Tag: kitchen cleaning

  • 5 Steps to getting your fridge clean

    5 Steps to getting your fridge clean

    Having a clean fridge is important for a number of reasons, and you will find that getting it clean is actually a rather easy part of our domestic cleaning. Whilst it is more commonly thought of as a part of your deep cleaning process, you should certainly attend to the fridge at least once a month, as otherwise it can get out of hand. If you feel like this is too often, then it may be worth having a contract cleaner, or a professional cleaning service round once a month, perhaps to do that and any oven cleaning, or even upholstery cleaning that you need to get sorted. Have a look over the following fridge cleaning tips and tricks to see if there is anything that you could be doing to improve on your technique when it comes to the house cleaning.

    1. First off, you need to empty the fridge. For this reason, it makes sense to do your kitchen cleaning at a point when you have less in the fridge to need to remove. The process of cleaning the kitchen will only take ten to twenty minutes, but the part where you take out and replace the food from inside will be a little longer. You should look during this process for any jars or food packets that are not needed any more, as left overs can be left untouched in there for ages, and get smelly and disgusting. You will find that there are probably more stains and things to get cleaned up when you have emptied the fridge than you may have thought there would be.

    2. Take out the shelves. These are usually removable, and will be made of glass, wire or plastic. Whatever the case, you should be able to fit them in a sink full of water and a bit of washing up liquid. Leave them to soak for a while as you attend to the other steps in the fridge cleaning process, and then when you get a chance, wash them up as if they were plates. Having soaked them, the dried on mess should have softened, and you won’t usually need much more than a rough sponge to get rid of the worst of the dirt.

    3. Take your sponge with some surface cleaning spray on it, or some washing up liquid, and run it around the inside of the fridge. You will find that it takes a minute or two to cover the whole of the inside, but once you have gotten a bit of a lather up, you can leave it to soak into the dried dirt. Once you have left it for a minute or two, you can get to scrubbing away the dirt with the rough side of a sponge. If the dirt is particularly dried on, don’t resort to wire wool, as get insides of most fridges are made from plastic, and this will scratch very easily if attacked with metal cleaning implements.

    4. You can clean the outside of the fridge if you feel like it is necessary. Do make sure that you pull it out from under the counter if you have a half sized one, to give it a proper clean, as it can get really dusty down there!

    5. At this point, all there is to do is replace the shelves and the food that you took out! Be sure that you clean off the containers, so that you are not putting dirty things back in to your newly cleaned fridge, and be sure to keep good care of it!

  • Oven Cleaning Guidelines Using Baking Soda

    Cleaning the inside of a kitchen oven

    Natural ways of oven cleaning (2)Today, people focus on going green and they try to make use of the products that are made by using home based products. Using as less chemicals as possible is one of the major points of green cleaning. It’s a good idea to use eco-friendly and nontoxic cleaning supplies if you want to have an easier time cleaning without any danger involved. The toxic fumes of most hardcore commercial cleaners require good ventilation, so you will need to do your best to avoid if you want to have an easier time overall. Commercial cleaners have been trained in cleaning with dangerous chemicals and dealing with toxins. Some people enjoy the cleaning process so much that they to decide to take on a course in cleaning operations, which are widely available to do. A job in commercial cleaning is well-sought out and must be done to a high standard to ensure proper safety. However, if you would like some tips on how to get the same results commercial cleaners achieve then carry on reading!

    Baking soda is quite effective for removing food spills and other stains from the oven. It can even deal with more stubborn stains as well. Baking soda can be considered the preferred cleaning product for oven cleaning due to its lack of toxicity and gritty, grease-cutting power which works pretty well on oven stains.

