Now let’s explore the final four dirty spaces that we are going to slay with our spring cleaning!

How to Spring Clean the 10 Dirtiest Places In Your Home – Part 3

What You’ll Need:

• Plain 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
• All Purpose Hydrogen Peroxide Cleaner
• Fragrance Free Liquid Castille Soap
• Hydrogen Peroxide Wipes

#7  Bathroom Faucet Handles

Finally, something from the bathroom!  Although I’m still a little shocked that it’s the bathroom faucet handles on the top 10 list and not the toilet seat or handle.  (This is a pleasant surprise for me actually.  I’m in the middle of potty training my daughter.  Now, watching her touch all over the toilet seat and handles makes my stomach a little less queasy, although it still makes me cringe.)

To thoroughly clean the faucet handles, make sure to first remove any soap scum and debris.  Second, generously spray the handles with a solution of equal parts 3% hydrogen peroxide and water.  Let it sit for at least 5 minutes, then rinse or wipe thoroughly.

To save some time you can also use hydrogen peroxide wipes or an all purpose peroxide cleaner.

#8  Kitchen Counter Top

And, here’s yet another surface from our kitchen.  I’m starting to see a pattern here.  It seems that the kitchen is the dirtiest place in the home, just from the sheer number of appearances on our top 10 list.

Fortunately, since countertops are hard and smooth and normally don’t have many cracks for bacteria to hide in, cleanup is relatively easy.  Remove all crumbs and debris, and spray generously with a solution of equal parts 3% hydrogen peroxide and water.  Let it sit for 2 minutes and rinse.  To save time, wipes or a food grade hydrogen peroxide based cleaner can be used here as well.

#9  Bathroom Door Knob

Interestingly, the bathroom door knob made it on the list, but not the toilet handle.  My best guess as to why this is the case is because a lot of us don’t flush the toilet directly with our hands but use our elbows and feet instead.  A door knob, however, is much harder to manipulate with an elbow or foot (although I actually was able to twist a door knob once with my two elbows!), so damp hands are more prone to come in contact with it.  Plus, the sheer fact that door knobs are much less likely to be cleaned at all, help explain why they accumulate germs and rank as high as they do on this list.

To clean the bathroom door knobs, wipe them with hydrogen peroxide wipes, paying special attention to the crevices of the knob.  Hydrogen peroxide wipes are great because not only do they contain peroxide, they physically remove grime and bacteria from the surface, much like washing does.

#10  Stove Knobs

Finally we close out our top 10 list with stove knobs – yet another item from our favorite germ-infested room – the kitchen.  I must admit, when I clean my counters and stove, a lot of times I forget to clean the knobs.  And when handling raw produce and meat, it’s easy to see how these can turn into breeding grounds for all sorts of bacteria and microorganisms.

Here again, hydrogen peroxide wipes are phenomenal and convenient (make sure to choose the food grade variety).  Just wipe the knobs down, paying special attention to any crevices.

Phew!  That was fun!  Hopefully this series has given you some tips that will help you along with your spring cleaning this year!  Any other areas that you think should have made it to the top 10 dirtiest places list?  Let us know in the comments below!

And if you missed the first 2 posts, you can start the series by clicking HERE. Happy Spring Cleaning!!!

Raven

Pyoure

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With Thanksgiving just around the corner (how is it already next week!?) I’m sharing some of my favorite prep-work kitchen hacks, using my favorite Bounty paper towels. These hacks will help you with your prep work and your cleanup, which is a win-win for sure!

#1 Vegetables and Herbs

Instead of prepping everything the day of Thanksgiving, make life easier and prep items like vegetables, lettuce and herbs, a few days before. Rinse them, then wrap them in a Bounty paper towel and place them in your fridge. The paper towel will keep them fresh until your ready to use them a few days later.

#2 Bacon

I use bacon for flavoring in all kinds of recipes this time of year. I recommend cooking the bacon a few days before Thanksgiving, so you’re not dealing with grease splatters the day of. Cook it on the stovetop, or in the oven, and while it’s cooking lay out Bounty paper towels on a dinner plate. Once the bacon is done cooking, lay it on the paper towels and let them absorb all the unwanted grease.

