Guess what, we have to know how to clean the washer and dryer! Soapscum, limescale and lint are the enemy in the laundry area. I'm not ashamed to admit this came as a complete surprise to me. When we got our first home, we got all new appliances. They were so shiny and clean that I happily washed and dried many loads of laundry without ever so much as knocking the dust off the tops.
About a year passed before my husband finally got around to replacing the lightbulb in the laundry room (hey, don't judge him he had been sick!) casting light on lots of lint, dust and dirt that the dim light had camouflaged. The build up that had been taking place right before my eyes was shocking. I was appalled at how dusty, dirty and lint-y my beautiful machines had become. The guilt that I felt was more than you could imagine in light of my children's breathing problems.
After a moment of much-deserved self recrimination I set out to learn how to clean the washer and dryer, FAST! I'm not a lazy housewife (well, actually maybe a little lazy but my kids' asthma keeps me going) but my dusting, mopping and disinfecting routine had completely bypassed the laundry area. Well, that has now changed and I have become a pro at learning how to clean the washing machine drum, filter and all without using chemicals!
How to clean the washing machine with with vinegar:
Some household cleaning tips informed me that I should learn how to clean my washer with bleach but that went against my campaign for using only green household cleaning products. I try to use only non-toxic and environmentally friendly home cleaning solutions. I went in search of a cleaner to use besides household bleach and learned that my old friend, vinegar, would do the trick. Vinegar does a fine job of removing soap scum, limescale and just plain old dirt that floats to the top of the tub and sticks when combined with hot water and doesn't leave a bunch of nasty chemicals floating in the air of my green home. Some people claim that you can learn how to clean the washing machine with baking soda, but I haven't tried that method yet. If you know how to clean your washer with baking soda, please direct me to the instructions so I can give it a try.
1. Adjust the settings for a wash with HOT water. While the tub is filling add about a gallon of vinegar. You may be able to use less and get the job done but I was dealing with a significant amount of build up.
2. I let the washing machine run through the super cycle so that the acidic cleaning solution would have plenty of time to do its work.
•3 After the wash cycle was finished I took a wash cloth and wiped out the inside of the tub just so I could see if my green household cleaner had worked. And other than some crud around the top of the tub, everything looked great!
HOW TO CLEAN THE WASHING MACHINE EXTERIOR
Learning how to clean the washer with vinegar on the inside is just the first step of the cleaning process. I then started at the top and cleaned down the sides, front and back of the washer using one of my homemade cleaning products that I made from a recipe.
HOW TO CLEAN BEHIND THE WASHER and DRYER
Nobody sees it, but it just makes sense to go on and clean behind the washing machine and the dryer while you're at it. If you have a stackable washer and dryer, it's inadvisable to attempt to move it without help but you can use your vacuum cleaner tools to reach behind and beneath the stacked washing machine and dryer to do some good.
If you have the old-fashioned kind (like me), you can move the washer and dryer using casters (available at hardware and discount stores) but do not stretch the hoses attached to the dryer and washing machine too far! If you can't move the appliances far enough without stretching them, disconnect them. This is also a good time to inspect your washing machine hoses for cracks and bulges which indicates they need to be replaced.
While your appliances are out of the way, clean not only the floors but the lint from behind the dryer, the inside of the dryer hose and the dryer vent using your vacuum cleaner tools and brushes that will reach into the cracks. After you have removed as much as you can by brushing and vacuuming, wipe everything down with a clean cloth.
I wish I could tell you that you don't have to do this again for a very long time, but the truth is that the soapscum, lint and gunk with start to accumulate once again with the very next load of laundry that you run. Regular maintenance helps, but I can see that this process will have to be repeated at my house every six months or so.
Showing posts with label green cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green cleaning. Show all posts
GREEN OVEN CLEANER
It's only the first of November and already I'm seeing the need for a green oven cleaner recipe! After doing a few test runs of recipes that I want to spring on the family at Thanksgiving, there are a few boil overs already beginning to cake the bottom of my oven. And to be totally honest, there were already some caked on, baked on spots on the wire racks that I hoped nobody would notice.
But with the holidays coming up, there will be people taking a peek at what's cooking and now is the time to clean up my act and make like things are ALWAYS sparkling clean around here even when you and I know the truth.
Starting early on my holiday kitchen cleaning has its advantages; for one thing my homemade green oven cleaner is CHEAP! But it may take a little more time to work than some of the commercial oven cleaning products that you can buy. That may or may not be the case as I have never felt the need to explore other options but your grime may be different (read: more stubborn and hard to remove) than mine.
You can have faith that the recipe I'm about to give you has been tested by the best. It's a genuine bonafide Martha Stewart recipe with two (count them TWO!) common household ingrediants, baking soda and water, and that's what makes it one of the best green household cleaners EVER! It's non-toxic, CHEAP and HECK YEAH...IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM!
THE GREEN OVEN CLEANER RECIPE
All you have to do is measure out about a cup of baking soda and add a couple tablespoons of water at a time until you have a thick, spreadable paste.
CLEANING THE OVEN
Smear it on the inside surfaces of your oven taking care not to get it on the electric coils, the gas jets or to plug vent holes.
To keep the paste from drying out, you might consider covering it with some of those plastic shopping bags that you need to recycle. After you're satisified that all the gunk is covered in your homemade oven cleaning paste, let it sit overnight.
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR OVEN RACKS
You can spot treat your metal racks if they only have a few spots here and there. For a full treatment it's best to remove them from the oven. I arrange mine on old sheets on the back patio, cover them in my non-toxic, green oven cleaner and let them sit over night. The next day I go over them with a cloth, hit the hard spots with a scrubby or steel wool and voila!! Sparkling, clean oven racks!
