How to Clean Inside Bottles

A simple way to clean inside awkward bottles.

I've called this post "How to clean inside bottles" but it should have the subtitle "and other awkward containers including lightbulb shaped solar garden lights". This method works to clean inside any kind of container with a opening that's too small for a cloth or brush.

We have some solar powered lights that hang in the garden in the summer, they charge up in the day and start to glow as it gets dark.

They are shaped like light bulbs and have little clips on them so you can hang them pretty much anywhere. They were super inexpensive and to be honest I wasn't expecting them to last long enough to need cleaning but about this time last year, as summer drew to a close I took them down to put away for the winter and I realised they had got a bit grubby inside.

This trick to clean inside awkward little containers and bottles is not one I invented, my nan showed me how to do this many many years ago and as it works so well I thought it was worth sharing here. 

All you need is a little squeeze of dish washing liquid and rice.

Any dish washing liquid will do, here in the UK the main brand is Fairy liquid, I believe in the US you have Dawn. It's the kind of product when the main brand is often used in place to the generic word isn't it? 

All you do it add a few drops of washing up liquid, a teaspoon of rice and then a few drops of warm water to your bottle, container or lightbulb shaped garden light.

Just swish the rice, soap, water mix round until the inside is clean and then tip away the rice/soap mix. It'll take a couple of minutes, that's all. Leave it all to dry with the lid off. Then if it's bulb lights like this,  just put it all back together and store them safely until next spring. 

See, nice and clean!

I just thought you might find it useful one day!