68 Kitchen Tips to Brighten Your Day

1. When liquid dish detergent container appears empty, add small amount of water to it and you’ll have enough for a few more washes.
2. Add a bit of vinegar to your dishwasher. This will cut the grease, allowing you to use a cheaper brand of detergent.
3. Put one tbsp. of bleach in your water when washing dishes. It kills germs.
4. One tbsp. of bleach in the dishwater will keep the dishcloth clean and smelling fresh.
5. Use hot water for washing dishes, but make certain you wear rubber gloves.
6. Brighten discoloured enamel ware with a paste of salt and vinegar.
7. Use baking soda to clean Corning-type dishes.
8. If you have burned food on the bottom of a cooking pan, let sit overnight with vinegar and Comet covering the burned area. It wipes out easily the next day.
9. To give burned food the brush off, let a mixture of half water and half vinegar soak in the pan overnight. The burned food comes off easily the next day with a light scouring.
   When you scorch a pan, try sprinkling dry baking soda over the scorch. Let stand awhile and clean as usual.
10. To remove burned-on food stuck to enamel saucepans, place a strong salt solution in the pot and let soak several hours. Cover the pot, place it on the stove and bring solution to a slow boil. This usually removes the burned food safely.
11. A few drops of bleach in lukewarm water will remove tea stains from cups and teapot.
12. A paste of baking soda and water will remove coffee and tea stains from porcelain and china.
13. To clean a coffee pot, use one denture tablet in cold water and soak overnight.
14. To remove coffee film from thermos bottle, pour in one tbsp. raw rice and one cup of warm water. Shake well and rinse.
15. To remove brown grease marks from pots, chrome burner rings, etc. soak in ammonia overnight.
16. To remove rust from baking pans, dip a raw potato in any cleaning powder, then scour the pans.
17. Rust can be removed from a knife blade by plunging it into an onion and leaving it there for an hour or so. Work blade back and forth a few times and wash in soap and water.
18. To remove food stuck to a casserole dish, fill with boiling water and add two tbsp. baking soda or salt.
19. When purchasing meat wrapped in plastic mesh, save the mesh. Wrap the mesh in a ball, secure with a plastic garbage bag tie and use as a pot scrubber.
20. To preserve plastic pot scrubbers, place them in plastic mesh grape bags. Twist and slip the mesh bag back to double it and tie a knot in the end. The pot scrubbers will last twice as long.
21. A small ball of tinfoil works well to clean your pans inside and out.
22. Keep a toothbrush in your kitchen. It’s great for cleaning small areas such as beaters and graters.
23. Steel wool soap pads into four pieces. It lasts much longer because using the whole pad causes it to rust before the next use.
24. Cut an SOS pad into four pieces. It lasts much longer because using the whole pad causes it to rust before the next use.
25. Fill soap cups in dishwasher only half full. This saves on dishwashing soap and your glasses will not get water marked and scarred.
26. Use equal amounts of dishwasher soap and baking soda in your dishwasher. Your dishes and silver will be cleaner and so will the machine.
27. To remove scum from glassware, add 1/2 cup bleach to wash cycle in dishwasher and 1/2 cup vinegar to the rinse. The vinegar neutralizes the bleach.
28. If your dishwasher or dishes become stained from hard water, just run a package of Tang orange juice crystals through the dishwasher with the stained dishes in it.
29. If your dishwasher needs cleaning, use powdered laundry bleach instead of dishwasher detergent in an empty machine. This will clean and disinfect the dishwasher.
30. To remove lime buildups in your dishwasher, put 3/4 cup laundry bleach into empty dishwasher and run it through first wash. After this drains, add two cups vinegar and run through the rinse cycle, but not the drying cycle. Reset the dishwasher for a full cycle, using dish detergent.
31. If the inside of your dishwasher is discoloured due to iron deposits, run washer through a cycle using 1/4 cup of Oxalic Acid Crystals (can be purchased at the drugstore). Then run through a second cycle with just water.
32. When water discharges from a portable dishwasher into the sink, a fine spray splashes over the sink and sometimes onto the floor. To prevent this, cut out the bottom of a quart-size milk carton and slip this on the discharge pipe of the dishwasher. The water will flow directly through the carton into the drain.
