KATHY’S HOME & GARDEN TIPS – CLEANING TIPS AND TRICKS

Clean crusty gunk around your faucets with vinegar. Soak paper towels in vinegar and place on the gunk. Let set for an hour and rinse thoroughly.

Bleach with cleaner spray is so valuable around the bath. Take cotton coil rolls, the kind used in salons, to remove caulk mildew. Line the caulk line and soak in bleach spray till clean. Spray down mildew stained shower curtains. Although if you’re seeing black there are already millions of spores in the air and could irritate asthma and allergy sufferers. Replace or machine wash with bleach in this case. Glass shower door tracks will also benefit from a bleach spray soak to get rid of the gunk that forms here.

Unscrew you shower head and soak in a bowl of vinegar or CLR®. Both are safe for the environment and will dissolve hard water build up that prevents your shower head from performing at its best.

Clean those horribly encrusted stove grates. Place each grate in a heavy duty gallon sized Ziploc freezer bag. Carefully add ¼ cup ammonia to each bag and close completely. Leave overnight. The fumes are doing the cleaning here and they are STRONG so be careful when you empty the next day. Rinse well. Also NEVER mix ammonia and bleach. It creates TOXIC fumes that can be deadly!

Cut a lemon in half and dip in salt. Use to scrub stubborn rust stains in your sinks. The acid along with the salt really works. Lemons are also a great tool for cleaning the microwave. Boil lemon quarters in a bowl of water. Loosens all the gunk and smells great too! Throw lemon halves along with ice cubes and grind in the garbage disposal to degrease and freshen.

Clean glass cooktops with baking soda. Sprinkle on generously then cover with wet paper towels. Let it set for 15 minutes then wipe down. Baking soda is a natural and gentle scrubbing agent that freshens too. Sprinkle baking soda on your glass oven door cover with vinegar soaked paper towels for more power. Let sit for an hour or so then finish with Mr. Clean’s heavy duty Magic Erasers®.

KATHLEEN WEAVER-ZECH & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO