8 Kitchen Cleaning Hacks That Are Going to Save Your Sanity

Is the sink gross and brown-stained? You could scrub, or you can use this.

Step 1: Plug sink.

Step 2: Fill sink with hot water and a generous splash of bleach (I don't measure, but it's gotta be a half a cup or so).

Step 3: Ignore for about 20 minutes, or until all the stains are gone and your sink is SUPER shiny! Make sure you rinse the sink well when you drain it.

Bonus: your sink is now sanitized too. AND OH EM GEE, THE SHINY!!!

Serving sticky, gross finger foods? Serve a finger bowl too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't want it on your walls, yes? Nachos, ribs, BBQ chicken stuff, spaghetti sauce... all bow before the power of the finger bowl. Wet naps suck. Do this instead.

What is this black magic called a finger bowl? It's a small dish of water with a small piece of lemon squeezed in it. Bonus: kids, especially toddlers, LOVE TO USE IT.

Come on, when do kids ever love to wash their hands? Never. And if they tip the bowl? Big deal. It's a little water with lemon in it.

Gross cast iron? Scour with this:

To clean burned stuff or built up gunk on your cast iron without wreaking the seasoning and ending up with a rusty pan, use coarse salt and a good-quality food oil to scour the pan. Don't use water, and NEVER use soap.

Rub the salt against the offending grime until the salt dissolves. Wipe out with a (dry) paper towel. Repeat if necessary.

It's all edible and won't funkify your food, so no water is necessary. If you've wrecked the seasoning on your pan, like hardcore, this can also be used as the precursor to salvage and re-season your pan. Check out my cast-iron first aid for more info on reseasoning.

Love garlic and onions? Hate to smell like them for three days?

Salt and olive oil aren't just for cast iron. They're like stink-be-gone.

Scour your hands briefly, especially your fingertips, with a pinch of coarse salt and a little olive oil before you wash with soap.

Stink magically goes away.

Does cleaning cooked-on grease off your gas range make you batty?

I love my gas stove. I don't love that spilled oil builds up into a sticky, nasty ring around the base of the burners over time, especially around my 17,000 BTU power burner. Seriously, I get why people opt for glass-top stuff sometimes, cause that sort of polymerized mess never happens with those. But gas stoves are awesome.

DON'T use an S.O.S. pad unless you want to destroy your stovetop.

Use the power trio. It's just like the three-guitar-powered awesomeness of the 80s, only this is the superhero for cleaning caked, rubbery grease. Fill a Scotch-Brite wand with your dish soap. Pour a small puddle of white vinegar on the stove and start scrubbing. You shouldn't have to scrub too terribly hard, cause vinegar and dish soap work like a dragon-slayer on the worst, foulest baked-on messes you can imagine. Trust me, I've spent years trying to figure out what works best. This is it.

Wipe everything off with a damp washcloth when done.

Oh and if you do have a glass top stove and/or want to clean the inside of it, Gwen's got you covered:

Clean Your Glass-top Stove Using Natural Ingredients

Clean Your Oven Door with 3 Things You Have Now

Stinky/Greasy Dishwasher? This might help.

If your dishwasher seems to be making things more dirty than clean, or it has that special, funky odour, run an empty hot load with white vinegar. Feel free to interrupt your next couple rinse cycles and pour in some vinegar too. If the problem is a filter clogged with grease, this might help break it down.

But do realize you're merely prolonging the inevitable and will have to get in there at some point, especially if there's other stuff trapped.