I was really inspired by how much better the house looked and I felt after Day 1, so I actually got up early this morning eager to clean. (How long will THAT last?) I attacked the kitchen with gusto. Here was the kitchen action plan:
1. Remove decor from above cabinets, purge as necessary, clean as needed, and wipe cabinet tops
2. Wipe down all cabinet doors
3. Go through cabinets for dishes that can be given to Goodwill
4. Clean microwave
5. Clean oven
6. Clean kitchen counter and all appliances on it
7. Clean refrigerator
8. Scrub sink
9. Clean garbage can
10. Wipe down floorboards and mop
Some of the best advice I found on house cleaning during my "spring cleaning" run on Pinterest was to start from the top and work my way down. That way, any dirt I remove from a high location doesn't muss an already-clean low location. The highest point in our kitchen is the 12-inch gap between our top cabinets and the ceiling, so I started there.
The majority of the "decor" (another of those words that sounds much too glamorous for what we actually have) was empty wine bottles from years and years ago. I thought they were sophisticated. As it turns out, they were just dusty, as was everything else up there (a giraffe-shaped cookie jar, some bright red candles, and a decorative olive oil bottle). I don't mean just "dust" either. If you're imagining something that you could brush away with a feather duster, you're in the wrong time zone. This stuff is now officially what I will think of when I hear the word "grime". It's basically dust that was glued down to all available surfaces with the residue of everything I've cooked on the stovetop for the last four years. I had to scrub so vigorously to get it off that I quickly decided that the effort was only worthwhile for the decorative items I really wanted to keep. That means that all the old, empty wine bottles went into the garbage can, and we now have a much more streamlined look in our kitchen.
The grime was also caked on top of the cabinets themselves. In theory, a little elbow grease would have been enough to remove the stuff, but in practice, it turns out that I'm a very awkward height. Our stepladder put me too far away from the countertop to reach the cabinets. I then tried a chair, but could barely see past the lip at the cabinets' edge. Finally -- since the kids were entertained with "Jake and the Neverland Pirates", I just stood on top of the counter itself. I could now reach, but I'm so tall that I couldn't stand upright. I spent about thirty minutes with my head inclined about twenty degrees to the left and my arm lifted up just over shoulder level, scrubbing at this caked-on dust with all my might. (On a side note, Lose It! says that an hour of housework burns 154 calories!) I used a bowl of my trusty apple cider vinegar (ACV) mixed with water, then finished up with a Lysol wipe. When I was done, I was sore and sweaty, but, by golly, my cabinet tops (which no one ever sees) were clean.
The rest of the morning was uneventful. I used ACV to wipe off every surface in the kitchen. At one point, Mini-me announced that she wanted to help, and I discovered another advantage of the vinegar: I could give her a rag dipped in the stuff and not worry about its toxicity. I had her wipe down the lower cabinets and the dishwasher, and she did a good job, for a four-year-old. I went behind her with a Lysol wipe on the end of a toothpick to get into the crevices where the cabinets jut out a bit to be decorative. I think anybody would be surprised at how much dust collects on that tiny surface!
Cleaning the oven is likely going to be a future source of experimentation for me. I have a self-cleaning oven, so last night I turned it on while we slept. Apparently (after the fact), you're supposed to open windows and make sure children and small animals aren't around the oven while it's cleaning. Oops. Also, though the self-cleaning part cleaned the majority of the oven, there were caked-on bits on the oven door that didn't come off even after a vigorous scrubbing. So I checked out this website, which recommended sprinkling the inside of the oven with baking soda and vinegar. I tried that and found that the mixture made a satisfying sizzling noise and bubbled as though it was doing something; however, it didn't touch the gunk. I got frustrated, closed the oven, and decided to come back to it later. The next day, though, when I opened the oven to cook dinner, the gunk was completely gone, as if it had eroded away. (Further examination of the website revealed that I was supposed to let the baking soda and vinegar sit overnight.) I just wiped out a few little white streaks and was done.
In part two of my "nastiest place in the room" series, I'd like to call your attention to the area underneath the pull-out drawer beneath your oven. I assumed that since it was under the oven, it couldn't be TOO dirty, but in that I was about as correct as assuming that the area under a booster seat couldn't get dirty. This place was filthy. My one consolation was that it was an isolated area that no one sees or touches. There was more of the grime down there, plus some dust bunnies, crumbs, dead bugs, and a few lost Goldfish and Cheerios (we eat a lot of those around here). Again, I wiped and then scrubbed it with ACV, followed by a Lysol wipe.
The refrigerator took a surprisingly long time to clean because I removed every jar and bottle and wiped each of them down as well. I also cleaned the shelves and drawers in the sink. However, it was also one of the most satisfying things I've cleaned yet, because I saw immediate results. It also seems to be lasting a bit longer than the other, more high-kid-traffic areas I've targeted. My nice, clean floor, for example, is dirty already, and I'm about to head off to do my daily sweeping.
So far, I'm pretty happy with my apple cider vinegar, which is also cheaper than most cleaning products and seems safe to use on just about any surface; however, in really icky places, I've been chasing it with a Lysol wipe (which I need to buy more of). The baking soda also worked so well on the oven that I may experiment with using household products to clean other areas of the house.
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