Don't let cleaning the kitchen become (or continue to be) a hated chore! It's easy to clean and freshen the kitchen -- and make cleaning future messes a snap -- with items you already have handy.
1. Grapefruit"Lemons and vinegar are the great dynamic duo of green cleaning," says Ashley Poskin of
Apartment Therapy, "but there's nothing quite like the smell of fresh grapefruit." Poskin sprinkled kosher salt on grapefruit halves and used them to scrub down a long-neglected cast iron bathtub until it sparkled. The BuzzFeed video below demonstrates the grapefruit method in action on a kitchen sink.
2. Dryer sheetsFew kitchen tasks require as much elbow grease as scrubbing pots and pans after a meal, but
LittleThings demonstrates how easy it can be -- with a dryer sheet! Simply put warm water in the dirty, greasy pan with a squirt of dishwashing liquid and a dryer sheet from the laundry room; let it soak for at least an hour, and the pan will easily clean with little effort from you.
3. AmmoniaClean the grime from gas stove burners with ammonia and Ziploc bags; put 1/4 cup of ammonia in a bag with one burner and seal. Let the bags sit overnight, then remove the burners and effortlessly wipe them clean. See how effective this method is at
The V Spot. Note: Do not use more than 1/4 cup of ammonia, as it is the ammonia's fumes that do the work here, not the liquid.
4. Lemonade Kool-AidClean lime deposits and iron stains from the inside of your dishwasher by running it through a cleaning cycle with a packet of lemonade-flavored Kool-Aid. According to
Real Simple, the citric acid in the lemon flavoring will do wonders to clean and deodorize the dishwasher -- just make sure to do this when it's empty!
5. White breadThis simple tip from
Natural Living Ideas makes cleaning your coffee grinder a piece of... bread. To clean those last few specks of ground coffee or spice from your grinder, toss in a slice of soft white bread, grind it up and throw it out.
6. Press 'n Seal plasticThe folks at
Living on the Cheap have discovered many ways to use "press and seal" plastic wrap that actually saves time and money. One is a sort of "barrier method" of preventive cleaning -- line refrigerator shelves with press and seal plastic, and simply remove and replace it when needed.
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