Now That's Ingenious!
Everyday Experts Reveal Their Secrets for Handling More Than 1,200 Common Cleanups, Fix-Its, and Other Tasks around the House and Garden
From the Editors of Yankee Magazine
Toothpaste. Baking Soda. Lemon Rinds. What do these ordinary items have in common? They all make nifty homemade household cleaners.
In this chapter, our experts will show you how to keep your kitchen spotless, your nooks and crannies looking neat, and your entire home in tip-top shape. For instance, Marcie Ness, owner of Marcie's Housecleaning Service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, reveals a finishing touch that will keep your brass bed shiny and new. And Donna Liangis, who owns the House Ka-Teers cleaning company in Dearborn, Michigan, shares her surefire tips for making toilet bowls sparkle and removing wax from carpeting. Todd Graham offers his ways for deporting dust bunnies—and as the owner of Totally Clean! housekeeping service in San Francisco, he knows a thing or two about dust.
If you follow the advice of these and our other experts, your friends and neighbors will think you spend hours keeping your place looking its tidiest. Let them think it! Only you will know all the minutes and hours you've saved by incorporating these tricks, tips, and techniques into your cleaning regimen.
Kitchen
Who doesn't love the aroma of fresh-baked bread or the wonderful fragrance of homemade pasta sauce bubbling in a saucepan? What no ones likes is the cleanup. But you can keep your kitchen looking its very best with these handy, helpful tips.
SINKS AND DRAINS
Pity the poor kitchen sink. It works so hard, but how often do you show it the appreciation it deserves? Here are some gentle and all natural ways to keep your drain smelling fresh, flowing freely, and as clean as a whistle.
Dispose of drain odors. In your search for the source of that unpleasant kitchen odor, your nose may lead you directly to the garbage disposal. Here are two can't-miss ways to keep those odors at bay.
1. Stamp out smells with citrus. "Whenever you use lemons or limes during cooking, save the rinds, then put them in the garbage disposal," says Donna Liangis. "Run the disposal for a few seconds with the water running, and you'll get rid of fish and garlic odors and be left with a nice citrus smell."
2. Freeze out odors with vinegar. Fill an ice cube tray or two with vinegar and freeze. Once a month or so, toss a few of the vinegar cubes into your garbage disposal. As the disposal grinds and crunches the ice, it gets a good cleaning, and the vinegar eliminates unpleasant odors. Don't forget to keep a steady stream of cold water flowing into the drain while the disposal is running.
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Take Care of the Tarnish
The best thing about copper cookware, besides conducting heat well, is how shiny it looks—until it tarnishes. Well, you can keep your copper pots shiny and stain-free with ingredients from your kitchen. Here are two ingenious (and chemical-free) secrets recommended by Donna Liangis.
1. Lay on the sauce. Rub Worcestershire sauce on the copper surface with a sponge. Let it sit for a minute or so, and then wipe clean.
2. Try an old standby. Fill a spray bottle with vinegar and add 3 tablespoons salt. Put the top on the bottle and shake it up. Give the copper a few squirts with the solution, let it work for a few minutes, and then wipe clean with a damp sponge.
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Keep it flowing. For those occasions when cooking grease holds your kitchen dram hostage, fight back with this homegrown solution. Pour 1 cup warm salt water and 1 cup carbonated soft drink (such as Coca-Cola®) into the drain. Follow that with 1 quart boiling water. This 1-2-3 solution works wonders for minor grease plugs, says Karl Smith, a retired U.S. Navy warrant officer and stay-at-home dad who regularly wows his Newark, Delaware, neighbors with his clever housecleaning tips.
Rub out germs. Of course you know that rubbing alcohol kills germs. That's why you store it in your bathroom medicine cabinet. But did you know that it can keep your kitchen germ-free, too? Donna Liangis advises filling an empty spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and keeping it under your kitchen sink.
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After you finish the dishes, spray a little alcohol on the faucet and other sink fixtures, then rub everything down with a clean cotton dish towel. You'll win the war on food-borne germs pronto!
