Since these are super simple green cleaning recipes, you may have heard of them before but questioned their effectiveness for cleaning.  Let me just let you know: these really WORK!  And what’s more, they don’t take up a whole bunch of extra space in your cabinets.  And don’t require an empty spray bottle – who has one of those laying around the house?

Here’s my list of super simple Pour and Clean recipes.

Drain Cleaner/Degreaser

• 1/2 c. vinegar
• 1/2 c. baking soda
• 1 c. almost boiling water (I heat mine up in a tea kettle and take it around the house with me).

To clean/degrease your drains, pour equal amounts of vinegar and baking soda down the drain.  Wait for the fizzing to stop.  Wash out the drain with the almost boiling water.  Rinse the sink to wash away any residue.

Faucet & Shower Head Cleaner

• about 1 c. vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. baking soda (if desired)
• a plastic zip bag
• heavy-duty rubber band
• an old toothbrush

To clean your faucets and shower heads (remove hard water deposits), pour vinegar (and baking soda, if you like) into a plastic zip bag.  Place the zip bag over the faucet or shower head and secure it closed over the spigot with the rubber band.  Let the vinegar work while you deep clean your bathroom (or overnight, if you want).  Remove the plastic bag and brush away debris with the old toothbrush.  Run water through the faucet/shower head to rinse it.

NOTE: This does not need to be done more than once or twice a year, if you use the faucet/shower head on a daily or almost daily basis.  But if you have been on vacation for a couple of weeks, this would be good to do before getting into the shower again.

Microwave Cleaner

• 3/4 c. cold water
• 1 Tbsp. vinegar
• citrus (if you like)

Fill a microwave safe bowl with water and vinegar.  Add a couple of slices of your preferred citrus.  Place in microwave and run at 70% power for 4-5 minutes.  After the microwave turns off, wait for a couple of minutes to open the door.  Use a sponge or microfiber cloth to remove the debris on the sides, bottom, and door of the microwave – it should just come right off.  I like to do this as part of my weekly deep cleaning of our kitchen.

Coffeemaker Cleaner

• 6 c. water
• 6 c. vinegar
• lots of clean cold water

Pour vinegar and water the coffeemaker’s water reservoir and run the cycle.  Once it is complete pour water/vinegar mixture out. Run the coffeemaker with two cycles of clean, filtered water.

NOTE: I use this same process with our Keurig machine about 3-4 times a year, but it sometimes takes an extra cycle or two to get the vinegar taste to go away.

As you can tell from this post, I LOVE the cleaning power of vinegar – I use it a lot of other places in my home, too.  We tend to purchase it in bulk sizes from Sam’s Club so we always have some on hand for the tough cleaning jobs.  On the same train of thought, I do NOT like using vinegar for cleaning glass surfaces in my home.  I have never had good luck with actually removing spots and stains from hard water on my glass surfaces using vinegar – I have tried all the Pinterest recipes out there, but I just find there are better things out there for cleaning glass.

Leah

Simple. Home. Blessings.

Save

The post DIY Green Cleaning Recipes using Vinegar appeared first on Ask Anna.

We currently have two little ones in diapers. Ugh… and I have been working on this problem since long before we had our second baby. We discovered some things along the way that helped; but I just recently solved the entire diaper stink problem. Let me explain.

First of all, and this is the most important thing I am going to tell you – you may have purchased/registered for the WRONG diaper pail.  I haven’t looked up to find out which diaper pail is the most popular, but I would take a guess that it’s the Diaper Genie.  I mean, it is all in the name, right?  BUT, the Diaper Genie is a stink factory – literally.  We had one for the first baby and part of two babies in diapers (the first time around) and we just assumed that diaper pails in general make your house smell like a baby waste factory,  BUT it’s not the fact that you have a diaper pail, it is the fact that you have a Diaper Genie.

So, which diaper pail should you buy/register for instead?

The Arm & Hammer Munchkin Diaper Pail, it’s rated #1 in Odor Control (in laboratory tests). Well, the experiments done in our own “laboratory” confirm their conclusions – this is the diaper pail to help control diaper stink in your home. What’s different about the Munchkin, that makes it better, is the construction of the pail itself, and the bags that go in it.  The pail is made to twist “closed” at the top each time the lid is closed on the pail.

