Wow, what a week! I’m sure you noticed a drop in posts this week. Which is funny since my van was out of commission all week… Oh right, I had an autoimmune flare up this week, and felt really lousy. Right!
But, not so lousy that I didn’t finish my Fall Kitchen Challenge. Again, the inside of my fridge is shinny clean. I did not get to reseal the grout on my countertop tiles…but maybe soon.
So, are we ready for week three???? Here’s the plan:
Clean the inside and outside of your kitchen cabinets. Now, some of you may already be ahead of me on this one, because you wiped out your cabinets when you were de-cluttering. If so, good for you. If not, follow me :)
Take everything out the cabinets, and wipe the inside of the cabinet down. Then, put everything back as organized and neatly as you can. Now, you want to clean the outside of your cabinets. They take a lot of abuse all year long, now it’s time to show them some love :) The way you clean your cabinets will depend on what type you have, wood, laminate, Formica…and even the type of stain or sealant you have on your cabinets will dictate your cleaning method. Whatever it is, get them clean. My cabinets are solid wood, with a heavy sealant on them. I typically use my famous vinegar solution to clean the outside of my cabinets. It cuts the grease, but doesn’t leave them dull.
Clean your light fixtures and fans. Take down any globes and wash them in warm soapy water. Don’t forget to clean those fan blades!
We are also going to tackle the oven this week. What, did you think I was going to forget??? Many of you have ovens with a self-cleaning feature. Can I just say that every time we try to use our self-cleaning feature on our oven, it just ends up running us out of the house!!! So, this time around, I decided I was going to try something different…elbow grease :)
I thought about buying something like Easy Off, but I believe I have decided to try out the advice of Linda Cobb, in her book, Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean. Her advice, my translation…
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and leave it on for 15 minutes. Fill a pie plate with ammonia and place it on the top shelf, then place a pie plate with boiling water in it on the bottom shelf. Close the door and let it sit overnight. The next day remove the two pie plates and make a paste of: ammonia, baking soda, and vinegar. Apply the paste and let it sit for 15 minutes or so, scrub it off, then rinse. There you have it.
I used this method last year and it worked very well. It is still a lot of scrubbing, but it is easy scrubbing to remove the baking soda, not the burnt on debris.
Last but not least, tackle that last little eyesore in your kitchen….I don’t know what it is in your kitchen. Eyesores have a tendency to become a catchall for things that we don’t want to get lost….however, they can become a tad overwhelmed. So whatever that last little thing is for you in your kitchen, whip it into shape this week.
Have fun!