With a new year comes new plans, New Year’s Resolutions and new to-do lists. While we focus on health and wellness, our careers and our social lives, we can’t neglect the space we spend the most time in…our home. Cleaning your home unfortunately is not something you can neglect doing. Unlike your mental and physical well being, not cleaning will show its negative effects immediately. Neglecting to skip your workout for three days will prob not affect you too much. But try not doing any dishes for three days….you see my point? Cleaning is one of the most important things we must do whether we like to or not.
A lot of people will give you big cleaning projects to tackle in January, but they are not always realistic. A few I saw was “clean out your garage, clean out your attic, move your furniture and vacuum”. I’m here to tell you as a business owner of a cleaning company, that is not realistic! January is an extremely hard month for a lot of people to get motivated. I know it’s a month people join the gym, and set new resolutions, but for me, I still want to be in December, and my mind and body do as well. The first week in January might as well still be Christmas break. Just because the ball drops a day before does not mean we are ready or excited to dive right into our responsibilities. Overhauling my house is not even on my radar. Taking down the Christmas decorations is enough for me to have to push through. However, having said that, there are some items that I could just not put off anymore, and you likely can’t either. So instead of creating this long list of things you want to clean to start the year right, try tackling this short list instead. You too may need to tackle these, before they tackle you!
Your range hood
Our ranges take a beating over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. They get clogged with debris and grease, and begin to lose their effectiveness in sucking out fumes. The best way to filter out smells and fumes from your oven is to keep your range free from build up. This is not a quick 10 minute process, but I promise you it won’t take more than 30 minutes. Bar Keepers Friend is a cleaner I love for this job and can be used on most range hood filters. You can find my quick tutorial on this on my Instagram.
I neglected this until I could no more. I don’t want you to end up like me, with having a bad food odor linger in your house for hours! (some food tastes oh so good, but really stinks when you cook it). This is one of those “out of sight out of mind”, until it becomes “out of sight, but in your nose” kind of issues.
Your oven
I was about to cook a meal for my parents, and when I started to pre-heat the oven, a ton of smoke came out. It was the worst time for me to realize that I should have cleaned my oven the weekend before. Do not let this happen to you! It can ruin the taste of the meal you are trying to serve. (Luckily it was just my parents or I would have been more embarrassed!)
This may be super easy for most of you, unless you have an old school kitchen like mine. You likely have a self cleaning oven setting, and a push of two buttons will clean inside your oven! You simply need to turn on this feature (preferably at night when you do not need to be in the kitchen) and let it run itself. Always leave a window slightly open if you can, and keep the vent on. If you have small children you may want to take them out of the home, and run the cycle while you are out. It is not recommended you use oven cleaner if you do have this feature. The oven cleaner can ruin the self clean feature in the future (check with your manufacturer). After the cleaning has run its full cycle, you simply need a wet rag or wet paper towels to wipe the ashes from the bottom. Super easy…if only my house had a self cleaning cycle…I digress. My customers save about 2 hours on Squeeky Clean cleaning fees, and don’t even realize they have it. Use it!! It’s a life saver!
If you have an old Oven like me, Easy Off Fumefree is my favorite product. It IS toxic, so I always use a mask, thick rubber gloves, turn the vent on and leave a window cracked. But I find that when I spray this at night, let it sit for 6-8 hours, and scrub the inside in the morning, most of the fumes are already gone. I use an SOS pad to scrub the mixture in, and sometimes my window scraper to scrap the glass window to give it that perfect clean.
There is an alternative to harsh fumes of oven cleaner and Easy Off, which is baking soda and vinegar. I have tried this, and do this for up keep in between, but I have to say it did not work as good this time, because my oven was in SUCH bad shape! But for those who wish to try, you will need baking soda, a bowl for mixing, a spray bottle and vinegar.
- Add about 1/4 cup of baking soda to the bowl
- Add water slowly until it makes a smooth paste
- Spread over the inside of your oven (making sure to not touch any heating elements)
- Let it sit for at least 10 hours
- Spray vinegar on the paste and let it foam up
- Using a lot of elbow grease, scrub the mixture up as you remove the residue and brown grease from your oven. I would use an SOS pad to scrub the oven clean along with the foaming mixture.
- Repeat Step 6 until all of the solution is removed and the oven is to your liking.
Your toiletries
January is the month we tend to try new beauty products. This simple exercise of throwing away old products, could take 10 minutes. Just as you would purge your clothing, go through your cabinet and throw away those bottles that have an inch of product in them, the ones you swear you’re going to use but really won’t, and anything old, expired, or leaking. This will make room for the new products you want to try, without cluttering up your space.
I can’t tell you how many homes I have cleaned, including my own, and find multiple bottles with less than an inch of product in them. Use them up or THROW them away!! Extra bottles in your shower are breeding grounds for mold and bacteria!
While you cleaning out your shower toiletries, tackle your linen closet or medicine cabinet. You will be amazed how many products you have not used, and likely will not use. This simple 10-20 minute exercise can free up a lot of clutter!
Your coat closet
Man, is this a must on MY list! It amazes me how I forget to do this every year, only to be forced to do it while my kids are standing over me waiting to run out into the fresh fallen snow! I live in the Northeast, and we tend to not get snow until January. The first snow is what forces me to tackle my coat closet, and let me tell you, it’s too late at that point. It becomes a frenzy of trying to find matches for all the gloves that do not like to stay together, looking for boots that fit my ever growing kids, and scarves I forgot I had! Trying to get the kids ready for a snow storm sometimes feels like the dress rehearsal before opening night of a play.
Purging your coat closet in the beginning of the year (and for some, much earlier than January) will not only keep you organized, it can keep you from being late in the morning. Looking for gloves that fit, when you should be walking out the door is not a situation you want to find yourself in. “Sorry boss I am late, I couldn’t find my left glove”, is pretty high on the “lame excuse list,” as true as it may be. Tackling this before freezing cold season gives you the ability to organize what you have, do inventory of what you need and find it easier! (And yes, there is a difference between Winter and “freezing cold season”). It also allows you to donate items you no longer need to the many charities and non profit organizations that collect these items.
Conclusion
You thought I was going to give you 5 items didn’t you? Not this time, those 4 are enough for one month! A few of them are easy, a few of them require more time and effort, but the reward you will get from tackling these items will be worth it in the end! And you will feel the instant gratification from tackling this list!
Happy Squeeky Cleaning!
Michelle M
The Squeeky Clean Method 