This effectively cuts off the stink residing in the bags while the diaper pail is closed.  And the bags themselves are thicker than the bags that come with the Diaper Genie. They are also easier to use because they have a locking system at the top (instead of the cut-and-tie method with the Diaper Genie).

Did you notice that I said help control the stink?  There’s a reason for that, and I have some tips for how to use your Munchkin Diaper pail to maximize the stink-reduction in your home.

Use baking soda often

One of the reasons the Munchkin works so well is because it utilizes one of the most natural odor-reducing products available – baking soda.  The Munchkin pail has a reservoir for baking soda that sits in the lid.  So every time you open and close the lid (put a diaper in the pail), a small amount of baking soda is released into the bin, which helps to neutralize odors quickly.

In order for the baking soda to do its best work, you should change out the reservoir at least once a month, AND in between reservoir refills, I recommend that each time you change out the bag, you sprinkle a little baking soda into the bag before you put any diapers in it.

Clean the diaper pail as often as you clean your garbage cans

I am not sure how often you clean the garbage cans in your home, I tend to do it quarterly. When you clean the garbage cans, clean the diaper pail, it makes it easy to remember when you did it last. A good cleaning includes scrubbing with soap and water, I recommend doing in the bath tub. Make sure you remove the baking soda reservoir before you clean the pail! Use a small brush or an old toothbrush to really get into the nooks and crannies of the pail.

Once you have the diaper pail clean and you have changed out the reservoir, you are ready for the last of my tips – further odor reduction.

Control odor with an air neutralizer

One of the common misconceptions in homemaking is that air fresheners actually help to freshen the air. But what the commercials don’t say is that instead of actually refreshing the air, you end up with stinky-flowery smells instead of just stinky smells. What you really need, instead of an air freshener, is an air neutralizer. I just recently found one that takes away any residual diaper stink, for real.

I was shopping the aisles of Target (sipping my Starbucks and soaking in a few minutes of retail therapy. Don’t you just love it?) when I came across a new product in the air freshener aisle. Since diaper duty is never far from my mind (even in Target), I checked it out and decided I would look it up when I got home. After doing a little research, I purchased the Fresh Wave Odor Removing packs.  And let me tell you, these things WORK.

We keep our diaper pails (plural, for the plural kids in diapers) in my baby’s room and in the laundry room and usually after the diaper pail is about half-way full in our laundry room, there’s a certain “smell” greeting us upon entry to our home. I popped one of the Fresh Wave Odor Removing packs into the bottom of our Munchkin last month and I have not smelled a diaper stink upon entering my home since! For those of you with sensitive noses (I have one, too), I seriously, cannot smell the diapers inside my pail! There is a door that locks shut on the Munchkin.

Are you currently in the diaper changing season of life, or are you about to be? If so, I highly recommend that you get/register for the Munchkin pail and pick up a pack of the Fresh Wave odor removing packs. Trust me, your nose, and the noses of your guests, who come over to coo over your little one, will thank you!

Leah

Simple. Home. Blessings

Disclosure: I have included affiliate links in this post but if you purchase through them you will not pay a cent more than you would otherwise. Thank you for supporting Simple. Home. Blessings. and Ask Anna!

The post How to Completely Eliminate Diaper Smells!!! appeared first on Ask Anna.

How to Clean your oven so it looks Brand New

Materials needed:

• Baking soda
• Water
• Dish soap (this is the best one for cutting grease)
• Extreme Scrub Scour Pad
• Damp rag
• Dry microfiber cloth (these ones are my favorite)

Tutorial:

Step 1

Make a paste with the baking soda, dish soap and water. I poured about 1 cup of baking soda into a mixing bowl, added about 1 TBSP of dish soap and then only added enough water to get the consistency of pancake batter. If your oven is really dirty, or really big, then you might need more, but I’d start with this.

Step 2

Use your fingers and scoop the “batter” into your fingers, then spread it all over the dirty spots in your oven. I smeared it around with my fingers to apply it evenly all over my oven, including the glass on the door.

