Keep Water Spots Off Your Fixtures (& Other Tips)

I'm not ticky about everything, but I cannot STAND water spots on my fixtures.  It drives me crazy to have spotty, splotchy handles and spouts.  I have tried different polishes, different cleaners, all sorts of things.  Then I started trying unconventional things....dryer sheets (did ok actually), baby oil (epic fail), and many more.

I thought the dryer sheets were going to be the best I could do...they did pretty darn well actually and would be a good use if you don't keep the winner around typically.

The winner was WAX PAPER!  I took a small scrap of wax paper and rubbed it, waxy side down, on my fixtures after they were cleaned and dried.  It created a thin, water resistant, wax coating on them and kept the water from drying in spots everywhere.

The dryer sheets do this same thing, but the residue they leave is a little different and wears off quicker.

I would not recommend using this on your stainless steel appliances.  It is such a big surface that I couldn't get the coating even and it just looked like a dull film on them.  But on smaller surfaces like fixtures...PERFECTION!

If you don't keep wax paper in the house and need to justify purchasing it, here are a few other uses for wax paper:

Loosen dirt from garden tools.  The sticky wax surface grabs dirt and pulls it right off while providing a waxy rust protectant coat to tools.

Line the area above cabinets with wax paper to catch the dust, then remove every couple months or so and replace with a new piece.

Roll up squares of wax paper to use as a funnel for putting ingredients or items into jars or other small containers.

Line drawers and cabinets.  Wax paper makes a great, disposable shelf and drawer liner.  It catches dust and dirt and then can just be thrown away.

Keep a door from jamming in the frame.  If you have a door that is sticking, you can rub it down with wax paper to keep it gliding into the frame easily rather than sticking.

Keep zippers moving smoothly and unstick zippers that are frozen by rubbing the teeth down with the waxy side of wax paper.  The coating keeps the zipper moving.

Use under wood clamps to keep clamps from sticking to wood glue.

Use to catch drips from hot glue guns.

Keep candle colors from bleeding during storage by wrapping them in wax paper first.

Use to dry candies or dipped strawberries.

Use a piece of wax paper on your swiffer sweeper head to catch dirt like a dust mop.


Do you have any other uses for wax paper or any other ideas for keeping fixtures spot free?  Let me know about them right here....