Spring Cleaning [General]

2008 Apr 11
Ok the snow if finally melting, and Spring is in the air, and with that comes the inevitable "Spring Cleaning". It suddenly occurred to me just how many products I keep in the kitchen to get this job done:

SOS Pads - for cleaning the stainless steel sink
Scotchbrite Pads - for non-scratch surfaces
Lysol Wipes - for sanitizing the counters
Stainless Steel Cleaner - for the appliances
Cooktop Cleaner
Microwave Pop-Ups
Windex - for windows, light fixtures, etc.
add to this:
Pumped Hand Soap
Dish Soap
Dishwasher Detergent
Dishwasher Rinse Agent
The Swiffer for the Floor
The Hand Held Wet-Dry Vac
Paper Towels
Rubber Gloves
Garbage Bags

No wonder there is no room left under the kitchen sink!

So are you a naturalist (baking soda & soapy water, or vinegar) or do you have your favorite products? And do you actually do a Spring Cleaning of your Kitchen where you tear it all apart to give a good cleaning to every nook & cranny?

2008 Apr 11
I used to do New Year cleaning. I am getting old and my energy level has been reduced. My kitchen is not as clean as it used to be.

I used baking soda to clean the sink and counter top. It really works to get rid the stains and grease build-up from stir-frying.

2008 Apr 11
We're going green bit by bit. BTW, for cleaning the microwave just boil water and vinegar - you'll find it works just as well. We did. Put 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar in a 2 cup measure (total 1/2 to 3/4 cup). Let it boil like crazy for 30-40 seconds, then turn off the MW and leave it closed for a few minutes to keep the steam in. Open, and clean.

I'll take a look to see what all we have, and post another note.

2008 Apr 11
Zymurgist - I'd kind of like to be more green, but it is convenience that gets me every time. I do clean out the fridge with hot soapy water and vinegar, but "if" they made a product specifically safe for the fridge (and as far as I know they don't - someone should start, LOL) I'd buy that too. I have done the green thing with the microwave (did a lemon in water), the steam was good, but then ya still gotta wipe down the oven with papertowel. The pop-ups are all in one, nuke em, wipe em, and go. And the wipe itself holds together better than just papertowel.

Best thing that ever happened though in kitchen cleaning was self-defrosting fridges and self-cleaning ovens. I remember my mother doing these chores as a kid. They took hours, and in the case of the oven, they were totally toxic. (I don't even want to think about any residue cooking in the oven with the Christmas turkey).


2008 Apr 11
Several years ago we bought a few packages of shop towels from Crappy Tire (white ones) and we use those instead of paper towel. And the best part is that they are good for many, many more things than you can use paper towel for.

2008 Apr 11
Zym - Maybe I should look at getting some of those. I used to use J-Cloths, but found they fell apart anyways, or got really stinky (think they smell wierd out of the box anyways), or my all time favourite transferred their colour to other surfaces. :-(

2008 Apr 12
Just a note to those who use the self-cleaning feature in their ovens:

Please make do you NOT have birds in the house when you use it! Toxic, fatal fumes are released (along the same lines as overheating non-stick cookware).

*The vigilant bird owner recedes back into darkness*

Happy spring cleaning though guys :]

2008 Apr 12
Saurian - By all means thanks for the Public Service Announcement.

I Didn't know that. And I bet a lot of others don't either (including bird owners). It would be a sad way to find out. :-(

2008 Apr 13
Oven cleaner is gross. I can't stand the smell, ammonia is much more "green" for oven cleaning but I can't stand the smell of that either, so I use Lestoil. It does have a bit of a smell, but not nearly as bad, and nothing could be as toxic as that Easy-Off type crap. I use vinegar, baking soda, washing soda and usually some sort of abrasive cleanser (old Dutch or something similar). That's pretty much all I use.

2008 Apr 13
To put a little product placement advert here. I got this really cool 'wood fibre' based washcloth from Home Hardware. They claim it doesn't get smelly like normal dishcloths, because the wood fibre is naturally anti microbial. So far.. has worked great!

