The Internet is Teaching Me to Clean

So, remember my house cleaning woes?  Whenever I actually make time to clean, I just don't know what I'm doing.

Well, I finally won one victory!

My stove burner grates are impossible to clean.  They have been covered in brown/black spots no matter what cleaners I use.

Well...feast your eyes on these!

How d'ya like me now?  :)

I used the "Miracle Cleaner" from One Good Thing by Jillee.

I must admit that it took A-LOT of elbow grease to scrub those burner grates.  Plus they have a billion sides, curves, and nooks.  It took a lot of time and energy to get all parts of the grates clean.

They're not totally perfect, but this is the best they've looked since the stove was brand new.  No other cleaner has done this good of a job!

Here the left side is not yet cleaned and the right side is clean and pretty:

 
Don't worry, I cleaned the left side after I took the photo. :)

By the way, I used these sponges that are scrubby but not scratchy:

I really put one of the sponges to WORK!  Unused on the left, and the one on the right was only used for the burner grates:

I did spend more time cleaning other things that weren't quite so victorious.  I had seen on Pinterest a blog post about how to make your stainless steel sink shine.

This particular blog post suggests using vinegar, baking soda, boiling water, Goo Gone, and olive oil.  I thought that was a bit excessive.  So I started by placing vinegar-soaked paper towels around the faucet, sprayer, and back part of the sink.  I left them for about an hour.  I was super impressed with how the vinegar broke up the hard water deposits!

Then I used the "Miracle Cleaner" I mentioned above to scrub the entire sink and fixtures.  After I rinsed off the cleaner, I wiped everything dry.  Unfortunately, I could see the familiar haze and spots left by our stupid hard water.

The very thorough blog post on cleaning your stainless steel sink ended with buffing the sink with olive oil.  I borrowed that idea with my own spin.  I used the mineral oil that is for oiling my wooden cutting boards.  I just poured a little on a paper towel and wiped down all parts of the sink.  Wow!! It made a HUGE difference.  My final confession:  the sink started to show signs of hard water haze the next day.  I don't have the time and energy to detail and oil my sink every single day.  But I'll be doing this occasionally, and I'll definitely remember it for when we're having company over and I want my sink to look really clean and pretty.

My final swing-and-a-miss came when I tried to clean my shower/tub.  I used Jillee's "Tub and Shower Magic."

I mixed the hot vinegar and Dawn dish soap and sprayed it all over the shower tile and tub, as well as the fixtures.  Everyone in my house complained at me for the smell.  I let it sit for about two hours, and then I rinsed it off with a giant wet sponge.

My results:  It generally cleaned the tile and tub, but it didn't bust through the rust stains, it slightly worked through the hard water deposits, and it didn't touch the tub crayon that is embedded in the tile grout.  It was fine as a maintenance cleaner, but it didn't work any miracles for me. 

Hey, at least my stove and sink are clean!

Jessica