The kitchen is the most germ-filled room the whole house, in every house. Those germs can provoke a variety of illnesses, starting, but not ending with the flu and the common cold. So thorough cleaning is crucial for your health and the health of your family.
- Make The Kitchen Faucet Shine Again.
Cleaning faucets will be much easier and faster if you do the following:
- Get a Ziploc bag or a small plastic bag.
- Add a magical solution of vinegar and soda, enough to cover the faucet.
- Put the bag over the faucet.
- Secure the bag with a rubber band.
Wait for about an hour before you take the bag off. Wipe off the rest of the solution and scrub off the stubborn rust with an old toothbrush.
2. Get Rid of Garlicky Hands by Rubbing Stainless Steel
Chopping garlic is smelly work — and while some people love the smell of garlic on their hands, other people might not enjoy it so much. There are tons of hacks out there for getting rid of the stink, but the easiest one is just rubbing your hands on your sink faucet, or anything that’s stainless steel.
3. Cleaning Out The Fridge
To kill the unpleasant smell in your refrigerator — either wash it with a trusty combination of baking soda and vinegar, or:
- Put potato peels in the fridge.
- Take halves of an orange or a lemon and stick a good amount of cloves in it and place it on the shelf.
- If you are a fan of vanilla — take a cotton ball soaked in vanilla extract and place it in the fridge in a small bowl
4. Clean Cloudy Glasses With Vinegar
If you live in hard water area and especially if you put your glasses through the dishwasher, it’s likely the glass has gone a little cloudy, which isn’t the most appetising look when you’re serving a glass of something crisp to guests. But you can easily remove the deposits by cleaning with vinegar. Simply soak the glasses in white vinegar for five minutes. Then rinse and dry with a lint-free cloth. Sorted.
5. Squirt Some Dish Soap Down the Drain
Finding your drain a little slow to, um, drain? Squirt a little dish soap down there and run the hot water. Dish soap is formulated to cut through grease. Usually that grease is on your dishes and cookware, but it can also accumulate in your drain/pipes.
6. Clean Your Silver with Aluminum Foil
Here’s what you need: a glass baking dish lined with aluminum foil or an aluminum baking dish, baking soda, salt, and boiling water. The science-project-like reaction should begin to remove the tarnish immediately, although heavily tarnished pieces may need to soak a little longer.
7. Get Rid Of Coffee Stain
Do your coffee mugs have stubborn brown stains that don’t want to come out?
Try baking soda: Sprinkle some onto the bottom of your stained cup, add just enough water to form a paste, and scrub. The gentle abrasion of the baking soda will get rid of stains in a matter of minutes. Then, simply rinse and wash the way you usually would.
8. Banish Sink Odors with Baking Soda and Lemon Juice
When you think of all the gross stuff that goes down your drain, it makes sense that it’ll start to smell eventually. Try this DIY de-clogger to keep your pipes clear of gunk and smelly pretty(ish): Flush your drain with hot water, then slowly pour a cup of baking soda down. Finish it off with about a cup of lemon juice and wait for the fizzy chemical reaction.
9. Use A Potato To Clean Rusty Cast Iron
You can use this trick on other rusty things, too. Here’s how it works: Cut the potato in half, dip the cut end in dish soap or baking soda, and rub it over the rusted area. If the end of the potato gets slick, slice it off and dip the newly cut end. Repeat until rust is removed!
10. Clean up Broken Glass with a Piece of Bread
It happens: You gesture a little too enthusiastically and down goes your wine glass. The big pieces are easy enough to pick up, but the tiny shards? Not so much — or are they? All you need is a slice of bread. Just press it gently over the glass and the little fragments will stick to the soft dough. (They don’t call it Wonder Bread for nothing)
11. Use Rubber Kitchen Gloves to Remove Pet Hair
Your rubber kitchen gloves are good for more than keeping your hands protected while you do the dirty work. They’re also great for opening jars and getting rid of excess pet hair. Just slip on a glove and rub over whatever you want de-fuzzed. The rubber does a surprisingly good job of gathering up hair!
12. Clean Your Blender in 30 Seconds
Fill your blender about halfway with warm water, add a drop of dish soap, and whiz away. It’ll clean itself! If your blender has buildup or is looking a bit dull, you can also add a drop of vinegar or some lemon.
13. Clean All the Things in Your Dishwasher
You already know that you can use your dishwasher as a dish-drying rack (see number 9), but did you know there are all sorts of other things (besides dishes) that you can clean in your dishwasher? Flip flops, hairbrushes, sponges, plastic toys. Yup, they can all go in there.