2008 Apr 13
P-i-O: I, too, am a fan of the Natura Cloth. I've had a few for a few years now and they look almost new. For disinfecting I use a weak bleach & water solution (used only on meat & seafood prep surfaces typically), and for regular cleaning we use a natural cleaner. That's about all I use. Water, soap & elbow grease seem to work well for me.

2008 Apr 14
I've never used bleach on mine. It does get washed (in the clothswasher) occasionally, and it regularly gets microwaved till it's steamy ( 3 mins ).

2008 Apr 14
Oh yeah... Food & Think, you mentioned you used "Scotchbrite Pads - for non-scratch surfaces". Just be careful... some (all?) of those scotchbrite are still abrasive and WILL scratch soft surfaces such as the acrylic used in some bathtubs and sinks. It's one of those funny things.. cleaners will say 'bathroom, or 'tub and tile' and suchforth, but there is a world of difference between the surface of a glazed cast iron tub, and an acrylic on fibreglass tub. I ONLY use washcloths to wash my acrylic tub.

2008 Apr 14
I've been having a kitchen cleaning battle for the past few years. It's specifically me against my gas stove top. I don't know what the parts are really called but there is a grey enameled grate over each burner (four of them) and two grey trays going front to back around two burners each.

These things are pretty gross with seemingly fused on blackness. It was like this when we moved in and I've manged to scrub off a lot with one of those green scrubby sponges and some dish soap as well as a baking soda / vinegar solution but it still isn't totally off. I'd say it's 30% 'contaminated'

I was thinking of filling a bucket with oven cleaner and letting the parts soak in there but I'd really want to be less toxic. I actually think I'd rather buy new parts instead of doing that.

So two questions:

1-How to clean the nasty?
2-Where to get new parts?

2008 Apr 14
The only cleaning products I have are dish soap and vinegar. The dish soap is obviously for cleaning dishes and the vinegar is for cleaning everything else. I like using vinegar - it makes everything squeaky clean and it doesn't smell. I also have those j-cloth issues since they seem to disintegrate after half a dozen uses or so. Those shop towels that Zymurgist uses sounds great. Mind you I could be really cheap and tear up old t-shirts like my mother did and use them as rags... I have one of those self-defrosting fridges but I still clean it out once a month for clutter control. I always seem to find one fruit or veggie that got lost at the back of the fridge and is toast or a bottle of something that I thought I would use and what do you know it is past the expiry date. Now if I can keep the rest of my apartment as clean as the kitchen....

2008 Apr 15
Chimichimi & Pete-in-Ottawa - I haven't tried those Natura cloths... I don't know much about them, other than the commercial. When you go to the store and look at the package it is hard to tell much... are they soft, absorbant? Maybe if I saw one, I could make a better decision if they'd work for me.

As for scotchbrite, I agree there are different "levels" of non-abrasive (but somewhat abrasive) pads that they make. I buy the most gentle one (comes in a box like SOS pads) and I haven't had any issues todate.

Tiana - I hear you regarding the oven cleaner... it is gross! But it would probably work on the on grunge on your gas grates. As an alternative you might want to try the following (less caustic / toxic)... "The Man" gives the BBQ a spring tune each year. He uses a Mr. Clean product, comes in a squirt bottle (like Fantastic, believe the label is pink). It says it is for heavy cleaning. You could spray the grates, and then soak them in a bucket of hot soapy water, and then scrape off the gunk (this is how "The Man" does the BBQ grates). Can be quite messy though, so you might want to do what he does... do it outside in a bucket. When you're done you can spray it all off with the hose (thereby not getting any gunk in the house).

Probably worth a try before you have to put out a large chunk of money for replacement grates.


2008 Apr 15


Don't forget the SHAM WOW !!!

---> www.shamwow.com/ <---

2008 Apr 15
Captain C - LOL, there seems to an increase in these crazy type of commercials lately. "The Man" loves saying -- "But, if you call in the next 10 minutes, you can get not just one, not two, but three of this (whatever the wonder product of the day is) for no not $ 49.99, no not even $ 29.99, but for an amazing $ 19.99."

SHAZAM-WAM-SHAM-WOW Indeed!