Sometime the next day, you can use an old credit card or a plastic spatula to remove the paste. WHATEVER YOU DO don't forget and stumble in the kitchen the next morning and preheat the oven to make cheese toast or bake biscuits. Take it from me that this is not a good plan and I know of what I speak.
TIP: This green oven cleaner works great but even though it's non-toxic and environmentally friendly...using it is still WORK! Martha Stewart says (and Lord knows she has some great ideas) that after we get it clean that we should line the bottom of the oven with foil to catch future boil overs. You are not supposed to line the oven racks because it will have a negative effect on the oven's heating process, but lining the bottom helps a lot!
If you try this homemade green oven cleaner and come up with any tips that we should know about, please drop a comment to give the rest of us a heads' up!
But with the holidays coming up, there will be people taking a peek at what's cooking and now is the time to clean up my act and make like things are ALWAYS sparkling clean around here even when you and I know the truth.
Starting early on my holiday kitchen cleaning has its advantages; for one thing my homemade green oven cleaner is CHEAP! But it may take a little more time to work than some of the commercial oven cleaning products that you can buy. That may or may not be the case as I have never felt the need to explore other options but your grime may be different (read: more stubborn and hard to remove) than mine.
You can have faith that the recipe I'm about to give you has been tested by the best. It's a genuine bonafide Martha Stewart recipe with two (count them TWO!) common household ingrediants, baking soda and water, and that's what makes it one of the best green household cleaners EVER! It's non-toxic, CHEAP and HECK YEAH...IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM!
THE GREEN OVEN CLEANER RECIPE
All you have to do is measure out about a cup of baking soda and add a couple tablespoons of water at a time until you have a thick, spreadable paste.
CLEANING THE OVEN
Smear it on the inside surfaces of your oven taking care not to get it on the electric coils, the gas jets or to plug vent holes.
To keep the paste from drying out, you might consider covering it with some of those plastic shopping bags that you need to recycle. After you're satisified that all the gunk is covered in your homemade oven cleaning paste, let it sit overnight.
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR OVEN RACKS
You can spot treat your metal racks if they only have a few spots here and there. For a full treatment it's best to remove them from the oven. I arrange mine on old sheets on the back patio, cover them in my non-toxic, green oven cleaner and let them sit over night. The next day I go over them with a cloth, hit the hard spots with a scrubby or steel wool and voila!! Sparkling, clean oven racks!
Sometime the next day, you can use an old credit card or a plastic spatula to remove the paste. WHATEVER YOU DO don't forget and stumble in the kitchen the next morning and preheat the oven to make cheese toast or bake biscuits. Take it from me that this is not a good plan and I know of what I speak.
TIP: This green oven cleaner works great but even though it's non-toxic and environmentally friendly...using it is still WORK! Martha Stewart says (and Lord knows she has some great ideas) that after we get it clean that we should line the bottom of the oven with foil to catch future boil overs. You are not supposed to line the oven racks because it will have a negative effect on the oven's heating process, but lining the bottom helps a lot!
If you try this homemade green oven cleaner and come up with any tips that we should know about, please drop a comment to give the rest of us a heads' up!
GREEN HOME CLEANING SOLUTIONS
Any list offering tips for green home cleaning solutions should involve more than recipes for green household cleaners. Not that chemical free toilet cleaners are not a step in the right direction but those of you still using paper products should be aware that paper products (paper towels, facial tissues, etc) made up 20.7 % of the municipal waste discarded in 2008. Yep, that year it was reported that there was 6,550,000 tons of paper and paperboard waste.
I got curious as to how much my own home was contributing to this problem so I decided to conduct an experiment (being as experiments are so cool and I needed something to write about in the worst way). What I did was direct hubby and the older girls to throw every facial tissue and paper towel into a special trash bin. They were so enthusiastic about being asked to participate that they actually asked if there was going to be a waste can next to the toilet! I thought about it and had to admit that collecting toilet paper would have given more accurate results but dismissed the thought as a little too gross.
Before the day was out my trash can was overflowing with wet wipes and tissues used to wipe runny noses much less paper towels that I used to clean the glass, kitchen and bathroom surfaces!
Wow, this really made me aware that I needed to bone up on my all around green home cleaning solutions and not just how to clean a toilet without toxic chemicals and this is the plan that I came up with.
The results that I expect to see should come in the way of less money spent on disposables and a much emptier can on trash pickup day.
The unexpected amount of paper that I collected in such a short time was a reminder that even though I've made great strides toward making a green home for my family, there is much work to be done and that going green is an ongoing process.
I got curious as to how much my own home was contributing to this problem so I decided to conduct an experiment (being as experiments are so cool and I needed something to write about in the worst way). What I did was direct hubby and the older girls to throw every facial tissue and paper towel into a special trash bin. They were so enthusiastic about being asked to participate that they actually asked if there was going to be a waste can next to the toilet! I thought about it and had to admit that collecting toilet paper would have given more accurate results but dismissed the thought as a little too gross.
Before the day was out my trash can was overflowing with wet wipes and tissues used to wipe runny noses much less paper towels that I used to clean the glass, kitchen and bathroom surfaces!
Wow, this really made me aware that I needed to bone up on my all around green home cleaning solutions and not just how to clean a toilet without toxic chemicals and this is the plan that I came up with.
- toss the mop that has disposable mop heads and shop for one with a washable cover
- stop using paper towels and invest in low lint microfiber cleaning cloths
- stop using disposable scrub pads and buy scrubbing stones (that would probably be the only thing that will tackle those pesky toilet bowl rings anyway)
The results that I expect to see should come in the way of less money spent on disposables and a much emptier can on trash pickup day.
The unexpected amount of paper that I collected in such a short time was a reminder that even though I've made great strides toward making a green home for my family, there is much work to be done and that going green is an ongoing process.
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