5 Nasty Things in Your Kitchen!

Some consider the kitchen to be the heart of the home – the perfect place where families get together and share memories that will last a lifetime.. my neighbour considers the kitchen the perfect place to cook macaroni and cheese, in his underwear, at 11:30 on a Saturday night..and not close the blinds…

Whatever the kitchen is for you, there’s little doubt that it’s the epi-center for nasty bacteria in your home…..so this week I wanted to talk about a few areas in the kitchen that are particularly nasty, and of course – I’ll show you how to clean them 🙂

KITCHEN SINK

Sinks are harbingers of all kinds of things nasty.  You rinse pretty much everything in the kitchen sink, from dirty hands to raw chicken and everything in between. So, to keep it clean, here’s what you need to do…

Spray your sink generously with an all-purpose cleaner with disinfectant of your choosing, a great DIY version contains about 1 cup of water, a few drops of dish soap and a half-cup of rubbing alcohol.  You want it to be sopping wet.  Then, sprinkle baking soda around your sink and leave this for 3-4 minutes.  With a clean, wet sponge, use the abrasive side to scrub the sink, faucet and drain area well.  Rinse with hot water and dry with a microfiber cloth.  If you want to be extra cautious, as a final step you can mist the sink with rubbing alcohol, it’ll dry on its own very quickly.

COUNTERTOPS

When you think about it, countertops are also pretty gritty.  When you prepare food, bacteria-carrying fluids can dry and potentially get into other things you prepare, or on your hands which you’ll then use to prepare something or devour something, AKA hand utensils. That’s why your mama always told you to use cutlery.

Anyway, to clean your counters, you want to use an all-purpose disinfectant spray and a microfiber cloth.  Start by removing all items from the counter, yes I know this is a lot to ask, but it’s the right way to do things and that’s what you guys want to see.  The recipe of water, dish soap and rubbing alcohol is safe for granite and marble counters too, bonus!  Spray the entire countertop with the cleaner, generously and let it sit for about 5 minutes and soak.  Now I should mention, someone asked in a recent video how to remove turmeric stains from a laminate counter.  For almost any stain on a laminate counter, use good old baking soda and sprinkle some over the affected area.  After 5 minutes, use a microfiber cloth to clean the counter in a ‘s’ pattern, and for any stained areas, use a sponge to scrub away the stain.  Give it a final buff to remove streaks.  Now, you can replace everything. Voila, clean counters that you can literally eat off of!

Don’t forget to check out Maker’s Clean line of premium products. From microfiber cloths to the Maker’s Mop, they have a great line of high-quality products that will help you take your cleaning game to the next level!

CUTTING BOARD

It’s not hard to believe that this thing made my list – I mean, my cutting board has all sorts of food on it and wooden cutting boards are very porous, which it not a good combination at all!

Glass cutting boards are the most sanitary because they are non-porous.  Plastic and wood are more porous and therefore more susceptible to absorbing and harboring bacteria.

Clean plastic cutting boards by spraying them with an all-purpose disinfectant cleaner, leaving it to sit for 5 minutes, and then washing clean with hot water.  Remember to dry it well.

For wood cutting boards, we’ve created a video that you can see here, which reviews exactly how to clean, disinfect and care for your wooden cutting board.

THE GARBAGE CAN

When you take away the garbage bag from the garbage can – do you find that the smell completely goes away? If it doesn’t, there’s a good chance your garbage can needs a cleaning, and luckly, it’s super easy to do..

All you need is some all-purpose disinfectant, spray the garbage can and leave it for 5-10 minutes and sprinkle in baking soda for extra deodorizing power.  Make sure it’s really dripping wet!  Then, rinse if you can using warm water and then wipe it out using paper towel, until it’s dry.  Once completely dry, replace with a clean bag.

For more cleaning secrets check out our E-Book Bundle! It has 3 e-books (The Complete Guide to Essential Oils, My 3 Wave Cleaning System, 50 DIY Cleaning Recipes) and will get you started with all your cleaning needs!

SPONGES, CLOTHS & BRUSHES

After a good kitchen cleaning, you’re left with that wonderful sense of accomplishment for a job well done – and you’re also left with some really grimy sponges, cloths and brushes.

To clean your sponges…simply soak in a solution of 1 part rubbing alcohol and 1 part water for 10 minutes, then rinse and dry.  When you are done using your sponge, make sure you rinse it very well and then make sure it dries thoroughly.  You may want to get a sponge holder like we have, just to make sure it dries.  Bacteria likes moisture, so the wetter your sponge, the more opportunity bacteria have to grow.

Cleaning cloths should be rinsed with hot water and soap after use and hung to dry.  Again, a wet anything is going to harbor bacteria and lead to odours.  Every 2-3 days, launder the cloth.  Tea towels should also be changed out every couple of days.  Think about the daily routine of a tea towel, you’ll understand why it’s so important to clean them.  We have a pile of cleaning cloths and tea towels in our basement by the washing machine and launder them every week or so.

And  your brushes can be cleaned by soaking in a sink filled with water and a cup of rubbing alcohol.  Leave this for 10 minutes and then rinse well and dry.  Your brushes scrape off all kinds of gross things, so ensuring they are bacteria-free means anything you clean with them will be truly clean, not just look that way.  We clean our brushes every week or so, depending on use.

This week’s comment question is an important one, because it’s a poll and we want the Clean My Space Nation to tell us what is the one room in your home that you LEAST like cleaning? Which room do you just dread the most?