LESLIE: Mariana in Rhode Island finds The Money Pit on WPRO. What can we do for you today?
MARIANA: Hi. We just recently moved into a new house. New dishwasher, new flatware. But I find that it leaves stains. It looks like there are rust stains on the flatware. And I was wondering if you had any suggestions.
LESLIE: What is your flatware made out of? Is it sterling? Is it stainless?
MARIANA: It’s stainless. I tried to buy like that 18/10 – you know, they told me …
LESLIE: Oh, it’s like the middle of the road between the sterling and the stainless. I have the same. You should never, ever put the sterling silver – even that derivative of sterling; the in-between one that you have – in the dishwasher because when you wash them, they need to dry immediately. So if you were to handwash them and then hand dry them you would get no spots. It’s something about the metal and the heat and sitting in the dryer causes them to wear really easily. And if you do have stainless and you do have real silver, you should never wash them together because one reacts with the other. So it’s always best to just handwash your silver or, if you’re going to put them in the dishwasher, take them out before the drying phase and just dry them real quick.
TOM: And Mariana, if that’s like way too much trouble for you and you don’t care that much about your flatware, what you might also want to try is a rinsing agent like JET-DRY or something of that nature because what that does is that coats your dishes in the rinse cycle and it helps the water evaporate off them more quickly.
LESLIE: Like it beads up off of it.
TOM: Yeah, it’s kind of like – it beads up a bit and it runs off more quickly and reduces spotting.
MARIANA: OK, great. Thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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