LARGE APPLIANCES
The only way to guarantee that large appliances such as refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers stay clean is not to use them. Alas, that's a bit impractical. But never fear—our experts have come to the rescue with easy and ingenious ways to keep your appliances sparkling.
Eliminate refrigerator odors. Is your refrigerator a bit, um, fragrant? Here are two ways to beat the odors—one to help you stop them and another to mask them (until you have time to give your fridge a good cleaning).
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Odor-B-Gone
Love to cook with garlic, but don't relish the pungent odor it leaves on your hands? Well, help is on the way. Our ingenious expert, Donna Liangis, suggests these three ways to get rid of garlic odor.
1. Reach into the utensil drawer and grab a stainless steel spoon. Rub the back of the spoon on your fingers and hands to make the garlic smell disappear.
2. Rub fresh rosemary leaves on your hands.
3. Wet your hands with water, then rub them with a spoonful of salt. Rinse and dry your hands with a cloth towel.
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1. Charcoal in, odors out. You can eliminate most refrigerator odors by filling a small bowl with charcoal (the kind you use in potted plants; it's available at your local nursery or garden store) and placing it on a lower shelf without a lid. Tuck the bowl in the back or behind yesterday's leftovers so it's not so obvious. The charcoal will absorb odors quickly and effectively. Replace it monthly.
2. Reach for vanilla. If you don't have any charcoal on hand and you want to get rid of refrigerator odors right away, dab a little vanilla extract on a cotton ball and tuck it inside the refrigerator.
Let your racks soak. Oven racks are difficult to clean because most sinks are too small to accommodate them. What's the answer? While you're cleaning your oven, soak your racks in the bathtub.
Wash your dishwasher. Sure, dishwashers clean your pots, pans, dishes, glasses, and utensils, but don't be fooled into thinking that this cleaning machine doesn't need a little TLC, too. Once a month, pour a cup of white vinegar into your empty dishwasher and let it run through its entire cycle. This solution will keep soap film from forming, and that means spotless glasses and utensils.
SMALL APPLIANCES
Toasters, can openers, and other small appliances—with all those nooks and crannies and teeny-weeny gears—can make for big headaches when cleaning day rolls around. It's almost enough to make you skip cleaning them at all. But here's good news: Our experts have discovered some ingenious ways to shrink the job down to size.
Brush up on blender-cleaning techniques. Milkshakes, smoothies, and frozen drinks. In some households, the blender is always on, and that means there's practically no time to clean it. Well, do yourself and your blender a favor and give it a good cleaning with these ingenious tips.
1. Blend away food residue. Fill the blender less than halfway with warm (not hot) water, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid, slap on the lid, and blend the soapy mixture for about 30 seconds. Rinse well with hot water.
2. Clean those hard-to-reach spots. Here's an easy way to remove that guck that gets stuck where the motor meets the pitcher. Grab a new or, better yet, old stiff-bristled toothbrush. Dip the brush in vinegar and scrub away.
Don't have a meltdown. Have a melt-off. Uh-oh, you left the English muffin bag a little too close to the toaster oven and now there's melted plastic all over it. Not a problem. Just dab some nail polish remover on the plastic, and it'll come right off. No nail polish remover? Petroleum jelly will work just as well.
Gear up to clean your can opener. Have you looked at your electric can opener lately? Specifically, have you inspected the gear and the blade that cuts the can? If you're like most folks, yours probably needs a good cleaning. Try this surefire technique. First, give the blade and gear a shot of WD-40® and clean it up with an old toothbrush. Next, rinse it well with hot soapy water. Not only will the WD-40® clean the blade and the gear, but it will prevent more gunky buildup and inhibit rust, too.
COUNTERS AND CUTTING BOARDS
Want to keep your counters and cutting boards clean and fresh? Look no further than your kitchen cupboards.
Keep your cutting boards lemon fresh. Here's a nifty use for a lemon wedge. Rub this all-natural cleaner back and forth over your cutting board after you've chopped onions, garlic, or any other pungent food to curb odors.
Add vinegar and subtract ants. Sponge your counters with white vinegar. Not only will the vinegar cut grease and eliminate odors, but it also will repel those pesky ants that seem to visit the kitchen every summer.
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