Safe & Natural Oven Cleaning Methods

Cleaning the oven isn’t high on anyone’s joy list, but it’s a task that has to be done in order to have a clean oven, and get rid of any spillage so you don’t run the risk of starting an oven fire.

There are many oven cleaners on the market that advertise how quickly they cut through grease and clean your oven. While they do clean the appliance, it’s what these cleaners don’t tell you that matters.

You won’t hear that the fumes from these cleaners can permeate your entire home and can cause coughing and watery eyes - and even more serious side effects for some people. You also won’t hear that the ingredients are caustic. Caustic means that the ingredients can cause painful skin burns.

Dirty oven. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Natural oven cleaning methods are safer to use in your home and you won’t have to worry about damaging your skin or breathing in a caustic substance. If you need to clean your oven and want to use what you have around the house to do it, then you can use citrus fruits like lemons.

But this is more of a time consuming task because even using lemons, you’ll still have to scrub - and if you have a stuck on mess, you may end up needing something to scrape off burned on food spills.

You can also use white vinegar to clean an oven, but for the scrubbing action, you’ll need to use it in conjunction with baking soda. Even then, depending on the shape your oven is in, you’ll still have to put some effort into scrubbing it clean.

Both of these methods will work to get your oven clean, but they do take up a lot of time and since time is a precious commodity to most of us, you may prefer to look for faster, just as effective methods.

To do that, you can use a natural oven cleaner that’s designed to break apart food spills and cut through grease. You can find these natural oven cleaners in handy spray bottles available through online suppliers such as Amazon.com and many others.

Because they’re natural or organic, they’re safe to use in all types of ovens, including countertop versions. By using only the natural ingredients in these formulas to clean your oven, you won’t be dealing with any of the dangerous fumes, either.

Unlike the other chemical based cleaners that require you to saturate the oven and then wait half an hour before cleaning, with a natural cleaner, you can spray the oven - and because the cleaner works fast, you can wipe it down in minutes without having to wait as long. These natural oven cleaners are also great for cleaning barbecue grills, too!

Natural Oven Cleaning Products:
   

Frugal & Green: How Going Green Can Save You Money At Home

There are all kinds of ways to save money while going green. In fact, regardless of which is your primary goal (going green or saving money), you will find they complement each other nicely. Here are some ways that going green can save you money.

Household Cleaners

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you ever stop to add it all up, you probably spend a significant amount of money on household cleaners, from toilet bowl cleaner to sink scrubbers. There are concerns that the chemicals used in many of these cleaners are unhealthy, and, in the case of bleach and other substances, potentially carcinogenic.

As you green your lifestyle, it only makes sense to stop buying and using commercial household cleaners. You can make your own natural cleaners for a fraction of the cost, thus saving money and being green.

For example, baking soda made into a paste with water makes a great sink and bathtub scrubber, and can even be used to clean an oven. Combined with borax, a little liquid soap, and peppermint essential oil, baking soda becomes a cream scrubber.

Inexpensive white vinegar and water make a good floor cleaner for hardwood. Add a little lavender essential oil to the vinegar and water and wash your windows. (See this blog for more tips on this - just click the "natural cleaning products" tag for some suggestions.)

Honey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Personal Care Products

Beauty products can cost a great deal of money, and some of the ingredients are dubious. In fact, substances like parabens, found in many cosmetics, have been implicated in cancer. It's considered green to use natural personal care products, but that can be even pricier. Making your own is far less expensive and just as natural and healthy.

For a creamy, moisturizing cleanser for your face, mix 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt with 1/2 teaspoon sweet almond oil and 1/2 teaspoon honey. To make an exfoliating cleanser, add ground, dried beans, ground nuts, or sugar.

Instead of spending a lot of money on shampoos and conditioners, mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a cupful of warm water and pour that over your head as a shampoo. Apple cider vinegar (2 teaspoons per cup of warm water) makes an effective conditioner.

There are also many other ways that going green can cost you less - from fuel efficient vehicles, to energy-efficient appliances, and other conservation methods that help cut down on utility bills. Going green doesn't have to be expensive; in fact, it can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Ten “Green” Cleaning Uses for Flat Beer

Ever wonder what to do with a half empty bottle of beer?  Drinking it isn’t an option; there’s not much worse than flat beer.  So what’s a person who doesn’t like to waste anything to do with a bunch of flat beer?  Here are ten “green” cleaning uses for flat beer - just in case you have some extra left over from the holiday weekend!

Beer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

#1.  Coffee and tea stain remover.  Though you don’t really want your clothes to smell like beer, it is actually a great stain remover.  Pour the beer on the stain and let it sit for a minute.  Blot the stain and examine.  If it’s still lingering, repeat as needed. Then launder as usual.

#2.  Polish your jewelry.  Pour that leftover beer into a small glass bowl and place your gem-free jewelry into the bowl.  Let sit for a couple of minutes, remove and dry thoroughly.

#3.  Furniture cleaner.  Use your flat beer to clean your wooden tables and other wooden furniture.  Place flat beer on a clean, soft cloth and apply.  Dry with another clean, soft cloth.

#4.  Clean your garden of slugs and snails.  It’s a long-standing gardening practice to use beer to attract snails and slugs to remove them from your garden.  Pour beer into a shallow dish and place in your garden overnight.  In the morning, you’ll find it full of slugs and snails that have imbibed and drowned.  Toss and repeat as needed to rid your garden of these destructive pests.

#5.  Remove stains from carpeting.  It’s always good to test this in a low-visibility area for colorfastness first.  Then, if you have a carpet stain, pour a little beer on the stain, wait a few minutes, blot and repeat until stain is gone.  This works better on fresh stains rather than stains that have become set in the carpet.

#6.  Cleaning doesn’t just mean cleaning your home.  Flat beer makes a great hair conditioner.  Wash your hair as normal and rinse, then pour that bottle of flat beer over your head, let set for a minute and rinse out.  (Don’t take glass into the shower, but rather pour into a plastic cup to avoid potential breakage and injury.)

Ick! Fruit flies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

#7.  Trap fruit flies.  Flat beer is a good way to eliminate pesky fruit flies.  Pour the beer into a small plastic sandwich bag, filling it halfway.  Place the bag into a cup and snip the corner of the bag, not too big but large enough for fruit flies to be able to fly in.  They’ll be drawn to the beer and not be able to find their way out of the bag.

#8.  Bee bait.  Place a few dishes of flat beer on the perimeter of your home to attract them to those areas rather than where you and your family enjoy playing and hanging out. 

#9.  Copper cleaner.  Beer is great for polishing copper.  Try placing a little on a clean cloth and applying to the bottom of your copper pans to remove tarnish and add shine.

#10.  Plant food.  When watering your plants or garden, mix a few tablespoons of flat beer into the water and add to your plants. They will love the extra nutrients and vitamins. 

Flat beer may be unpleasant to drink but it has a number of valuable green cleaning uses.  In a time where we’re learning to make the most of our resources, there’s no reason to let a little flat beer go to waste. Try some of these tips whenever you have flat beer left over!

Video: Safe, Natural Household Cleaners You Can Make At Home

This short video details lots of ways you can use common, cheap, and safe household items to clean all sorts of things around your home, without all of the harmful chemicals. From baking soda, to vinegar, to even vodka, there are numerous items you probably already have in your pantry that can clean everything from fabrics, to countertops, silver, and more - all safely and at a fraction of the cost of expensive chemical-based cleaners.

Check out the video to learn all you need to clean your home safely and naturally!

Natural, Healthy Cleaning Products
So many of the products used today as household cleaners have adverse health effects. Learn about some healthy, natural alternatives.

A Quick Look At Natural & Organic Cleaning Ingredients

You can scrub your home in every room, but that doesn’t mean your home is clean in a way that’s good for your health. If you’ve used chemical cleaners, these chemicals do get absorbed into your body through your skin.

That’s why you want to use only organic and natural cleaning supplies. Products that contain only organic ingredients are not just part of helping the world be a safer place to live environmentally - they’re better for you, too.

Using vinegar for a natural clean (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

When you’re looking for cleaning products, you need to know what the contents should be in order to be considered natural - because some products say that they’re natural, even when they’re not. Avoid products that contain preservatives or synthetic materials.

Organic and natural cleaning supplies will often have plant extracts and natural minerals on the ingredient lists. Some will have flower essences (such as lavender) to give your home a soothing scent.

Look for products that contain essential oils, which are oils from natural items such as lemon or pine. Cleaning ingredients that are natural in nature will also often have the word 'biodegradable' on the label.

Baking soda is a natural cleaner and is often used to scrub and whiten stains. White vinegar can be used to clean through grease, to get rid of stains and even as pest control. Ants will avoid white vinegar, so if you clean around your window frames and any crevices with white vinegar, this will take care of any ant problems.

Vinegar can also be used to kill mold, clean a garbage disposal and even to take out stains left by tea and coffee in your cups. It’s also great for getting rid of lime deposits.

Salt. (Photo credit: SoraZG)

Some other natural and organic cleaning ingredients found in green cleaners are coconut, minerals and salt. You might not think of salt as a natural cleaner, but it is. Salt can be used as an abrasive and it can also be used to dry up liquids spilled on carpets - and like vinegar, it's much cheaper than most commercial cleaning products on the market!

Look for cleaners that contain castile soap. This soap is made of natural olive oil and can be used for cleaning counter tops. It can also be used to clean clothes and it’s great on the hands. People with allergies often find it easier to use castile soap than any other type of soap.

When you’re buying organic or natural cleaners, just remember that the labels should have ingredients that you would recognize from nature. Also look for keywords like non-abrasive and non-flammable, because this is sometimes indicative of it being chemical-free.