Don't buy a new kettle

Just a quick tip, courtesy of my mom: if your kettle gets rusty at the bottom, scrub it out with baking soda. Our stainless steel kettle was giving us rusty-tasting water, possibly because I sometimes under-fill it, or maybe because we've been using it so much more in hot-water bottle season. Hubby was thinking about buying one in the post-Christmas sales, but we've only had this one for three years, so I tried my mom's tip first. The kettle's plastic lid doesn't come all the way off, and it's sort of narrow at the top; I couldn't just use a regular wash cloth or scrubbing sponge. Instead, I grabbed our bottle brush, normally reserved for washing out baby bottles when we're not using the dishwasher. It worked like a charm, and I've had two rust-free cups of tea since! I now regret not doing this sooner... I'd been boiling water in a saucepan or the microwave for about a month!