Homemade Kitchen Cleaners
There are many cleaning needs in the kitchen from stoves and countertops to dishes and we have a recipe for a homemade cleaning product to suit every kitchen cleaning need.
Homemade Oven Cleaner
A great way to keep your oven clean without the use of chemical based oven cleaners is to simply sprinkle a little baking soda inside when you have a spill. For general cleaning, you can just dampen the sides and bottom and sprinkle baking soda. Leave it there for about an hour and then just wash it away with a clean damp rag. To prevent your oven from needing to be cleaned regularly, just dip a sponge in vinegar and wipe the sides and bottom down about once a week.
Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner
For those really tough oven stains and spills, just mix a cup of vinegar with ¼ cup of powdered laundry soap until it makes a paste. Heat the oven for at least 5 minutes at 350 and then turn it off. Spread the paste evenly adding a bit more for really greasy places and leave there for an hour. You can use a plastic spatula to scrape the paste off and the grime will come with it.
Kitchen Counter Cleaner
To easily clean kitchen counters, just mix about a cup of liquid dish soap with ¼ cup of vinegar in a spray bottle. Spray stains and wipe clean with a damp rag. For really tough stains, you can leave the solution on the counter for about 15 minutes and then just wipe the stain away. Vinegar is also a great disinfectant, so this cleans and gets rid of germs.
Homemade Drain-O
You don't have to use chemicals to unclog your sinks. If you have a lot of water standing in the sink, bail as much out as you can. Then just pour 1 cup of baking soda directly down the drain followed by 1 cup of vinegar. You should see it bubble up as soon as the vinegar goes in. Use a plunger to dislodge any large clogs and the vinegar and baking soda will do the rest. To keep sinks from clogging, pour boiling water directly down the drain about once each week.
Stovetop Cleaner
Stovetops tend to get greasy and grimy after cooking and to easily clean them, you just have to sprinkle a bit of baking soda over the stove and then wipe the grease and grime away with a damp rag. Make sure that you squeeze the excess water from your rag so that it doesn't dilute the baking soda too much.
Glass Stovetop Cleaner
Glass stovetops are popular but boy are they hard to keep clean! You can easily clean up stains from those glass tops with just a little baking soda and a damp rag. For everyday cleaning, just wipe the stovetop down with vinegar each night when you clean the kitchen. The vinegar will clean up most stains and will give your glass tops a great shine.
Dishwasher Detergent
You can make your own automatic dishwasher detergent with just 1 cup of borax, 1 cup of washing soda (you can find these at most grocery stores) and a little vinegar. Just mix the dry ingredients together and use 1 tablespoon for large loads and ½ tablespoon for small loads. Add the vinegar as a rinsing agent to keep spots from your glasses.
Hand Dishwashing Soap
If you don't have a dishwasher or you simply prefer to wash dishes by hand on occasion, you can make your own dish soap with a bar of ivory soap and a little water. You will want to grate the flakes and add to a large pot with ½ gallon of water. Boil for 10 minutes to dissolve the flakes and then pour into a glass jar to cool. Just add about a tablespoon or however much you want to your sinks for washing dishes.
Homemade Kitchen Soft Scrub
Mixing baking soda and a little liquid soap together into a paste makes a wonderful cleaning product that works just like Soft Scrub. You just have to add baking soda to the liquid soap until it makes a relatively thick paste. Be sure that you only mix when you are ready to clean. This one dries up pretty fast so mix it only when you need it.
Rust Remover
If you have rust on your countertops or stove, or food stains for that matter, you can just cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice on the area. Leave the fresh juice on the stain for about half an hour and then just wipe away with a damp cloth. This is a great natural cleaner and it smells good, too. If you have hard water stains, salt and vinegar work wonders. Just mix ¼ cup of salt and 2 tablespoons of vinegar to remove rust, hard water and other stains.
Kitchen Sponge Saver
If you tend to go through a lot of kitchen sponges, you can revitalize them and make them last longer by just squirting dish soap into a sink full of hot water and soaking them for an hour or so. You can also place damp sponges in the microwave for about 1 minute to sanitize and dry them out so that they last a bit longer.
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