Spring is near and so is the big home cleaning. Some people associate Spring Cleaning with general cleanup or de-cluttering certain areas. But we at The Happy House Cleaning think of Spring Cleaning as of deep and thorough cleaning of every room of your home.

Next few weeks we are going to put together some great green cleaning tips for every area in the house without using toxic commercial products. Today we shared 5 green recipes to tackle spring chores in the kitchen. Before you get started, check our list of professional tips  to deal with all Spring Cleaning tasks fast and effective.

Sink Cleaner

This recipe works great for both stainless steel and porcelains sinks. You will need:

  • Baking soda
  • Salt
  • Lemon (half lemon should be enough)
  • Cream of Tartar (opt.)
  • White vinegar

Mix 1 part baking soda and 1 part salt. If there are old, stubborn stains on porcelain, add 1 part cream of tartar. Sprinkle evenly onto the sink surface and squeeze the lemon on the soda mix. You will see the ingredients fizzle up. Use the scrubby pad and rub gently to remove stains and grime. Wipe the sink with white vinegar diluted in water. Rinse well with water to remove soda residues.

Extractor Hood Cleaner

Avoid using harsh chemicals to clean of the grease from your cooker hood with this easy recipe. You will need:

  • Baking soda
  • White vinegar
  • Liquid castile soap

Mix 1 tbs. soda, 2 tbs. liquid castile soap and ¼ cup of vinegar into a small bowl. Apply the mixture onto the hood and let it set in for 20 min. Wipe down the surface with clean damp cloth. If your extractor hood still has some grease spots, repeat the process.

Hob Cleaner

Great recipe to clean grease stains or burnt food spills on your cooktops. You will need:

  • Baking soda
  • Liquid castile soap

Make a thick paste from the soap and baking soda. Apply it on the hob and leave it like this for 20 min. Scrub gently with sponge to avoid scratching the surface. Wipe the paste with clean damp cloth. If necessary repeat the process one more time.

Oven Cleaner

Cleaning oven without chemicals can be quite a challenge, but it is worth it, if you want to avoid commercial chemical products. You will need:

  • Baking soda
  • White distilled vinegar
  • Liquid castile soap
  • Patience

Turn on the oven for 5 minutes – just enough to heat it up a little bit and melt old grease and chunks of burnt food. After you turn it off, spray evenly hot water mixed with a few drops of castile soap on every surface. Prepare very thick paste of baking soda and water. Apply thick layer on every surface of your oven. Leave it like this for 1 hour (the paste should be thick enough not to flow down the walls).

After the time is up scrub the oven – if you have to deal with very dirty surface, use brush, or scrubby pad instead of sponge. You’ll need to put some elbow grease into clean old stains. Wipe off the paste with clean damp sponge.

Fridge

This recipe works great to remove food spills from inside of your fridge. It also keeps mould away. You will need:

  • Liquid castile soap
  • White vinegar

Empty the refrigerator and turn it off. Mix 5-6 drops of soap with warm water in middle size bowl. Wipe the inside of your fridge with sponge, soaked in the suds – walls, shelves and compartments. Use clean damp cloth to ‘rinse’ the soapy water. Mix ½ cup white vinegar and ½ cup of water and spray the solution onto the whole surface. Leave the fridge like this overnight with the door opened. There is no need to rinse the vinegar – the smell will be gone in the morning and vinegar will keep mould away.