Cheat at Cleaning: Tricks for Hard-to-Clean Appliances

Make Appliances Clean Themselves

In the ideal cheat-at-cleaning world, every machine we owned would clean itself. The good news is that we can get pretty darned close. Here, Jeff Bredenberg, AOL Kids and Family Coach and author of 'How to Cheat at Cleaning' gives a rundown of common kitchen appliances and how they can actually clean themselves.


More Ways to Cheat on Cleaning

Garbage Disposal

Empty an ice tray into your sink and push all of the cubes into the garbage disposal. Then push a few lemon rinds down there, too (any citrus rinds will do). Turn on the cold water, turn on the disposal, and grind away until the ice and rinds are gone. The disposal will be clean and lemony (or orangey) fresh.

Microwave Oven

Pour 2 cups of water into a microwave-safe bowl. Set it in the middle of the microwave and cook on high for 5 minutes. The steam generated will soften any cooked-on food splatters inside. Remove the bowl using oven mitts. Wipe down the interior with a damp sponge.

Blender or
Food Processor

Rinse to remove most traces of food, then fill halfway with water and add a squirt of dishwashing liquid. Close the blender or processor and turn it on for half a minute. Rinse again, then let the blades spin for a few seconds to throw off any remaining water.

Coffee Grinder

Here's the easy way to clean your grinder after each use: Run ½ cup of uncooked white rice through the grinder and throw it away. If you make a lot of coffee, just give your grinder the rice treatment once or twice a week. Other times, wipe it out with a damp paper towel.

Coffee Maker

Put a new filter in the basket to catch any loosened mineral deposits. Fill the coffee maker's tank halfway with white vinegar and the rest of the way with water and run it through its cycle. Turn the machine off and let it sit for 5 minutes (to help clean the glass). Pour the water/vinegar out, wipe out the carafe and run through the cycle again.

Dishwasher

Cleaning the interior of a dishwasher usually isn't much of an issue -- unless you happen to have those white mineral deposits building up, indicating a hard water problem. Use a product such as Glisten or Jet Dry dishwasher cleaner often enough to keep the white streaks at bay. Put the cleaner in the washer and run the water through a cleaning cycle.

Oven

If your oven isn't trained to clean itself, it can still come pretty close: Pour ½ cup of ammonia into a glass bowl and leave it inside your closed oven overnight. Then pour out the ammonia and use a damp sponge to wipe up the grime loosened by the fumes.

'How to Cheat at Cleaning'

Excerpted from 'How to Cheat at Cleaning: Time-Slashing Techniques for Cutting Corners and Restoring Your Sanity' by Jeff Bredenberg. Copyright © 2007 by Jeff Bredenberg. Excerpted by permission of Taunton Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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