    Baking soda can replace a number of commercial cleaning products when people want to go green and hesitate to use the products that contain harsh chemicals to wipe off food spills and other stains. Some strong chemical cleaners, such as bleach can leave traces upon surfaces, which makes them dangerous when used around kitchens in concentrated form. As a result, these chemicals also get into our food and our bodies. On the other hand, baking soda has no smell and it happens to be safe in the quantities used. For this reason, we suggest avoiding the use of harsh chemical products altogether for oven cleaning, replacing them with baking soda that is easily and readily available. Apart from being environmentally friendly another great benefit of using baking soda is that it is very cheap and found pretty much everywhere. It is far cheaper than many commercial cleaning products. There are many ways you can use it for cleaning purposes that go beyond oven cleaning, especially when combined with an acidic substance such as vinegar or lemon juice.

    Normally baking soda is used along with a bit of water to get the job done but to make it more effective you can also make use of vinegar or liquid dish soap along with it. This will form a paste you can use in the oven with a sponge for optimum results. Leave it for few minutes so it can work its magic and rub the stubborn stains into oblivion. After that, make use of a clean, damp sponge to clean the oven. Baking soda is not a suitable disinfectant, however, as it simply doesn’t possess such a quality. You should work on disinfection through other means, such as borax for these purposes. It might also be ineffective for cleaning commercial kitchens or grease inside exhaust hoods. For such situations, it would be advisable to get in touch with Auburn Hood Cleaning Professionals or other similar service providers in your vicinity. However, when it comes to removing tough stains, distilled white vinegar has antibacterial properties that may easily complement those of baking soda. You may even use the mix to unclog your kitchen drain if the situation warrants its use and you have the patience for it. In these situations, however, it can be wise to consider the problems with DIY drain cleaning that can arise when done alone and unsupervised. Much like how the best results for oven cleaning come from hiring a professional in that area, so too is hiring one for unblocking drains like Apollo Plumbing and Drain Cleaning services, so you are not knee-deep in a blockage you can’t shift.

    For more ideas: Carpet Cleaning London

  • 5 Steps to getting your fridge clean

    5 Steps to getting your fridge clean

    5 Steps to getting your fridge clean

    Have you recently purchased a new refrigerator? Maybe you decided to go out and rent one from a rent appliances service for a few months until you are able to get your own. If so, you’ll know the importance of having a clean fridge. This is important for a number of reasons, and you will find that getting it clean is actually a rather easy part of our domestic cleaning. Whilst it is more commonly thought of as a part of your deep cleaning process, you should certainly attend to the fridge at least once a month, as otherwise, it can get out of hand. If you feel like this is too often, then it may be worth having a contract cleaner, or a professional cleaning service around once a month, perhaps to do that and any oven cleaning, or even upholstery cleaning that you need to get sorted. Have a look over the following fridge cleaning tips and tricks to see if there is anything that you could be doing to improve on your technique when it comes to the house cleaning.

    1. First off, you need to empty the fridge. For this reason, it makes sense to do your kitchen cleaning at a point when you have less in the fridge to need to remove. The process of cleaning the kitchen will only take ten to twenty minutes, but the part where you take out and replace the food from inside will be a little longer. You should look during this process for any jars or food packets that are not needed any more, as left overs can be left untouched in there for ages, and get smelly and disgusting. You will find that there are probably more stains and things to get cleaned up when you have emptied the fridge than you may have thought there would be.

    2. Take out the shelves. These are usually removable, and will be made of glass, wire or plastic. Whatever the case, you should be able to fit them in a sink full of water and a bit of washing up liquid. Leave them to soak for a while as you attend to the other steps in the fridge cleaning process, and then when you get a chance, wash them up as if they were plates. Having soaked them, the dried on mess should have softened, and you won’t usually need much more than a rough sponge to get rid of the worst of the dirt.

    3. Take your sponge with some surface cleaning spray on it, or some washing up liquid, and run it around the inside of the fridge. You will find that it takes a minute or two to cover the whole of the inside, but once you have gotten a bit of a lather up, you can leave it to soak into the dried dirt. Once you have left it for a minute or two, you can get to scrubbing away the dirt with the rough side of a sponge. If the dirt is particularly dried on, don’t resort to wire wool, as get insides of most fridges are made from plastic, and this will scratch very easily if attacked with metal cleaning implements.

