Spring Cleaning: Top Cleaning Tips Debunked

After the success of the braid challenge from Pinterest I asked my friends what they would like me to try out. Spring Cleaning was the top choice and I was happy because I have been wanting to do some hard cleaning around the house. As usual I started digging through Pinterest, reading blogs and tutorials from people who provided tips on how to get your house spotless. Just so you know if you want to try the same cleaning techniques at home know that apparently you need: 1. a lot of baking soda; 2. a lot of corse salt; 3. a lot of lemons; 4. Dawn Soap and 5. vinegar. These items came up every time for cleaning kitchen, tubs, faucets, you name it.

How the Challenge works:
[Each day for 5 day I will pick one item to clean and discuss whether the suggestions on Pinterest were true or just a bunch of crap. I will update the post each day so you can either bookmark my awesome blog or you can subscribe to receive an e-mail alert when I update the post. You can also become one of my devoted followers.] Please do :)

CLEANING YOUR KITCHEN SINK

This only applies if you like me have a stainless steel kitchen sink, otherwise you can stop reading this or you can be mesmerized by my cleaning story. I originally find the information on DYI Ready but also added my own twist (brush, towel).

What you Need to Clean your Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink:

Lemons (2)
Corse Salt (as much as needed)
A toothbrush (optional)
A bath or kitchen cloth (optional)

Cut your lemon in half and pour the salt until the surfaces are completely covered. Rub that lemon of yours on the sink and rinse with water. For the heavy scum use a brush and brush that dirt off your sink. I personally used the cloth to make sure there were no residuals of the lemon or salt and to make sure the sink would shine. The lemon is supposed to break down the scum and provide a shiny look.

Here my before picture:

After picture:

I don't see any difference. I just had a clean sink, but I still had some scum and was not shiny as suggested. My sink smelt good and for once I devoted 10 minutes of my energy cleaning the kitchen sink. So still worth it and definitely all natural, which is great if you have kids. What the lemon really worked on was the faucet. It really made it shiny and eliminated the dirt.

What do you think? Did you try this out at your house? Leave a comment below. Check back tomorrow to see what else I am cleaning that requires little to no time.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR CHOPPING BOARD

Day two of this week challenge is all about how to clean your house in less than 20 minutes. One of the items I have been wandering how to clean is my plastic chopping board with obvious stains from tomatoes, spices, or meat. I have been reading different blogs about how to clean cutting boards. I was shocked people use bleach (yes you heard me). How in the world are you going to eat after using bleach on a cutting board? I opted for natural remedies including lemons, salt, and baking soda.

First, I followed the directions of the Real Simple blog, which suggests to cut a lemon in half, squeeze it on the board and let it sit for 20 minutes. I took it further and after 20 minutes I rubbed salt using the lemon. Then I added baking soda and with the sponge I just rubbed and rubbed. You want to rinse the cutting board under warm water and watch the results.

Before cleaning the cutting board:

After cleaning the cutting board:

Magic happened here.

HOW TO CLEAN COPPER PANS AND POTS

In theory cleaning or polishing copper pots should only take you 10 minutes. All you need is lemon and corse salt. Cut a lemon in half, pour salt on each half of the lemon and rub on the surface you want to polish. The acidity will strip away the built up on the bottom of your copper pan in no time.
For the edges on you pot I used a bristle sponge and I gently rubbed it until all the scum was gone. This part was time consuming because I have not polished my copper pots in a long time. The more you wait the harder you need to rub.
Before I cleaned: