The girls have one of those silver dinner bells that you can find at most any tourist destination in their stash of tub toys. It makes a fun sound underwater and it gets on mom’s nerves, which means it is the PERFECT thing to play with!

Trouble is, silver bells and constant exposure to water don’t really mix well, and the end result is rust. But rather than have to sink another $5 into a bell I can’t stand, I thought I’d take a crack at fixing the one we already own and hate love.

The process is really quite simple! What you need is some lemon juice and some Borax Laundry Booster. If you don’t already have some of this in your laundry room, I most definitely recommend that you get some! This is a product that is a serious work horse in our house. It does a bajillion different things! One of which is to help remove rust, so let’s get crackin’ on that project, shall we?

Ok, do you have your lemon juice and Borax ready? Simply combine equal parts lemon juice and Borax to make a paste. Since my project was small, I used 2 Tbsp of each, and probably could have gotten away with half that amount.

 

Apply the paste to rusted areas and allow to sit for 30 minutes.

Next, take a cloth (I used a cotton dish rag) and wipe the rusted areas. I went back and forth over it a few times and saw these results:

 

While it didn’t remove every little bit of rust, I also had a strangely shaped object that made it difficult for every piece to “soak” in the mixture for the 30 minute timeframe. I think the results are pretty great, actually, and I’ll definitely use this again the next time I have to bring some object back from the depths of rusted despair. Pretty neat trick, huh? Super cheap. Super easy. All thanks to Borax!

Don’t forget to pin this post on your Pinterest board of DIY tips and tricks! 

I received a complimentary box of Borax through the Purex Insiders program in exchange for my honest opinions. I was previously a fan of Borax and would recommend it to anyone! This post contains an affiliate link.