    4. You can clean the outside of the fridge if you feel like it is necessary. Do make sure that you pull it out from under the counter if you have a half-sized one, to give it a proper clean, as it can get really dusty down there! While cleaning, you may also want to check if everything is working properly as none of us want a clean, malfunctioned fridge in our house. If at all you find any issues and cannot fix them yourself, there are websites like amanafridgerepair.com and similar other sites that could come to your aid.

    5. At this point, all there is to do is replace the shelves and the food that you took out! Be sure that you clean off the containers, so that you are not putting dirty things back into your newly cleaned fridge, and be sure to keep good care of it!

    With a simple, step-by-step process, you may find that your cleaned fridge feels new again. You could consider this a habit to develop to ensure that your food is stored in a hygienic place. This is simply because not cleaning out your fridge from time to time can have some unexpected and rather undesirable results– clogging of cooling vents, bad odor developed due to stale and rotting food, and more. While these may not bother you too much initially, this could cause your fridge to stop cooling like it used to. With the lack of proper cooling, the conditions on the inside of your fridge would be more suitable for pests like cockroaches to roam about freely. Considering the worst-case scenario, you would be compelled to call in sammamish pest control professionals (or wherever you’re based) to rid a possible infestation.

    You may be able to prevent infestations and overall degradation of your fridge by simply cleaning it regularly. Not only can you look at it as a hygienic habit, but you could also look at it as a way to ensure you eat food clean and free of any pests. That way, you could also be sure that your peers/children inculcate this habit of eating and keeping clean as well.

  • Clean Oven Grease Naturally

    Use Natural Solutions to Get off Oven Grease

    Have you ever gone to use your oven, and were totally grossed out by all the caked on oven grease? Is your oven a self-cleaning oven, and yet it still doesn’t ever seem to really get clean? Did you know many repairman have been called out due to the self cleaning function on ovens, because the high temperatures it takes to clean off oven grease are especially hard on the oven itself.

    Well, I have a tip to help you fight oven grease cheaply and naturally! However, before you begin going through them, keep in mind that it is important for you to keep your oven clean. If you allow grease buildup, then there is a good possibility that your device might soon start acting up, leading you to opt for Appliance Repair Services. Even worse, grease buildup can lead you to get the device replaced. That is why, it is prudent for you to clean the appliance at regular intervals. As said earlier, I have the below-mentioned tips ready for you to make your job easy.

    oven grease

    Instead of using harsh cleaners and chemicals, why not use the ever-so-handy baking soda! Conventional oven cleaners will dissolve the toughest oven messes, but they are packed full of corrosive chemicals like lye that are dangerous, especially if you have young children. Baking soda is a natural, chemical-free alternative that will make your cleaning job safer.

    Just sprinkle it in the oven then scrub down with a soapy, mildly abrasive sponge! For harder spots inside the oven, use a fine grade steel wool instead of a sponge since the inside surfaces might need more abrasion to take off the grime. No need for the toxic cleaners, and your oven grease won’t stand a chance!

    There are other natural cleaners for your oven as well. Baking lemons in water for 30 minutes gets rid of bad smells. Non-toxic dish soap (find them on trvst.world) is also good for grease, and is derived from plant sources that dissolve fat. For a more powerful cleaner, try mixing vinegar with baking soda (Dilute the vinegar first or it may “erupt” on you like a 2nd grade volcano experiment!) and apply with a sponge, then leave it to sit for a while. This will definitely make cleaning those caked-on stains much easier and less of a chore. Cleaning your oven regularly can help to avoid any malfunctions happening and causing you to have to buy a brand new oven constantly. Having a home warranty plan can get your oven replaced or fixed if it were to breakdown. However, it is always best to try and avoid this from happening with proper cleaning and maintenance.

