Deep clean your home

My oven blew up this week, just as I was preheating it for a homemade lasagne. I was not a happy bunny. The day before my new oven arrived I removed the old one. The oven was built in so I'd never had to move it before. You can imagine my horror when it was lifted out to find several nasty grease stains beneath it, green, yellow and black!!!

This triggered my inner Monica (you know, the clean freak enthusiast from Friends). I've been scouring pinterest ever since for cleaning tips. I was amazed by what I found...

Before cleaning products came along people used ingredients from their kitchen cupboard to clean their entire house!  I've dumped the expensive branded cleaning products in favour of some 'kinder to the environment' and still as good products. Here are some of my new favourites:

Top 10 cleaning tips I tried and tested ...

#tip1 to deep clean your washing machine. Put 1 cup of bicarbonate of soda and 1 cup of white distilled vinegar (not the malted variety) directly into the drum. Then also add half a cup of white vinegar to the fabric softner dispenser and half a cup of bicarbonate of soda to the detergent dispenser. I never run a cycle on empty so throw a few towels in there too. Run the cycle on the hottest setting on a high spin wash. That's all you need to do for a clean hygienic washer. Gets rid of smells and nasties.

#tip2  to get rid of the nasty black mould from the inside of the rubber seal on your washing machine. Soak a rag in a 50/50 mixture of bleach and warm water. Squash the rag into the rubber seal and leave it to work for about 30 mins then wipe away. I repeated this a couple of times as mine was pretty bad. This got rid of the nasty black mould and the smell, bonus!

#tip3 use half a cup of white vinegar instead of fabric conditioner. Naturally disinfects and cuts through grease, leaving fabric soft and fresh. I have done this ever since.

#tip4 to clean soap scum off a dirty shower screen use white vinegar. Little effort required and mine is now gleaming! Also used this on my windows - no smears.

#tip5 to get rid of the nasty black mould on bath sealant. Soak some cotton wool balls in a mixture of bleach and warm water and leave on overnight, how did I not know this before! The cotton wool had absorbed the nasty black mould. I then gave it a good scrub with an old toothbrush to get to the stubborn bits.  Going to have another go at this but what an improvement already. 

#tip6 to get rid of water marks on wooden furniture. Dab full fat mayonnaise onto the stain and leave overnight. When you wipe it off the next day the spots will have disappeared! This works a treat.

#tip7 to freshen your mattress sprinkle a blend of bicarbonate of soda and a couple of drops of lavendar essential oil over it and leave for a few hours. I left mine on all day, then just vacuumed it off. This disinfects, kills nasty bed bugs and gets rid of odours. If you have kids and there are a few urine stains on there you can spray with white vinegar and blot dry with kitchen roll or a cloth first. It literally pulls the stain out and gets rid of the smell.

#tip8 to freshen upholstery such as your sofa or carpet sprinkle on a blend of bicarbonate of soda and a few drops of your preferred essential oil. Rub it in with your hands or a small brush. Leave overnight and vacuum off. This draws out ground in dirt and deodorises.

#tip9 to get your stainless steel appliances gleaming. Use a small amount of oil and some kitchen roll. Rub onto the stainless steel in small circular motions to remove grease, dust and fingerprint smudges. I've always struggled cleaning the grease off the extractor hood but this makes it super easy. Alternatively you could use baby oil but olive oil worked for me.

#tip10 to remove tough stains from chopping boards. Rub half a lemon onto the board and leave for 20 minutes before rinsing. Smells good too!  

I have loved testing out these tips and am still finding more which I will be putting to the test shortly. Check out my pinterest page for more tips that I'll be trying out. Fifties housewife in the making.