Great suggestions, Di and Yonuh -- all of them. Like the idea of using vinegar in the shower.

I didn't ever think about using vinegar in my dishwasher, but it makes good sense, especially since we have such hard water around here.

I have a very nice Cuisinart coffeemaker which stopped working with no warning. It was still under warranty, in fact. Per the instructions that came with it, I tried several times to de-lime the innards of the machine with vinegar, to no avail. I still have the machine, as I never got around to shipping it back to the manufacturer, and now it is out of warranty.

I'm still pretty sure the reason it stopped working is calcification of the area where the water is drawn up into the brewer, and I have often wondered if I could fix this by sticking a pipe cleaner into that area to help "scrub" off the lime.

But I'm never at a store that sells pipe cleaners.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for fixing this?

Meanwhile, here are some more ways to use vinegar around the house, courtesy of the website HellaWella.
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