We are taking fall break this week! Big Brother is loving some time off from school and Daddy is off from work. We have a little vacation and some fun family activities planned for later on in the week, but right now I am taking this time to do some much-needed
housecleaning home blessing! ;)
I feel like I am a horrible housekeeper most of the time. I am one of those creative messy types who can always dream up better things to do than clean my house.
Plus, with a toddler underfoot making 2 or 3 new messes for every one I clean up, housecleaning can sometimes seem as pointless as trying to brush your teeth while eating Oreos...
BUT...I love my family, and I want them to have a home that is at least clean enough to live and eat in. So I try. :) I make an effort to learn simple ways to clean that even I can do. I read books and search Pinterest often in hopes of finding ways to be a better "keeper at home."
So I want to take a few posts here during our fall break and share some of the knowledge I have gained with you! :)
Baking Soda & Vinegar: The Dynamic Duo!
OK, so I am probably the last woman on earth to make this discovery; but did you know that you can really do some serious cleaning with baking soda and vinegar?! (And they make this really nice "fizz" when you mix them together that makes it kinda fun! Little boys might even be ready to help out with cleaning if you show them the "fizz!" It would make a neat little science lesson!)
For example, my stove had some pretty serious burned on food stains on and around the burners that I had never in 3 years been able to get to come clean. I try to give my stove a good wipe down after cooking, but I had tried soapy water and every kind of cleaner I could think of all to no avail. I had resigned that these ugly brown stains were there to stay. But then I read about the cleaning power of paste made from baking soda and vinegar, and I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try!
So I first removed the worst stained burner from the stove. I sprinkled a light coating of baking soda on the circle of food gunk that had built up around it. Then I added some droplets of vinegar (fizz!) Then I took a dish rag and started scrubbing.
Over three years worth of ugly burned on food gunk disappeared with very little effort!
My husband heard me exclaiming "OOOOHHH YEAH!" from the living room and came to see what I was so excited about. He was pretty impressed when he saw how clean the stovetop was! :) It had not looked that good since we moved in!
The burners were also pretty bad. I soaked them in the sink for a while with warm water and vinegar. I scrubbed them down with the baking soda/vinegar paste. Then I rinsed them off with warm soapy water. They still are not perfect, but they look 10 times better than before!
I got a little excited after my success in the kitchen and used this fizzy dynamic duo to clean the gunk out around the faucet on our bathroom sink. It worked great!
Two awesome things about cleaning with baking soda and vinegar:
1.)
It's Natural! No weird or smelly chemicals. We use both for cooking, so they are totally safe!
2.)
It's CHEAP! You can easily buy enough baking soda and vinger to last a very long time for just a couple $!
I hope you have found this post informative! How have you used baking soda & vinegar around the house? Leave your tips in the comments! For more helpful articles, be sure to follow my Homemaking board on Pinterest!
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