HTCI Life Hack: Cleaning the K-Cup Chamber

Here’s a handy tip for all of you House That Cleans Itselfers who also happen to be coffee lovers. 

If you’re a Keurig fan like me, chances are you’ve faced the dreaded “4 hole clog” issue before. Maybe it’s the type of K-cup I use most often (Grove Square Cappuccino French Vanilla—yum!) but after almost every cup I find that there’s gunk clogging the 4 bottom holes of the primary chamber.

By “primary chamber,” I’m talking about the black removable piece into which you place the disposable K-Cup, as shown in this photo:

At the bottom of this chamber are four holes through which your coffee is supposed to pour when you run the machine. But when you take your chamber out, hold it up to the light, and try to look through it, if you don’t see four open holes at the other end, then you’re clogged.

A quick rinse or soap-and-water wash doesn’t always clear the problem, but you shouldn’t stick anything down inside the chamber such as a washcloth because there are dangerous and specifically-positioned needles in there.

Fortunately,  I figured out one simple trick that always works:  Turn the chamber upside down and poke the holes clear with a corn holder!  The prongs of the corn holder are an exact fit for the holes in the chamber and they don’t go anywhere near the needles. Simply slide the prongs through the holes from the bottom, wash and rinse the chamber, and you’re good to go.

Seems like an extremely minute issue in the big picture of things, but to my mind any cleaning method that saves time and trouble is one worth mentioning for a House That Cleans Itself.  Hope it helps!

LIFE HACK FOR WRITERS ... or for Anyone Who Does Their Best Thinking in the Shower

Take a look at this photo and see if you can guess what the blue thing is on the top shelf, next to the shampoo.

Think you got it? It’s one of a pack of…

…bathtub markers.

So why do I keep a bathtub marker in the shower? Because inevitably that’s where I happen to be when some of my best story-related solutions come to me—but if I don’t write them down, I tend to forget them by the time the shower is done.

Thus, a few years ago I bought a pack of bathtub markers, and I keep one in the shower at all times, for when inspiration strikes. That usually looks something like this:

A few tips if you decide to give this a try:

• There has to be one wall in your shower that doesn’t get hit directly with water from the shower head, otherwise it might rinse off as you’re writing it.

• Once your shower’s done, either take a photo of your notes or jot them down, then go ahead and rinse the marker off the shower wall right away. (Not sure but it might stain if you left it there too long.) 

• Of course, follow directions on the package to prevent other kinds of staining, such as with grout.

The best part about this little hack is that by writing down your thoughts, you don’t have to focus on remembering them, and thus your brain is free to keep rolling around some more—and keep coming up with other great ideas.

One caveat, when I shared this idea with a friend, she told me about this:

Sorry the image is so small!

which looks like it might be an even better solution, I’m not sure. Either way, if you’re a “shower genius”, then I highly recommend you try one method or the other, just to make your life a little easier.