Step 3

Set a timer for 15 minutes and walk away. Don’t do anything to it until the timer goes off, I even left my oven door hanging open so none of the mixture would drip off.

Step 4

Let me just take a moment to say that you could use a different type of sponge for this task but I’ve used lots of different sponges and this scour pad is the best thing for this tough job. The combination of the baking soda mixture and the scour pad meant I didn’t have to do that much work. Sometimes it’s worth it to just have the right tools for the job. Okay, on to step 4! After 15 minutes wet the Extreme Scrub Scour Pad in the sink. Take it over to the oven and scrub all the dirty spots that have been “soaking” for 15 minutes. I was shocked at how easily most of the spots came up, there were a few areas I had to use a little elbow grease, but not many.

Step 5

Once you’ve scrubbed the whole oven really well, wipe up as much as you can of the baking soda/soap mixture with the scour pad, and dump it in the sink. Then use a wet rag to wipe the rest of it up. It might take a few tries to get it all up, I had to wipe the oven and rinse my rag about 4 times before it was all out.

Step 6

Use a dry, or barely damp, microfiber cloth to polish up the oven. The baking soda tends to give the oven a dull look, so I like to go back over it with a cloth to pick up any remaining baking soda, and to make the oven shine.

That’s it, your oven will be as clean as new when you’re done with it (except for that darn rope around the edges, anyone know how to clean that?)! And the best part is that you didn’t even have to work that hard!!

I would love to hear how this works for you so please leave me a comment and let me know!

Did you know this is one of my most popular posts!? To see more of the posts people love click on the titles below:

• How to Clean Between the Oven Glass
• How to Clean Glass Shower Doors the EASY Way
• How to Wash Windows (especially window tracks)
• How to Organize Paper Clutter in 30 minutes or Less
• The BEST Moscow Mule
• DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent and WHY it works so well
• How to Organize DVDs (you will be shocked at how much space it saves!)

This post contains some affiliate links, for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Save

Save

The post How to Clean Oven Glass so it looks Brand New! appeared first on Ask Anna.

There are lots of things to consider when getting ready for a road trip with kids.  One of the major ones is getting the car clean.  So, the other day, I took a deep breath and set about to clean both of our girls’ car seats.  It is not a crazy difficult task, but it does take some time and patience.  And each car seat manufacturer has different features for their seats, but here is a basic tutorial for how to clean a car seat.

The tools:

• vacuum with crevice attachments
• a stiff bristle brush
• small bucket
• dish soap
• toothbrush
• baking soda (if needed)
• a lint roller (if needed)
• steam cleaner
• a thick cloth rag (I used a cloth diaper)

The process

1. Remove the car seat from the car and vacuum the seat to remove evident crumbs and messes, using the crevice attachments, as necessary.

2. Get ready to take the seat apart.  You will want to remove the straps, the buckles, and as much of the cloth seat cover as you can remove.  As you are doing this you will want to keep in mind how you are taking it apart – it will help tremendously when you go to put it back together.  You may not be able to remove every piece of the cloth seat cover, but you should be able to remove the largest part of it.

NOTE: Do not attempt to remove the straps that secure the seat to your car, the anchors.  If these are dirty, spot clean them with the toothbrush and soapy water.

3. As you take apart the seat, you will discover crumbs in places you couldn’t even imagine they could be.  Use your stiff bristle brush to brush these away and dispose of them.   Also, you may need to use a lint roller to pick up hair.  Our youngest has really fine hair.  The pillow and headrest on her car seat looked like a cat has been sleeping on it for a couple of days.  The lint roller quickly removed the majority of the hair and prepped the surface for the next steps.

4. Fill your bucket with warm soapy water and toss the buckles in.  Let them soak while you work on the next step. And then toss the toothbrush into the bucket to get it ready for use in the next step.

5. Begin with a small section of the seat cover and gently brush the fabric with the toothbrush soaked with soapy water.  You will want to brush the entire surface of the car seat in sections.  You do not want to soak the material, just surface clean it.  The fabric should dry very quickly.  As you work on the seat cover, you will want to focus on the seams and piping.  This is where all the crumbs and dust go to hide.