33. When using the automatic dishwasher, open the door and turn the cycle to off when the washing cycle has finished and let the dishes air dry.
34. For a sparkling white kitchen sink, place paper towels across the bottom of your sink and saturate with household bleach. Let sit for at least a half hour.
35. For fragrant, clean sinks, pour 1/2 cup of baking soda, followed by one cup vinegar, down the drain. Let bubble 15 minutes, then rinse with warm water.
36. Instead of expensive cleaners, use baking soda to clean your stainless steel sink.
37. Club soda can be used to shine a stainless steel sink.
38. To remove alkali corrosion around taps, etc., use straight vinegar.
39. Kitchen taps can be kept free of water spots if you polish them with a coat of liquid wax.
40. Stainless steel sinks may be brightened by using a cloth dampened with vinegar.
41. To get rid of rust marks on stainless steel sinks, rub with lighter fluid.
42. Clean rusty sinks stains by using cream of tartar and a few drops of hydrogen peroxide.
43. A cloth dampened with vinegar will remove rust stains caused by leaky faucets.
44. Place a marble in your tea kettle to prevent the kettle from scaling.
45. White vinegar works well as a scale remover for electric kettles and steam irons.
46. To clean inside of teapot, if scales gather in the pot or spout, pour 1 1/2 to two tbsp. of Spic and Span into empty pot. Fill to brim with boiling water, let stand until cool and rinse well.
    Run a piece of paper towel through the cutting mechanism of your electric can opener. It will absorb the grease and grime.
47. A damp cloth dipped in cigarette ash will clean the bottom of your electric frying pan.
48. Nail polish remover will take off any plastic which has melted on the toaster.
49. Dry baking soda and a damp cloth will remove stains from chrome appliances.
50. Use baking soda to clean chrome and the glass door of oven.
51. Sprinkle soda generously on the bottom of your oven, let sit for one hour and wipe clean.
    If your oven isn’t too dirty, a saucer full of household ammonia placed in the oven the night before cleaning will soften the residue. (Beware of the vapours when cleaning).
52. To clean oven racks put in bathtub with 1/2 cup dishwasher detergent. Soak for 30-45 minutes. No scrubbing required.
53. To easily clean a broiler pan, sprinkle the hot pan heavily with dry laundry detergent. Cover with a dampened paper towel and let sit for a while.
54. To clean oven and barbecue grills, put in bathtub with ammonia and water.
55. Put an open container of ammonia in a plastic garbage bag with your barbecue grill. Set in the sun for a couple of hours. Take out grill and rinse clean.
56. To clean barbecue and oven grills, place in bathtub with dishwasher soap and hot water.
57. To clean your whole stove from top to bottom, put all removable parts from your stove and oven into a large garbage bag and pour in a couple cups of ammonia. Seal the bag with a twist tie and let it sit for several hours or overnight. Rinse clean with warm water.
58. Put tinfoil, shiny side down, on your gas grill. Turn on high for 10 minutes. When cool, remove foil and the grill will be clean.
59. If something catches fire in your oven, sprinkle the fire generously with salt or baking soda. This will stop the flame and smoke immediately.
60. Place wax paper under ice cube trays in the freezer so they won’t stick.
61. To clean a stained bread board, sprinkle with salt and rub it all over with the cut side of a lemon.
62. To remove onion smell from breadboard, sprinkle board with baking soda and scrub.
63. Once every six months cover your chopping board with vegetable oil and let stand overnight. Then, wipe off the oil. The board will last indefinitely.
64. To keep wooden salad bowls from drying and cracking, wipe them inside and out with a paper towel soaked with cooking oil. Do this in the evening and in the morning wipe off excess oil. Repeat about once a month.
65. To clean counter tops scrub with a paste of baking soda and water. Let sit for 1/2 hour and wipe with a wet sponge.
66. Ammonia and water cleans grease from cupboards. Use one-part ammonia to five-parts water.
67. To prevent rust stains under your metal canisters when water is spilled on the counter, keep your canisters sitting on plastic container lids. The lids will raise the canisters about 1/2 inch off the counter.
68. Keep the top of kitchen cabinets clean. Unroll clear plastic wrap and cover the cupboard top. When cleaning time comes, simply roll up plastic wrap and throw in the garbage. Replace with fresh wrap.