A quick and easy tip to clean up all the grease splatters, from cooking the bacon, is to use a wet Bounty Dawn paper towel. The Dawn in the towel will cut through the grease leaving your kitchen sparkly clean!

#3 Dirty Hands and Counters

When I cook I’m constantly needing to wipe my hands, and the counters off, so instead of dirtying a kitchen towel (and adding to my huge laundry pile) I always have a damp Bounty paper towel sitting near me on the counter. Using the paper towel allows me to wipe my hands, and the counters, as much as I need to, getting them clean, without having to waste water, and it also saves the hand towel for when I actually wash my hands and they’re clean. I know it might seem silly but if you set one out, you’ll be surprised how many times you grab for it!

#4 Spills and Drips

Holidays are a great time of year to include the kids in the kitchen but with little hands, sometimes come big spills. From spilled egg whites, to gravy and turkey drippings on the counter, accidents happen but are quickly taken care of by having paper towels on hand.

I have a rule that I NEVER use wash clothes for spills and drips that come from an animal-based product, because I don’t want to wipe it up with the wash cloth, then wipe my counters with the same wash cloth, resulting in bacteria everywhere (gross!). Which is why Bounty paper towels always come in handy. Anytime there’s an animal product-based spill, I grab a paper towel and my Pyoure and wipe it up asap, then I toss the paper towel in the trash to make sure the bacteria doesn’t end up anywhere else in the kitchen.

#5 Large Pots & Pans

One of the most frustrating things, at the end of prepping a big meal, is all the clean up! It makes me crazy when I get done cooking a bunch of things, only to realize there are pots, pans and mixing bowls to be washed, many of which can’t go in the dishwasher. It’s for this exact reason that I always have Bounty Dawn paper towels on hand. They suds up quickly and they’re full of Dawn dish soap, which makes it super easy to wash all those big pots and pans in record time!

I know many of us love to bring out the China for special holiday dinners, like Thanksgiving, but what we don’t love is that they can’t go in the dishwasher, GRRR. For all my non-dishwasher safe dishes I also clean them quickly and easily with Bounty Dawn paper towels.

These five prep-work kitchen hacks will make your life so much easier and cleaner! From prepping ingredients, cleaning up spills while you’re cooking, to the clean up afterwards, having Bounty paper towels and Bounty Dawn paper towels on hand will make everything in the kitchen cleaner and less frustrating so make sure to stock up! You can get coupons and other product savings by clicking HERE.

I hope that you have an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving, it’s my favorite holiday because I feel like we all have so much to be thankful for!

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One of the things that really frustrates me is when things don’t quite make it all the way in the trash can. I mean, a banana peel laying next to the trash can, is not the same as a banana peel IN the trash can, am I right? But sometimes this is what you get when you live in a house with kids.

I’ve had Duck® brand Easy Liner® under my trash cans for the last couple of years but the newest products now include Clorox® antimicrobial protection, which prevents the growth of odor-causing mold and mildew, perfect for all the little bits of food (or banana peels) that somehow don’t make it in the trash can!

I honestly don’t know how they do it but the Clorox® antimicrobial protection has an antimicrobial additive embedded into the shelf liner that doesn’t degrade over time, and stays active as long as the product is in use – even after washing it! I like knowing that it doesn’t go away after washing, because when I find crumbs and other gross stuff around the trash can, I scrub the liner to make sure it’s clean!

Easy Liner® with Clorox® is great for lots of places, not just the trash can cabinet, I’ve also used it in our bathrooms, my kitchen cabinets and in my pantry. It’s easy to cut, easy to install, it’s super thick and it looks great! It’s also wider than the original Easy Liner® shelf liner, so in a standard size cabinet you won’t have to use as much.

Our island is really deep, so I still had to use 2 strips, but it looks really nice and clean!

Now if someone decides to have their trash not make it all the way in the trash can, #1 it will be easy to spot and #2 I don’t have to worry about my cabinet starting to smell if I don’t catch it right away!

The new Easy Liner® with Clorox® shelf liners are available at retailers nationwide.

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The Norwex EnviroCloth is made up of microfibers 1/200th the size of a human hair which makes it incredibly effective at trapping grease, dirt and other messes. When we first moved into our house it was SO dirty, greasy and gross. I honestly don’t know if the previous tenants had ever cleaned it, it was BAD. I tried everything to clean up the front of the oven and the stovetop but I couldn’t cut the layers of grease. After posting something about it on Facebook my friend let me borrow one of her EnviroCloths and I was amazed at what it could do. It turned my white oven, that was black with greasy fingerprints, back to white again, and it cut through, who knows how many layers of grease, that were caked on the stovetop.

Obviously I’ve never let my kitchen get that grody again, so I couldn’t use it for this post, but I’ve had my eye on a stovetop range hood at my friend’s house for some time. I finally mustered the courage to ask her if I could use it for my post, and she graciously said yes.

When I talked to her husband about the hood he said, “We’ve tried everything!” He said they’d used all kinds of de-greasing products and tried scrubbing it with a sponge but nothing touched the grease.

Of course I didn’t let that intimidate me, I just took it as more of a challenge for me and my EnviroCloth. And it’s a good thing I didn’t give up because look at the difference!

It’s pretty amazing what the EnviroCloth can do! All you have to do is get it wet, wring it out, and then scrub away.

I use it to clean tons of stuff in my house, but especially the kitchen! It’s the easiest way to get smudges off of stainless steel, it’s the best way to clean up cooked on grease, or grease splatters from tonight’s dinner, it cleans countertops and cook tops without chemicals and it even cleans water spots off  the window! I’m telling you, EVERY kitchen needs one!

So that’s my secret. I never ever spend hours scrubbing and cleaning my kitchen because after cooking a greasy meal I use my EnviroCloth to wipe up the grease, and everything else in the kitchen, and it’s back to sparkly clean in no time!

The EnviroCloth makes a great gift, get one for you, a friend, and even your mother-in-law! I’ve given them to friends before and they love them and rave about how amazing they are!

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I love to cook, and bake, during the holidays. The only problem is that by the end of the season my pots and pans end up looking like this. (YIKES!)

Do yours look the same, covered in layers of baked-on grease, and next to impossible to clean?

Remember a couple months ago how I showed you how to clean a crock pot and make it look brand new? Well I got to thinking, and decided since the Scotch-Brite Extreme Scrub Sponge worked so well on the baked-on crock pot spots, I’d give it a try on my greasy, dirty holiday dishes.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Dish soap (this one is the best for cutting grease)
• Scotch-Brite Extreme Scrub Sponge

To remove all the gunk, first, place the dishes in the sink, then wet them with warm water, no need for dish detergent, or to soak them first, just get them wet. Next, wet the Extreme Scrub Sponge and apply a little dab of dish soap to it.

Use the scouring pad to scrub the dish in either a circular motion, back and forth, or both. You might have to put a little elbow grease into it, but honestly, you will be amazed at how easily the grease and grime lift from the dishes.

Depending on how many layers of grease are baked onto the dish, some dishes might take a little more scrubbing, or might need to be dunked in soapy water again. For tricky spots, like around the brand name, use a toothpick, or a scraper, to get the grease up. And don’t forget the bottom of the pan!

Watching how easy it is to clean burnt grease off, without having to use any harsh chemicals, is actually pretty addicting, because when you see how easy it is to clean them, you will want to pull out all your pots, pans and baking dishes out, and clean anything that has a grease stain on it!

After scrubbing the grease off with the Extreme Scrub Sponge, rinse it with hot water, wipe it dry, with a paper towel or dish towel, then step back to admire the fact that it looks brand new again! Check out the transformation of my baking dishes.

There really isn’t a whole lot to say about the transformation, other than, “wow, that was so easy, hand me another dish!”

To prevent baked on grease on your cookware, in the future, use aluminum foil to cover your bakeware before adding your ingredients.

NOTE: I do not recommend using this product on non-stick pans, or any frying pan, skillet, etc. coated in a non-stick product, or stainless steel pans, because the sponge could scratch the surface of these products.

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
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• How to Clean Baked on Grease off Pots and Pans
• How to Clean Oven Glass so it looks Brand New
• How to get Nail Polish off Wood Floors
• How to Clean your Dyson
• How to Clean Cloudy Glass
• How to Wash a Baseball Cap
• DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent and WHY it works so well

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