose.  It does provide great scrubbing power for washing dishes, dries quickly, and doesn’t provide germs an area to “set up house” & multiply!  A very common error when using Norwex products is when our customers use our Kitchen Cloths to wash their dishes!  They then tell me that their Kitchen Cloths have gotten very smelly!  And how we all hate the “stinky dish cloth”!   But if you’ve been to one of my Norwex parties, you already know that I educate you in using TWO separate cloths in your kitchen.  One for washing dishes (the Norwex netted dish cloth) and one for wiping counters, tables, etc, using JUST WATER (either a Norwex Enviro Clothor Kitchen Cloth).  Yes, this takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s very exciting to discover a “stinky-dish-cloth-solution”!!

I must also mention the fantastic NorwexSpirinetts These are our amazing no-rust stainless-steel scrubbers that provide some serious & quick “elbow grease” for cleaning pots and pans!!  (Spirinetts should not be used on surfaces that scratch easily, such as Teflon or porcelain though!)  Not only do customers love these for cleaning pots & pans, but also for oven cleaning (AWESOME in combination with our Oven & Grill Cleaner!)! And if you’re a “sponge person”, you will likely love our Spirisponge.  It can be washed in the top rack of your dishwasher (as can the netted dish cloth & the spirinetts).  It is a more disposable item than our cloths, so you’ll occasionally need to replace it.  Some people even use this sponge to scrub their flat-top stove. 

The Norwex Kitchen Cloths (the ones that come in green, tan & yellow) are to be used with WATER ONLY to wipe and sanitize your counters and tables.  (They also serve as great little-hand “napkins” at our house!)  However, as I mentioned above, IF you decide to use this antibac kitchen cloth to wash your dishes, you will find that it quickly takes on an odor!!  The grease & dish soap residue will quickly coat the silver agent that’s embedded in the fibers, making it ineffective against germs.  If you have done this, try soaking your cloths in concentrated Norwex Laundry Detergent overnight and then boiling them in a kettle on the stovetop for about 12 minutes.  This should help them release all the soap build-up, grease, and so forth.  And then begin using them properly… with just water.  Here’s a helpful tip that one of my good customers passed on in regards to the Kitchen Cloths:  “After each use, I scrub it (didn’t do this before, as with a regular counter cloth, I didn’t…had to change my habits), then I let it dry over the oven door handle, each time, so it does not sit wet.  This way, I can go one week without a sour smell to the Norwex kitchen cloth.  Before it would sour in about 3 days…love the cloths!!”   So remember to scrub it well against itself under water, wring it out well, and hang it to dry!  This will make for less frequent washing and boiling necessary!  And remember,use them just for wiping counters and tables with JUST water!

So back to my coffee stains.  I simply took the white netted dish cloth with the Norwex dish soap and scrubbed out the cup.  Then I dried it with the Norwex Suede Envirotowel (mint green).  (It makes a great dish-drying towel, especially if you’re a flour-sack dish towel fan!)  And my mug was sparkling clean and stain-free again!    In the photo, you’ll see the Dish Liquid, Netted Dish Cloth & Envirotowel setting by the mug.  I love Norwex kitchen towels as a “hand towel” for wiping hands in the kitchen or bath!!  And I use the kitchen cloths to wipe counters (again, NOT for washing dishes!).

I mentioned above how most of us have automatic dishwashers.  So I’ll take a moment to talk about the Norwex Dishwasher Detergent.  This one Norwex product that I get some mixed reviews on.  In certain homes/ water, it seems to work beautifully and customers are thrilled with it!  (I must add that most of my customers who love it also use the Norwex Magnet Ball in their dishwasher.)  And some people simply aren’t so crazy about it!  So it’s not a product I sell a lot of.  If you’re purchasing it, you have to remember that it does not have all the chemicals that you’ll find in many other detergents, so it is a safer choice, but also may not be quite as effective as those with bleach, etc.

Our Dishwasher Detergent is NOT recommended for dishwashers that have a stainless steel interior, as it may lead to discoloration of the stainless.  In our previous home, we had an older dishwasher that wasn’t fantastic, but after playing around a bit with the amount of Norwex detergent I was using, I eventually found an amount (used in combination with the Magnet Ball) that did the job.  And in fact, it also started to remove the yellow build-up that was all over the interior.  But in our new home, we have a dishwasher with a stainless interior, so I have not been using the Norwex Dishwasher Detergent.  But the Magnet Ball works great in all dishwashers!!  I have found it has really decreased my water spots on my glasses and I no longer need to use Jet Dry!  Wooo Hoo!!  🙂  When you use the Magnet Ball, be sure you are DECREASING the amount of detergent you are putting in!  This is whether or not you’re using the Norwex Dishwasher Detergent.

When I used the recommended amount of non-Norwex dishwasher detergent in combination with my Magnet Ball, I began getting a bad soap buildup on my dishes!  But when I decreased the amount, they began coming out beautifully clean!  (The Magnet Ball is sort of a crazy little thing, but it can really save you a lot of money given that you cut your detergent use by about 1/2!!  It pays for itself very quickly.  It can also be used in a standard (non-HE) top-loading washing machine.  Again, cut your laundry detergent approximately by half.)

As always, I hope this has been helpful!  Please contact me if you have any questions or would like assistance with placing an order.  And if you want to help us share Norwex across the USA and help us get chemicals out of our kitchens, our homes, and our environment, while earning a very good income, I am very honored to help you start your very own Norwex business!

Sonya