It has been at least 10 years since I last bought conventional cleaners like Comet, Lysol or Windex. Instead, I’ve adopted some products from the Seventh Generation line and I am a little in love with Bon Ami cleanser for the tub. But, the majority of cleaning that I do in the house follows the “How Would My Great-Grandmother Clean?” philosophy. Much like the “Would My Great-Grandmother Have Eaten That?” philosophy that approaches a desire to eat unprocessed foods, this cleaning philosophy looks at keeping cleaning simple with basic ingredients like lemons, white vinegar and the workhorse of it all….baking soda. We buy a lot of baking soda in this house and use it in a variety of ways. Yes, we put it in the fridge and the pantry to absorb any funkiness that may occur, but mostly I use it for cleaning. In the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a series of ways that you can use it in your house to simplify and green your cleaning. First up is it’s function as a cleaner for your stovetop.
We like to cook, and so by the end of the week our stove can look like this:
Pasta and rice water overflow (which I now have a tip for dissuading – coat the rim of the pot with olive oil before cooking and overflow be gone!) and the various sauces that we concoct can build up and seem a little daunting to clean without using some processed, mass produced and fume inducing product. But it can be done in a simpler and healthier fashion. In my opinion, if it’s something that you shouldn’t have used while you were pregnant or breastfeeding, then it’s probably something you should never use for cleaning. So, what is the solution to this cleaning problem? Enter baking soda, a damp towel and your new best tool….elbow grease.
The first thing that I do to clean is take all of the covers off and make sure the stove dials are in the OFF position. Next, I dampen the corner of a dishtowel and fill a small bowl halfway with baking soda. Dip the damp part of the towel in the baking soda for a coating and then start wiping down the stove top and scrubbing the caked-on spots. You can even use the baking soda on the top of the silver discs where the flame comes out on a gas range. Each week, this probably takes me 5 to 10 minutes to do, based on how “passionate” we were in our cooking. The end result is this:
Bright and shiny and ready for the next meal! It’s a quick and easy way to clean. Plus, it doesn’t reek like commercial cleansers so the aromas in your kitchen are left to be the ones that you create with your meals. Next up in the baking soda series will be how to use it as a Drano or Liquid Plumber alternative. Stay tuned!
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