Dear Heloise: I have two thermal mugs. One is for coffee, and one is for tea. They can’t be used in the microwave or in the dishwasher. To get the stains out, I boil some water and put it in the mugs. I then add a couple of squirts of lemon juice. I let it soak until the water gets cold. Later when I wash them with my other dishes, the stains just wipe away.

I also use this method to get the rust out of my shower curtains. I boil a pot of water with several squirts of lemon juice. I move the pot of water into the sink, add in the shower curtain (tamping it down occasionally), and launder it as usual after the water has gone cold. I admit I got this hint from a woman’s magazine. It worked so well with the shower curtain that I tried it on the mugs, and it worked for them, too. — Liz Nass,

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