Easy Ways to Clean Tough Areas

So, as many of you know...I'm a clean freak. Notice I didn't say I was a "neat freak." There IS a difference. If you come over to my house, 9 times out of 10, the floor will be covered in a layer of toys. That means it's not neat, but it IS clean. I'm all about making sure my house is CLEAN...especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. If my kitchen and bathrooms are clean, I can handle just about any other mess. But, there have a been a few areas in both these rooms that have really been bugging me lately...areas that I felt I couldn't get clean enough. And, I couldn't find a good way to do it. So here are the solutions that I've found that work...

Garbage Disposal

I have tried everything to clean my garbage disposal! I have bought all the special little balls, bags, fizzers & cleaners that are supposed to sanitize and deodorize it, but nothing seemed to work for me. Then, I found this EASY solution. At first, I didn't think it would work. It seemed too simple to work. I almost dismissed it, until Mike decided that HE was going to try it...and it ACTUALLY WORKED. I now do this once a week to keep my garbage disposal clean. Here it is if you are interested...

Pour one half cup of baking soda down the kitchen drain. Carefully pour one cup of white vinegar down the drain on top of the baking soda. Place the drain stopper in the sink to close off the drain. If you have a double sink, you should do this for both of them. The mixture will fizz and make a bit of noise or fizzing sounds. Allow this to work its magic for a few minutes while you boil some hot water. Use a full teakettle or medium size pot of water. Once this has boiled, pour it down the drain.

Voila! You have a clean, deodorized garbage disposal.

Then, in between my weekly cleanings, I do this little trick once or twice to keep the garbage disposal smelling fresh...

Grind some ice cubes in the garbage disposal to clean the cutting blades. Simply place several cubes in the drain and grind. If you want to add a little bit of scent, you can add rinds from any of the citrus fruits in the drain with the ice cubes. My favorite is lemon rind. There's just something about lemons that smells clean!

So, if you've ever found you have a problem with a dirty, smelly garbage disposal, you may want to try these solutions. They worked for me!

Ring Around the Toilet Bowl

I clean my bathrooms once a week religiously...even if a bathroom hasn't been used much & still looks clean, it gets the full treatment at my house...especially the toilets! I scrub those things like mad every week. But, despite that, we have developed slight rings around the bowl of each of our toilets over the past 5 1/2 years...a result of our LOVELY "west side" water that is chalked full of minerals, lime & other crap. Well, I have scrubbed at those things with everything I could think of...toilet bowl cleaner, bleach, etc. Nothing would touch them! Well, just recently I read that PUMICE STONES would take rings off of toilet bowls without scratching the porcelain. What??? Are you kidding me? That can NOT be true! I figured I might as well try it out. A pumice stone costs what...like $2. What have I got to lose? I actually found a pumice stone with a handle on it. I was super excited because that way, I didn't have to get my hands all the way in the bowl (that thought makes me want to throw up a little in my mouth.) Then, with my pumice stone on a handle, I set out to scrub some toilets.

The instructions said that you should clean the toilet first, then dump a bucket of water into the bowl in order to lower the water (as if you are getting ready to clean it again.) Then, dip your pumice stone in the bowl water and start scrubbing at the ring. Well, the thought of dipping a pumice stone into toilet bowl water also made me want to throw up, so I got another bucket of clean water to dip the stone into (something about this made me feel better. Yes, I know I'm bizarre!) and then I started scrubbing. I was AMAZED at how easily the ring came off. It only took me about two minutes for each toilet & they looked good as new when I was done! I was so impressed at how well it worked!

So, there you go. Maybe all of you already knew of these nifty little tricks...but I didn't. I love them! They are so easy & work so well, so I thought I would share my fabulous finds with all of you! Happy cleaning! --Lindsay