Simply the best...

Warning: this blog is largely about cleaning and cleaning products. It is most likely quite boring. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

For the past several months, our house has been driving me slowly insane. There have been all these projects…nothing huge but also nothing really small, just things that have really needed to be done. The problem is that we’ve not had much time in the last few months to work on them. This past weekend they all ganged up on me, giving me the just about worst bout of insomnia I’ve had yet. So, Owen and I have made a “to do list” and have been working on it in evenings and on weekends.

Yesterday I tackled the cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink. It had gotten so bad under there that stuff was just heaped up and you couldn’t find anything. So, I took everything out, wiped it down, and put it back in a more organized fashion. It was in doing this that I rediscovered a tiny sample-sized bottle of Simple Green. Actually, I rediscovered a number of things, but most of them are too disgusting for me to admit to out here in the blogosphere. Believe it or not, it had come in a package of free sample stuff we got at a maternity store in Chicago way back in September.

I set it on the counter, thinking I might be able to use it on some of the kitchen because we’d run out of Clorox spray. When I’d finished with the cabinet, I sprayed a little on the counter and wiped it down. Now, our stove had been bugging me for a LONG time. The problems with it are many. For one, somebody who shall remain nameless and who lives in my house is a very sloppy cook. S/he hardly ever remembers to wipe up sinks, counters or stoves when finished cooking. This is compounded by the fact that the stove is a gas stove and the pilot lights, which stay permanently lit, keep parts of the surface of the stove warm enough that stuff really cooks on badly if not cleaned up routinely.

Our stove hadn’t been cleaned since…um…a long time, and it has been driving me crazy. So last night I sprayed a little Simple Green on it and *Poof* half an hour or so later the stove was looking like new (no exaggeration). The big feat, though, was that I also used it to clean the hood. This is no small task. I’ve tried using soft scrub, bleach, you name it, to get off that slimy coat of cooking residue that always seems to land there. But, seriously, all I had to do was spray on a little Simple Green and wipe it off with a rag – no joke.

Disclaimer: The directions on the bottle say that to use the product at full strength is to dilute it 1 part to ten parts water. For gentler cleaning, use it at 1:30. I used it straight from the bottle. So I’m hoping the stove hasn’t melted away by the time I get home. Not that it matters TOO much…we mostly use the crock pot nowadays anyway.