Warmer weather means it’s time to do some cleaning. Your kids are getting bigger – let’s face it they don’t fit into everything in the closet anymore. And, not all the toys are age appropriate. While going through everything it’s also the perfect time to clean your place.
Creating food is not the only amazing thing to come from the kitchen. It’s also home to many things that can help with cleaning around the house, naturally. Here are some tips to use things you most likely have in your kitchen now that will help keep everything else tidy.
1. Citrus peels: Use citrus peels and a bit of salt to clean sinks, tubs and that area where the bar of soap sits and gets all slimy and gross. You may not be in the mood to clean just after putting fresh lemon or lime into your water. That’s OK. Collect peels in a bag in the refrigerator. They’ll keep for a week and still have the same cleaning power. Plus it will smell nice.
2. Colander: This tool normally associated with pasta can allow you to quickly pick up stray toys in the bath tub. One big swoop, a shake of the colander and let it sit on the bath mat, bottom of the tub or the tub’s edge. Grab a plastic one for the bath only and have your little ones help with the clean up. It’s a good habit to clean as you go in the kitchen, but also in your other daily activities.
3. Jars: jars can be used for storage anywhere in the house. Does your little one have hundreds of those little green army men? Put them in a jar. You can use them to store cotton balls, Q-tips or nail polish bottles. Really any jar with a lid – think about cleaning out that recent pasta sauce jar. You can even use it without a lid if you want to display things and allow for easy access.
4. Coffee filters: Rather than purchasing random plastic dividers; use coffee filters in drawers for small items like jewelry. They’ll keep dust from gathering in the drawer and allow for easy access to all your small hair accessories and trinkets. You can tweak them to any shape as well, so it doesn’t matter how odd a shape or small the drawer is. This will work.
5. Baking soda and vinegar: This can clean basically anything! Drains can be cleaned by adding a little vinegar first and baking soda after. Use them independent of each other to clean mirrors, use vinegar, or the sink, using baking soda with a small amount of water added to it.
Chef Gigi Gaggero 