Spring cleaning: Kitchen

Hello everyone!

Today we'll take care of our kitchen.  I recently reorganized my pantry and let me tell you it feel so nice to know exactly what you have and find it when you need it!  You can find the whole process here and here.
And today my friend Anjie Cho is visiting again for another cool Feng Sui tip!

The kitchen is the place with most traffic in the house and therefore the one that gets dirty more easily.  You will want to make sure your countertops are disinfected as well as floors. 

1. Oven:  You can make a paste of baking soda and vinegar, apply to oven and let it do its work while you work on the rest of the kitchen.  Want to try something stronger in the oven?  Then you will love this paste, the only natural product I've found that actually works.  It is truly amazing!

2.  Refrigerator:  Make sure you throw away everything that's expired or you can't recall when you bought it (it's probably expired). Take all items out and wash trays and drawers with dish soap and warm water. 

3. Microwave: Put a microwave safe bowl with water and lemon and boil it for about 2-3 minutes, leave it for a few min after.  The steam will loose dirt and dry food. Then wash inside (sides and top) with sponge or microfiber cloth and little dish soap.  Wash the plate with dish soap and warm water.

4. Dishwasher:  Never wonder why the dishwasher smells weird?  Washing the dishwasher is probably something we never thought of doing.  It is very important that you keep your dishwasher clean because rest of food get trap in crevices making that weird smell and even worse, sometimes mildew.  Wipe the bottom with a soft sponge or microfiber cloth, you can even scrub it a little with baking soda.  Then pour a cup of vinegar at the bottom and run it on regular cycle.

5. Cabinets: Clean outside of your cabinets with a damped microfiber cloth and dish soap.  Wipe down or wash silverware tray as this tends to get a little dirty.

6. Small appliances:  Run the coffee maker with clean water only as if you were making coffee.  Clean the tray of your toaster, usually this is removable so it's easier to wash it with dish soap and warm water.  Also clean the tray of the toaster oven and rack the same way you would clean the regular oven.

7. Counter Tops:  Use a microfiber cloth or sponge with dish soap or degreaser to clean counters, don't forget to wipe under and behind appliances.  Make sure you don't use any abrasive or acid cleaner on marble as this will ruin it.  I posted about cleaning countertops here if you would like to get a detailed info on different surfaces.  

8. Vacuum and mop and you're all done!  Once in a while I like to wash my floors with vinegar to disinfect them.  Once it's dry the smell of vinegar is gone :)

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Anjie's Feng Shui tip for kitchen:
What's your favorite burner on your stove?  Mine is located in front, on the right.  In Feng Shui, the stove is very important in your home.  It represents wealth and how we nourish ourselves in the world.  so next time you use a burner, try using a different one.  Don't automatically go for your favorite one.  Instead, open up your opportunities and try something different.  Also, be sure to keep your stove clean, and use it at least once every day.


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How did you like Anjie's tip?!  I love it!  I keep using the same burner over and over,  I'll make sure I use the others as well :)  You can get more tips from Anjie over at Holistic Spaces.


Do you keep your stove clean all the time?  What's the hardest part of keeping up with your kitchen? Let us know!!

Thanks for reading!

xo,
Marcela

What's under your sink?

In mine there was a lot! So many products they could barely fit.  That was long time ago when I was searching for the right non-toxic cleaning products.  I tested pretty much everything out there in the market.  After a long search I found my favorites:

So let's see what we have here...

Cleaning products...

Basic H2

I love this stuff.  You mix it with water to make glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner, degreaser.  It also works to wash floors and it is so highly concentrate that you won't need a new window cleaner in about a year. I promise!!

Scour Off

Great for cleaning burt food in oven.  Super tough on dirt yet super gentle on your hands.

Baking Soda and Bon Ami

Great to scrub bath tub without the chemicals

Bathroom Cleaner

I use Basic G from Shaklee.  It kills germs, viruses and bacteria.  Excellent to disinfect bathrooms.

Two Sponges

If you see closely one of the sponges is cut on one corner.  That way we know that one is ONLY for toilet.  I've found that even using two different colors it it not always clear and simply forget what color was for what!

 Clear drawers from Container Store will fit perfectly in this corner. I holds microfiber cloths, extra gloves, extra sponges, swiffers refills, Magic Eraser sponges (which I just realized I run out of), etc.

I also stacked the dishwasher detergent on top of the drawers for easy access.  I put it inside a bin to prevent spills.

Gloves hanging on the door to let them dry in between uses.

Over the door towel rack to let air dry the microfiber cloths after each use (they can not go in the dryer).

Trash bags.  In the same box I will put all of the plastic bags from grocery store.  Even though I bring our own bags when I go shopping sometimes I get things on the way and get overflowed with bags... why they double bag to put just one item?!

And that's it.  That's how my under the sink looks like.  I'm very proud of myself to have it green and organized :)

The rest of the tools, such as vacuum, mop/bucket, swiffer stick and duster are in the broom/coat closet in the hallway.  I'll show you those picture when the closet is ready, working on it yet :)

How about you, do you keep your cleaning supplies under the sink?  Let us know your tips!

Thanks for reading and have a beautiful week!

xo,

Marcela

The Magic of Baking Soda

Stainless steel appliances are so pretty.  I love the sleek, modern look they provide to a kitchen.  However, finger prints don't look as pretty on them, do they?
Here's when the magic of Baking Soda begins.  There are lots of good products out there that work just great, but a great tip at a fraction of the price is Baking Soda+Dish Soap.

What you need:
Baking Soda
Dish Soap
Sponge
Microfiber Cloth (or clean/dry paper towel)

1. Rinse the sponge making sure is clean and free of oil
2. Put a few drops of Dish Soap and sprinkle some baking soda
3. Wash your appliance with sponge. NEVER use the scrub side of the sponge, only the soft side
4. Rinse the sponge and take all the soap and baking soda off your appliance. You might need to repeat this process few times in order to get it all off
5. Dry with Microfiber cloth


Before



After

Pretty cool, right?  There are hundreds of uses for Baking Soda, I love this little orange box!
How do you clean your appliances? Let us know.

XOXO,
Marcela

Washing you Dishwasher

Dishwashers are so helpful these days, they do the tough work
while you can do other chores around the house.  They not just wash
the dishes for you but also help you to keep your countertops free
of clutter and dirt, you just load the dishes, utensils, etc and voila!

But have you thought of actually wash your dishwasher?  Just as
other appliances it needs to be cleaned once in a while.

Here's a simple guide so you can take care of it:

1. Unload all the dishes and leave it empty

2. Wipe the bottom, sides and inside door

3. Pour a cup of white vinegar on the bottom of your dishwasher

4. Run a full cycle

 

And that's it!  Now enjoy your clean, disinfected dishwasher!

Do you clean or wash your dishwasher regularly?  What's your method?
Let us know!


Best,
Marcela

Spring Cleaning - Room by Room

Hi! Hope you're having a great week and enjoying the beginning of Spring!

We'll continue with our Spring Cleaning and today we'll talk about...

Kitchen
It might sound a little overwhelming but once you start it's actually kinda fun!  And believe me, it pays off the hard work so here we go!
Make sure you have all your cleaning supplies with you: Vinegar, Baking Soda, Natural-Non Toxic All Purpose Cleaner, Degreaser, Oven Cleaner (you will love this one the only natural product I've found that actually works on oven), Dish soap, a Small Brush.

1. Oven: Spray Natural-Non Toxic degreaser or all purpose cleaner in oven and sprinkle baking soda creating a paste or you can apply this paste and let it soak while you do other areas.

2.  Refrigerator:  Make sure you throw away everything that's expired or you can't recall when you bought it (it's probably expired). Take all items out and wash trays and drawers with dish soap and warm water. You can do one tray at a time so you don't have your counter full of food and then you don't know how to get them back in the fridge.  Clean both sides and back of it too.
I like this drawers a lot, it makes your refrigerator look more organized specially when you have kids and there's a lot of snacks, juice boxes, etc.


Images via Container Store

3. Microwave: Put a microwave safe bowl with water and lemon and boil it for about 3 minutes, carefully take it out and wash inside (sides and top) with sponge or microfiber cloth and little dish soap or non-toxic all purpose cleaner. Wash plate with soap and warm water.

4. Dishwasher:  First clean bottom of your dishwasher with a damped microfiber cloth.  Put a cup of vinegar on the bottom and run it on a regular cycle.  This will clean and disinfect your dishwasher.

5. Cabinets: Clean outside of your cabinets with a damped microfiber cloth and soap.  Wipe down or wash silverware tray as this tends to get a little dirty.

6. Now you can go back to oven and scrub with a sponge or brush and warm-hot water.  Clean the rest of paste with a damped microfiber cloth.
Tip: Put some aluminum foil on the racks before you bake or cook next time to prevent spills.

7. Clean appliances:  Coffee maker, run the coffee maker with clean water only as if you were making coffee.  Toaster,  clean the tray that traps crumbs, usually this is removable so it's easier to wash it with some soap and warm water.

8. Clean Counter Tops:  Use a microfiber cloth or sponge with dish soap or Degreaser to clean counter top making sure you also wipe under and behind appliances.

9. Vacuum and mop and you're all done!  Good job!



Image Via House Beautiful




So tell me, is it really overwhelming cleaning your kitchen?  Do you have a system that you'd like to share with us?  Let us know, we'd love to here from you!



Best,
Marcela