NOTE: If you have major stains, you will want to consult your owner’s manual for stain-cleaning instructions.

6. Remove the buckles from the soapy water and brush them clean with the toothbrush and rinse thoroughly. Spot clean the straps with the soapy water and the toothbrush then place them all on a drying rack (or pad).

7. Return to the stripped down car seat and brush away any off the excess dust and crumbs you see on the surface of the seat.  Use your steam cleaner with a cloth over the wide attachment to steam away any more grime.  Follow the steam cleaning with a wipe down of the surface with a clean thick cloth.

8. Return to the cloth seat cover and run the steam cleaner over the surface of the fabric.  If you have a seat that has odors (likely from potty training accidents), you may want to sprinkle some baking soda over the surface of the fabric before applying the steam.  Also, it may help to put the seat cover back on the car seat before you steam clean it, so you can get to all the surface area easier.

Every part of the car seat should be clean at this point, but you still have quite a task ahead of you: putting it back together.  I recommend putting the cloth seat cover back on, first.  Use the non-brush end of the toothbrush to assist you in getting the fabric back into tight crevices.  The next item you should put back in is the big buckle.  Give it a really good tug after you put it back in to ensure it is secure.  Next is the strap and harness.  This is where it is a little different for each car seat; use your memory of taking it apart or check the owner’s manual for help.  Our owner’s manual featured a diagram only a third year engineering student could understand, so we actually referred to our other car seat for guidance.

Now that your car seat is all clean, you will want to put it back in the car, making sure it is securely in place and installed properly.  I recommend cleaning your car seat seasonally (or four times a year).  It is, as I said, a task requiring patience and a bit of time; but I think each time you do it, it should get easier.  Once you know how the puzzle is put back together, you should be able to do it quicker.

Are you getting ready for a road trip this summer?  Please check out my series on Traveling with Tots for more tips for getting ready for the road.  Have a fun and safe trip!

NOTE: This is a cleaning tutorial that we’ve put together to make it easier for you to clean your car seats but please make sure to always refer to your car seat manual for specific instructions on what is/isn’t okay to get wet and was is/isn’t okay to take off of your specific car seat. Thank you!

 Leah

Simple.Home.Blessings.

* This post contains affiliate links

The post How to Clean a Car Seat appeared first on Ask Anna.

We’ve always had self-cleaning ovens but honestly I really don’t like to use that feature too often because basically a self cleaning cycle gets the oven so hot that it burns off all the drips and turns them to ash. As a result the house gets really hot and it usually smells pretty bad. The only time I even use my self cleaning cycle is right before Thanksgiving, when I know the oven is going to be on for the entire day.

So when you have a self cleaning oven, but don’t want to heat up, or stink up your house, I recommend using baking soda to clean the inside of the oven. By making a baking soda and water paste you’ll be able to get the grime off your oven without any extra heat. Read the full tutorial of how to do it HERE.

You can also clean between the oven glass the same way you would a non-self cleaning oven. When we did our living room remodel we had to rearrange where the oven was placed in our kitchen, and in the moving process the glass on one of my ovens shattered. Of course it was a huge bummer but it has also allowed me a look inside to know that there isn’t anything to damage by cleaning inside the oven glass.

So whether your oven is self cleaning or not, you can use this trick to clean in between the oven glass.

Two of the questions I get asked a lot, about self cleaning ovens are if there are electrical wires inside the glass and if it will “break the seal” cleaning between the oven glass. Since one of our ovens doesn’t have glass on it now, I can tell you there’s no electrical wires inside the glass. All the electrical is housed in the outer part of the unit. Even when our ovens where completely out of the wall there wasn’t any electrical wires that could be seen.

There also isn’t a “seal” to be broken. The outer glass isn’t sealed, it’s only there as a barrier to prevent you from touching the inner glass, which is the one that gets really hot. Here’s what the inside of an oven door looks like.

 Having a self cleaning oven is great because you can use the self cleaning feature when you want to, or need to, but you can also clean it by hand when you want to avoid smelling up your house. If you have any other oven cleaning tips I would love to hear them! I always love learning new tricks!

Affiliate link.

The post How to Clean a Self Cleaning Oven appeared first on Ask Anna.