Have you ever stopped to think about the vast number of cleaning products available today? I mean, let's face it, there's an entire aisle in your grocery or superstore dedicated to the various types of cleaning products with each one targeting and cleaning only one, maybe two, areas or items in your home. And since so many cleaning products are needed (one for the toilet, one for the tub/shower/bathroom sink, another for windows, yet another for the kitchen claiming to be non-toxic, disinfecting, blah, blah, blah) you now need to find places to store said cleaning products and store them out of reach from children and animals.
Sheesh. I don't know about you but there's just not that much room in a 5th wheel to store so many different cleaning products. And the chemical toxicity of these products? We wonder why we're sick and have so many ailments. Ugh, don't get me started.
I am all about organic, all-natural, non-toxic, etc., etc., for my home, my environment and my body whenever possible. And, I'm also frugal. OK, cheap. (Whichever works for you!) And, I believe, it's possible to be green and frugal at the same time. I also believe our foremothers knew how to clean a house the frugal, eco-friendly, 'green' way but since the development of commercial cleaners we have lost that knowledge. I believe the eco-friendly, green movement is basically just going back to the way our ancestors cleaned prior to the industrial revolution. History repeating itself. Yet, our generation is learning and starting from scratch because that knowledge has not been passed down. Therefore, I am always on the lookout for 'green' ways to clean.
Recently there have been some posts on Facebook on how to clean those burned and baked on spots on your cookie sheets, pots and pans without using toxic chemicals. I didn't pay much attention to the posts because my pots and pans aren't bad but, later on, I wondered if it would work on my poor, nasty stove top.
Ewwww! What do you think? Pretty bad, huh?!
Other than wiping the stove off after each use I had no idea how to get these tough stains off without harsh chemicals so I left them and they got worse and worse. (Quite embarrassing.)
The 'recipe' called for baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and to mix the two together to make a paste. I accidentally poured too much peroxide in the baking soda (it doesn't take much to make a paste) so I had to dump quite a bit more baking soda in to get the consistency of a paste.
Then, I dipped a scrubber sponge into the paste and applied it to the stains and started scrubbing.
A few of the not-so-bad stains came up fairly quickly but it wasn't until I started using a paper towel that the tougher stains started to disappear. Normally, I try to use as few paper towels as possible but in this instance it is what worked the best.
I had to 'soak' the really bad area by applying the 'paste' and leaving it rest for a few minutes.
Looking better!
After applying some more elbow grease most of the tough stain finally came off.
I can live with that until the next cleaning. (The enamel is gone in the upper left of this photo causing that black mark. Not sure how that happened; it was like that when we bought the 5th wheel.)
Here's a before and after of the really bad burner...
And the whole stove top...
I scooped the remaining 'paste' from the stove top and threw it in the kitchen sinks. I then used the scrubber sponge to clean the sinks. It worked great!
I stored the extra 'paste' (since I accidentally made way too much) in an empty mushroom jar for later use.
So, for two products (that I already had in the house and are fairly cheap) and some elbow grease (OK, a lot of elbow grease because it was SO bad!) I was able to get my poor, nasty stove top cleaned in a frugal, eco-friendly, green way. Yay! And, I don't have to find places to store two different cleaners in my small space. Win-win!
Do you have any frugal, eco-friendly cleaning tips that really work? I'd love to hear about them!
Till next time,