    For more natural cleaning tips, check out some of our other posts, like Cleaning Your Dishwasher or 30 Uses for Hydrogen Peroxide.

  • 15 (Different) Uses For Blue Dawn Dish Soap

    Great Cleaning Tips Using Original BLUE Dawn Dish Soap!

    Blue Dawn Dish Soap is no longer limited to just washing your dirty dishes. While it works amazingly well for cleaning pans, pots, glass, tupperware, or any other diningware you can think of, it’s everything else it can clean that makes it so useful to have around the home. In fact, Blue Dawn is almost as versatile as baking soda when it comes to cleaning products! Here are a few tips that will make cleaning your home that much easier.

    1. Pretreat Stains from Clothing or Upholstery
    It seems that most stains people tend to get are oil based stains; this is one of the hardest kind of stains to get out. Some examples of oil based products that commonly end up on clothes/furniture is lipstick, butter, motor or cooking oil, grease, and certain pen inks. Dawn dish soap can take care of these stains for you! All you have to do when faced with an oily stain is apply the soap directly to the stain and scrub the spot with a toothbrush until the oil stain is removed. For clothes, launder as you normally would after this.

    2. Make your ant problem disappear
    Getting rid of ants is easy with Dawn Dish Soap. Spray a mixture of water and Dawn directly onto countertops, floors, sinks, or wherever the ants seem to be. This will leave behind a residue that ants refuse to walk across. It is also safe for kids and pets, so you don’t have to worry about any harsh chemicals. If you spray the solution directly on an ant, Dawn will penetrate their exoskeleton and kill them on contact. This also works for wasps and cockroaches. If you have a bigger infestation than you initially thought, you’ll want to get in contact with professional exterminator services such as pest control Olathe KS that provide their services in many other areas too!

    3. Window Washing
    Clean your windows like a pro with Blue Dawn! Fill a spray bottle with only three drops of Dawn to a gallon of water, then clean your windows the same as you would with any other window cleaner. This will leave your windows shiny and streak-free!

    4. Remove Stains from Your Driveway
    We always want to keep our driveways clean because they’re one of the first things people see when they arrive at your house. This is why people get pearland pressure washing companies to clean their driveway regularly. But what do you do if you find there’s a stain on your driveway? A lot of concern with using chemicals is whether it is biodegradable or not. There are many chemical degreasers and solvents that could get rid of outside stains, but they aren’t really good for the environment. Blue Dawn, though, is and it can take care of stains in your driveway. First, use the kitty litter method to pick up all the extra oils then use warm water and Dawn Dish Soap to further remove oils from your pavement with great effectiveness. Finish the job by using a little elbow grease and a scrub broom on the spot, and your driveway will soon by stain free!

    5. Take Control of Smelly Pets and their Pesky Pests
    Were you aware that Dawn can kill fleas on contact? It is not as expensive as dog/cat shampoos, and safe for the babies who are too small to be given medicine for their flea problems. For bathing larger animals, use 1 tsp per gallon of water and half a tsp for smaller animals. Make sure to rinse THOROUGHLY or the leftover residue will dry and cause mild skin irritation for your furry friend. To help add moisture to their fur and skin, finish the bath with a few drops of conditioner.

    *BONUS* To completely get rid of fleas, make sure to clean any furniture your pet may use often as well as the carpets. Wash your pet beds in warm water mixed with Dawn soap. To clean carpet or upholstery, fill a 16oz spray bottle with water and 1 tsp of Dawn Dish Soap. Shake well to mix them together, then spray the solution onto whatever needs cleaned. Let this sit for 15 minutes, then wipe down with a damp towel and vacuum (for the carpet).

