#MEwx Sunny with some clouds and chemical free cleaning for the kitchen

Good morning Augusta

Click here to view weather readings in real time from my own personal wireless weather station.

This morning we have patchy fog  with mostly sunny skies. Highs will be in the mid 70s with light and variable winds, becoming northwest around 10 mph this afternoon.

Tonight we’ll have mostly clear conditions with lows in the mid 50s. Winds will be light and variable.

The outdoor temperature is 59.9°F, the dewpoint is 56.8°F and it feels like 59.9°F.

We didn’t receive any rain here over the past 24 hours.

Today’s sunrise is 5:53 AM, sunset is 7:33 PM and we’ll have 14 hours 39 minutes of daylight today. Moonrise is 9:20 PM and Moonset is 10:27 AM. The moon phase is Waning Crescentand is 83% illuminated. Our next full moon will be on August 19 and our next new moon is on September 3.

The wind velocity is between 1.6 MPH and  3.8 MPH from the East Southeast.

The Relative pressure is 29.99, the Absolute pressure is 29.79 and rising with a weather graphic indicating sun and a few clouds.

The Humidity is 88%, the UV index is 3 placing the average person at moderate risk and the solar radiation reading is 359.5W/m2.

Visibility is 10.0 Miles / 16.1 Kilometers with sun and some clouds.

 

Here’s more from the book entitled the Room by Room chemical free cleaning book which is, like the others I’ve posted on this blog, free out there on the web. Enjoy.

 

Kitchens

 

In your home, your kitchen is one of the most used rooms and one of the toughest to keep clean. You will find a great variety of ideas and tips here that

you can use for your everyday cleaning and your deep cleaning days. There are many ideas here for your healthy living and cleaning in the kitchen so let’s

get started right away!

 

Cabinets

 

To keep your cabinets clean and shiny with a fresh scent that will cut the grease from cooking, use a cup of vinegar in a gallon of hot water to wash down

your cabinets. Wipe them dry with a soft cloth for a streak free clean.

 

To darken the color of your cupboards and to cover scratches, use a gallon of hot water, add twelve tea bags. Let this steep for a few minutes and then

wash down your wood cabinets with this water stain and dry with a soft cloth.

 

Have you found little watermarks on the windowsill or on the cupboards around your sink? Rub them out with a little bit of real mayonnaise, letting this

sit over night and then rub off for a great finish.

 

You can use a cup of lemon juice and half a gallon of water to clean lighter colored wood cupboards. The fresh lemon also will brighten the color of the

wood as it dries.

 

You can cut fire or cigarette smoke stains on your wood cupboards by using a cup of ammonia, a quart of warm water, and a sponge. A little elbow grease

will cut through this grime in no time.

 

Daily cleaning of your cupboards with a moist soft cloth with warm water will keep dust at bay, then drying with a soft cloth immediately will keep streaks

to a minimum.

 

Pots and Pans

 

You can use straight vinegar to cut baked on grease in your pans by adding a few tablespoons of vinegar to your washcloth as you are wiping the pans out.

The grease will just seem to melt away!

 

Making a paste of baking soda and vinegar in a bowl, you can scrub the outsides of your pots and pans to leave them looking new again!

 

To get rid of the smell of onions, peppers or eggs that have been burnt in a pan simply rinse out with vinegar for a fresh clean smell.

 

If your pots and pans or even your plastic containers suffer with smells from cooking placing some baking soda in the bottom and leaving them sit overnight

will remove any lingering odors.

 

For crusty pans that are over baked on, you can boil a half and half mixture of water and vinegar for a fast clean. Just be careful when pouring the hot

water back out. Pouring the water and vinegar mixture down the drain will also cut through grease and odors in your drains.

 

Another method for crusty pans that are really over baked is as follows. You can boil water (enough to cover up to the baked on mess) with two tablespoons

of baking soda to loosen the yucky mess for an easy wipe clean.

 

You can cut down on your clean up time with greasy pans by adding salt to the grease immediately after you are done cooking. Gently using a soft paper towel

you can wipe out this mess without the grease sticking.

 

Non-stick pan grease messes are easily cleaned up and put in the garbage when you let it cool down and harden after you are finished cooking. After the

grease is hard you can simply wipe it out with a paper towel and throw the grease in the garbage instead of down your sink. To cut through any remaining

grease you can clean out the pan with full strength vinegar.

 

You can clean the grates on your stove easily by soaking them in two cups of vinegar and a quart of hot water for about an hour. The baked on food will

wipe right off for a great clean!

 

Using a knife and your dishrag, you can scrape out corners of your cookie sheets for an easy clean without using chemicals.

 

For your iron or metal pans, you can make a paste of two tablespoons of baking soda, a cup of salt and about a half cup of vinegar. This will be a grainy

paste that you can use to get stains and stuck on grease out of metal pans. Do not use this paste on your non-stick pan finishes.

 

If you have pots and pans with stubborn rust stains, soaking them in full strength vinegar for about an hour will neutralize the rusting, then continue

washing your pan with hot soapy water and drying for a shiny clean.

 

Is your non-stick pancake pan looking a little rough around the edges? You can beat this staining by soaking the pan in salt water for about an hour and

then washing with hot soapy water. The heat that stains the edges of the pan is really just baked on grease!

 

If you have a metal or aluminum griddle you can buff it for a great shine with one part salt and one part vinegar and then heating the griddle.

 

If you have unsightly finger marks on your stainless steel pots and pans you can remove them with ease by using a soft cloth and polishing them with full

strength vinegar.

 

Clean your copper kitchen pans with salt. Simply sprinkle in the salt and use a half a lemon or lime to rub the salt in to the copper. You will be left

with a great shine.

 

If you love to use the broiler pan in your oven but you hate the mess this tip is for you: Mixing one cup of apple cider vinegar and three tablespoons of

sugar pour over the broiler pan right after you are finished cooking will leave you with an easy to clean mess. After the broiler pan cools you can wash

it in hot soapy water and the greasy mess and baked on food will just wash right away!

 

For lighter colored pans (the outside of your pan) you can brighten and clean them by making a paste of cream of tarter and lemon juice. Rubbing this mixture

all over the pan and letting it air dry, then washing it with hot soapy water will brighten your pans nicely.

 

Maintenance tip: For your cast iron skillets and frying pans, coat them with oil and bake them at three hundred degrees for about half an hour to keep them

in top shape. But, be careful, leave them in the oven until they cool so that you don’t burn yourself or your counters!

 

You can remove those ugly hard water stains from your pans with boiling water (high enough to cover the stains) and add a cup of white vinegar to the water

to cut through the hard water stains.

 

One of the best and most inexpensive cleaning and souring solutions you can make yourself will be with salt. Use salt and water, salt and vinegar, salt

and lemon juice or salt and mayonnaise. These solutions will clean most stains off of plates, metal pans and even from your cooking utensils! Try them

out and find which one works best for you.

 

Small Kitchen Appliances

 

Washing your can opener with full strength vinegar after each use will cut down on the build up of mess that accumulates to prolong the life of this appliance.

Using an old toothbrush dipped in vinegar is excellent for cleaning the blade of your can opener. You can also use ammonia to clean your can opener. Just

use it as you would the vinegar to keep build ups at bay.

 

Using two cups of vinegar and ten cups of water in your coffee percolator once a month will keep your coffee flowing fast.

 

If your toaster is looking a little dingy, wiping it down with vinegar and a soft cloth will remove all the grease and finger marks.

 

For shiny faucets wipe down with full strength vinegar or ammonia to cut grease, gunk and hard water that form on the spigot. The same can also be achieved

with half a lemon dipped in salt and rubbed all round the faucet or other chrome ware. You can also just use plain salt and water for a good clean.

 

Have you found a bit of rust on your pans or in your tin containers? You can stop rust in it’s tracks by taking a half a potato, sprinkle some salt on the

area and rub the rust spot with the potato. The rust just disappears.

 

When your glasses are looking a little cloudy you can use a paste of baking soda and water and scrub the glasses with a toothbrush for a great clean.

 

Counters

For every day cleaning, most of us use hot soapy water to wipe down our counters, but for deep cleaning, or when you run out of dish soap here are some

alternatives.

 

Have you ever put the groceries on the counter only to find purple marks left by meats you have bought from the deli? You can scrub off these marks by using

a baking soda and water paste and rubbing gently.

 

Wiping your counters down with vinegar will freshen your home while neutralizing any left behind odors.

 

Wiping your counters down with ammonia will lift grease and similar type stains. Wipe with water when finished.

 

Wiping down your stained areas with a very thin mixture of salt water will help loosen foods that have been left sitting on the counter for a long time.

 

For baked on grease on counters or in cracks between the counter and the stove use full strength vinegar to loosen it and hot water to rinse it off.

 

If your counter looks a bit yucky around where the sink insert comes together, using a paste of baking soda and vinegar, rub this dirt and mold loose for

a great clean. Wash down with hot water to remove any film left behind by the baking soda for a sparkling clean.

 

If you have heavy stains that don’t come off, you can use a thick paste of salt and water to rub these areas clean.

 

If you have put a hot pan on your wood counter and you are left with a white ring on the counter, you can get these white marks out by making a paste of

salt and salad oil. Rubbing this mixture on and letting it sit over night will remove the stains from your wood counter.

 

The Oven

 

If you are cooking cabbage, eggs, fish or onions you can keep the smell from going throughout your home by boiling a small pan of water with a cup of vinegar.

The vinegar will neutralize the smell of what you are cooking that can often get left floating in the air.

 

Keeping your oven clean – no matter if you use gas or electric, you can keep a sheet of aluminum foil in the bottom of the oven to catch spills. This can

easily be replaced with another sheet, and the aluminum can still be recycled so you are not being wasteful.

 

If you are baking a pie, a piece of meat or a casserole, you often find that spills in the oven happen all the time. When you first notice a spill sprinkle

the area with salt. After the oven has cooled down you can wipe the mess right out without much scrubbing at all.

 

Is it time for a deep cleaning in your oven? For a deep clean in your oven, fill a pan or bowl with ammonia and close the oven. Letting the oven sit, not

on, overnight will loosen the grease and dirt. Wipe down as much as possible with hot soapy water the next day. If you have stubborn baked on foods you

can first wipe out the oven with ammonia again and then use a thick salt-water mixture to sour any very baked on areas. If you are out of salt you can

make a very thick paste of sugar and water or baking soda and water to get stubborn baked on stains out of your oven. After your oven is clean wash out

again with hot soapy water for a great shine.

 

For weekly cleaning, wiping the inside of your oven down with full strength vinegar will keep grease and build ups from getting too far ahead of you.

 

Keeping the top of your stove clean is also an everyday chore that must be done. For everyday cleaning using hot soapy water will bring up most little spills

and crumbs. For tougher stains you can use a mixture of water and vinegar or water and ammonia to cut through the grease and to loosen tough baked on spills.

Washing the stove while it is still a little warm will speed up this process a bit compared to when it has completely cooled down.

 

Are you using steel wool that has been used over and over again but the soap is all gone? Your steel wool still has life left yet. Just add a little baking

soda to the steel wool and sprinkle in the oven and then add a little scrubbing power, for a shine that will leave a deep clean in your oven.

 

If a fire should start in your kitchen, sprinkling on baking soda will put a stop to a small fire. Keeping larger amounts of baking soda will be needed

if you have no other means for extinguishing a stove fire.