Spring cleaning tips....get that oven sparkling clean!

The oven.

One of the LAST things in my kitchen that I want to clean. Luckily, my oven has a self-cleaning feature. It beats the days of scrubbing the oven with those icky smelly chemicals but it's still a bit of a challenge. And it still smells so I have to be able to have the windows open when I do clean the oven.

The racks in my oven are not to be left in the oven during the self cleaning feature. So once they are removed they still need scrubbing and scrubbing to remove all of the grime on them.

I have found a little trick that helps to clean them without all that scrubbing. Various cleaning sites have mentioned this method so I thought I would give it a little whirl.

Here it is:

Line the bathtub with an old towel and place oven racks inside (the towel prevents the racks scratching the tub).

Fill bath with enough hot water (in my experience the hotter the better) to cover the racks.

Sprinkle the racks with powdered dishwasher detergent. Yes that's right, dishwasher detergent.

Now just walk away and let them soak. Easy!

I usually let them soak around 20 minutes or so and then I take a rag or sponge and wipe them off. The grease seems to just "melt" off the racks leaving them nice and shiny.

Rinse, let dry and put them back in your clean oven.

Hope this helps make cleaning the oven a little easier. Let me know how it works for you!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Spring cleaning with vinegar.

Spring has sprung! Today the sun is shining and the snow from the storm the other day is melting....yeah!

Today I have decided to start with a bit of spring cleaning. Light fixtures and the windows inside my kitchen, dining room and living room are what I am tackling today.

My regular cleaning regimen involves a microfiber cloth or two and my spray bottle filled with a 50/50 solution of vinegar/water. I started using this to clean with when my kids were babies as I didn't want to use a cleaner that leaves residue that could harm them.

Vinegar works so well to clean anything from my countertops to my appliances to windows. So today I used it on the windows and to polish the metal on my light fixtures. The glass shades were removed and washed in warm soapy water and left to air dry. The curtains were machine washed and hung to dry. I vacuumed the blinds on the windows as well.

I cannot say enough how much I love to use vinegar to clean. Yes it does smell a bit at first but it dissipates soon after. My littlest always says, mom what's that smell? Are you cleaning?

Some other ways I use vinegar in my everyday cleaning:

- Put it in the rinse cycle in the washing machine to get rid of smells. Works great for towels. I use this all the time and it works!

- To deodorize a room leave a cup of vinegar out overnight and it absorbs odors.

Do you use vinegar in your cleaning regimen? Feel free to post your tips here too!
Happy cleaning!

Spring is here?????

Well it seems spring has arrived with an bang this year.  Last night we had a mixture of snow/rain.  It made roads slick but the trees and such looked really pretty and interesting this morning.  I went for a little walk and took a few photos that I would like to share with you.  Here they are: