Have you ever woken up to a fat stack of dirty dishes in your sink accompanied by a pile of pots and pans on the counter? It makes you second guess how much you want that first cup of coffee and running back to the safety of your bed.

Removing stains and food from dishes can be innocuous on the surface, but many people find themselves spending more time trying to remove stubborn stains than is necessary.

No one wants to spend any more time washing dishes than they have to, and it’s easy to leave dishes, pots, and pans to fester for so long that doing anything about them becomes a daunting task. Here are three tips and tricks that will save you time and effort and get your cookware looking cleaner.

Removing tea and coffee stains from cups and mugs

Those grimy, sepia-tinged smears can be a pain to get rid of the traditional way, particularly if they’ve built up over time. This little trick really works and couldn’t be simpler.

1. Add a teaspoon of washing powder to an empty mug.
2. Fill the mug to the brim with boiling water.
3. Leave it to soak for an hour.
4. Tip the contents down the sink, wipe clean, and rinse thoroughly.

Those icky brown stains will slide right off your cups and mugs, and breath new life back into your cabinets.

Making use of your kettle

This one seems obvious, but it’s surprising how many people don’t think to use boiling water when soaking baking dishes or bowls with dried-on food. That extra bit of heat from using boiling water, rather than relying on whatever temperature you can get from your tap, makes a huge difference.

Be sure not to use boiling temperatures on certain types of materials, like plastics, that do not have the proper heat tolerance. There are many types of Kettles out there, but a cheap kettle will do the job and everyone should have reasonable access to them!

Keep a metal scourer on hand

Advocates of non-stick cookware will say that using a metal scouring pad removes the chemical coating found on pots and pans, which may be true, but if you have a scourer, you don’t need non-stick. This is particularly worth remembering when you consider that the coating will flake off with all but the most expensive non-stick cookware over time anyway.

It’s also worth noting that prominent glassware brands (e.g., for baking dishes) recommend using metal scourers as the most effective method to clean their products.

Get back to doing what you love faster.

After adding these 3 simple tips to your arsenal, you’ll significantly reduce how long it takes to remove stains and food from dishes. No more fearing those dishes that have been left sitting too long in “the soak.”

Get back to doing what you love doing in no time!