The place where you wash the dishes, should be kept sparkling clean. Why wash today’s glasses in last week’s caked on grease?

Make your kitchen sink shine by making a thick bicarb and water paste and scrub all over the sink with a soft cloth. Make sure you scrub at tap base and tap handles. Spray with vinegar and rinse. Dry then spray with methylated spirits to give it a gleam.

Benches should be wiped down after food is prepared on it. I spray Vinegar Cleaning Spray on it, leave for a few minutes then wipe with a damp cloth. Scoop all crumbs into the bin to deter ants.

To remove really stubborn stuck on food – like Weet-bix – which sets like cement! When you have hardened or dried food stuck to your counter top, scrape it with a bread tag. It doesn’t scratch the counter and it lifts stuff that might take ages to scrub off almost immediately!

Burnt on food and spills from boiling potatoes are really hard to get off. In the past I used to spray on an oven cleaner to get them off, but not anymore! I scrub bicarb into the dirt and it acts as an abrasive. Then I spray with vinegar and that cleans the places the cloth can’t get to.

I wipe down with a moist cloth until all the bicarb has been cleaned up. Don’t forget to clean the tiles behind the stove, if you have them. Oil and food splatters up there. Vinegar Cleaning Spray is an excellent choice for a cleaning product.

Rangehoods can sometimes be forgotten when cleaning the kitchen. Pull the filter out and soak it in the laundry sink. Because there will be lots of moisture and oil splatters mixed in with dust, it’s going to need to be soaked in very hot water and lots of dishwashing liquid.

Another way to clean the rangehood is… wait for it… chuck it in the dishwasher! All the grime, grease and dirt comes off really easily.

This is the worst job in the whole house I reckon. It’s so vile and such a dirty job. How often it needs cleaning usually depends on the amount of use it receives. If you clean up spills as they occur, then probably once every six months should be sufficient. I am not so dilligent, however, and once the oven starts smoking that’s my hint that it’s time to clean the blasted thing.

The only way so far I have found to clean the oven effectively is with commercial cleaning spray. It’s nasty stuff. Make sure family and friends know you are cleaning the oven, because you could pass out inhaling this potent stuff and goodness knows how long you could be out cold on the floor! Slight exaggeration, but you get my drift. When I find a more environmentally friendly way to effectively clean it, I’ll let you know!

UPDATE: Jacqui from Mildura, Victoria dropped me a line and told me of a green way to clean the oven. This is what she said:
I have found putting vinegar in a baking dish (like half a bottle) cranking oven right up for 5 minutes then turning it off actually works.

It doesn’t work quite as well as toxic waste cleaner (still need elbow grease) but I’ve always had sparkling glass doors and a reasonably clean oven by doing it that way.

What an difficult job this is… but not any more!!! Fill the laundry sink with hot water and a scoop of nappy soaking solution (nappy-san). Pop the racks in the hot water and leave for 24 hours. Lift the racks out of the water and gently rub with a scourer to get the more stubborn bits off.

No hard scrubbing is required. Just rinse and pop them back into the oven. They come up as good as new!! And with so little effort… which is my kind of cleaning!

2tbs lemon juice + 1 cup of water in a bowl. Cook on high for 4 minutes. Remove bowl and wipe microwave out with damp sponge. Repeat for more stubborn stains. This method loosens the grime and grot that splatters about and it makes the microwave smell nice and fresh.

Bung it in the dishwasher!! Easy!! It gives it a really good clean, gets rid of those manky smells, and because of the heat, it kills nasty germs. If possible, wash this cloth every time you run your dishwasher for maximum cleanliness on this cloth. It is a nasty breeding ground that we wipe all over our benches, tables, sinks, floors and dishes.

To remove limescale deposits on the element of your kettle, pour in 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water – make sure the element is covered. Boil for about 10 minutes, allow to cool then pour out. Rinse kettle out well and it should be good as new!

If the build-up is minor, cut up a lemon and pop it into the kettle, cover with water and boil it 2 or 3 times. Let the water cool, then empty and rinse.

Keeping a small bowl of bicarb in your fridge will help absorb odours and keep your fridge free of that “old food” smell.

Freezer smelling “odd”? Place freshly ground coffee in small dishes in the freezer to combat that smell.

Add 1 cup of vinegar to your dishwasher during the cycle to help clean your dishes and deodorize your dishwasher.

Add vinegar to your dishwater when doing the dishes to help cut the grease.

Wooden chopping boards are a wonderful place for germs to hide, in the scratched wood and porous surface.

After washing, spray with vinegar to disinfect safely.

Save time and make long periods of time cleaning up in the kitchen a thing of the past. Get into the habit of putting things away as soon as you use them. Have a sink full of soapy water, so you can rinse and wash cooking items as soon as you use them — this will prevent on dried on gunk on your dishes, and again, less time actually doing the dishes later on.

When loading the cutlery tray of your dishwasher, put in all the same pieces in the same compartment
facing the same way. Then when it’s finished it’s much easier to put away and you don’t have to handle all the cutlery separately.

Tip submitted by Natasha, Newborough, Victoria

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