    6. Unclog Your Drain
    Instead of calling a plumber, try Dawn Dish Soap to get rid of clogs in your drain. To make the solution boil 3-4 tbsp of Dawn in a pot full of water. Pour this mixture down the clogged sink drain, but be careful not to burn yourself! This will break down most sink clogs because Dawn can break down grease. If it’s not just grease blocking pipes and there’s still a blockage then you can get Tucson plumbers to help get rid of it. Failing to address the problem in time could cause the issue to snowball and become even more costly to fix. This is why you should find professional plumbers local to you and contact them so that they can come and solve whatever plumbing problem is getting you down. Perhaps turning to the likes of Elite Plumbing in El Monte could be the solution to your problem and return your plumbing to working order once more.

    7. Clean Grimy, Messy Tools
    Dawn is a lifesaver for cleaning tools in your workshed because of how tough it is on grease. Right after finishing your automotive projects, soak your tools in Dawn and water to remove all the grime and oils from them. Many mechanics also claim that Dawn can keep the tools from rusting.

    8. Find Leaks with Bubbles
    Find a puncture in any tire by mixing Dawn Dish Soap and water and brushing the soapy mixture on the leaky tire. The exact location will be easy to find because it will bubble in that spot. You can try this same method with anything that holds air to find a hole.

    9. Keep Glasses Lenses Clean and Defogged
    Prevent fogging of your lenses by rubbing a drip of Dawn Dish Soap on eyeglasses and the wipe them off. This will clean them and leave a film that prevents fogging.

    10. Get Gunk Out of Your Hairbrush
    Mix 1 tbsp of Dawn Dish Soap, 1 tbsp of borax, and ¼ cup of water, soak your dirty combs and brushes in the mixture. Rinse well and let dry.

    11. Keep Yourself Clean When Painting
    Before starting a paint job, rub straight Dawn Dish Soap over your hands and arms, wherever you think paint might end up, and let dry. When you’re finished painting, any paint that may have gotten on your will wash right off your skin.

    12. Clean Up Your Fireplace
    You can use Dawn to remove soot that has settled or hardened onto the external bricks of your fireplace by combining equal parts Dawn Dish Soap and Morton Salt. Add enough water to this mixture to make a cream, then rub the mixture into the brick with a cloth. Wait 10 minutes, then scrub the dried solution with a stiff brush and wipe clean with a wet sponge.

    13. Make Your Grill Look Good-As-New
    Clean up your grill for those Sunday dinners out on the deck. First place the grease-coated grill in a trash bag that can be sealed. Using a half cup of Dawn Dish Soap to a gallon of water, pour the soapy mixture over the rack that’s inside the bag, seal it, and let it sit overnight. The next day, scrub the grill with a wire brush and rinse.

    14. HAVE FUN!
    This is a giant bubble recipe used in bubble makers at many museums for children.

    Gently stir a mixture of half a cup of Ultra Dawn, half a gallon of warm water, and 1 tbsp of glycerin (available at any drug store). Skim the foam off the top, because too much foam keeps bubbles from forming. Then just dip bubble wand and begin blowing. Have fun!!

    15. Save the World!
    Sort of at least-You can use Dawn to do your part in saving wildlife. By supporting Dawn products, you are also supporting efforts to clean oil spills and protect wildlife across the globe. Dawn Dish Soap is the preferred wildlife cleaner after an oil spill. According to the “International Bird Rescue Research Center,” Dawn is the most effective at removing grease while not harming the skin of birds. It is also biodegradable and doesn’t contain phosphates.

    DAWN WILL DONATE $500,000
    TO HELP SAVE WILDLIFE THIS YEAR!!
    Over the past year, Dawn donated a total of $500,000 ($250,000 each) to two wildlife organizations-The International Bird Rescue and The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC)- so when you’re using these tips just remember, you’re supporting a company that contributes back in a great way!

    On a side note if you ever need a carpet cleaning service, and you live in the beautiful Eureka CA area. Give A-1 Cleaning Service, LLC a call. They also perform carpet cleaning in Arcata Ca.

    For more great cleaning tips, see some of our other posts like our tips for Removing Grass Stains or Must Haves for Your Cleaning Kit!