5 Weeks To A Clean And Organized Home ~ Week 1 Begins Today!

Today is the first day of the first week of our Spring Cleaning Event! I can’t wait to get started and today we will begin the first week in the kitchen. I love this clean, white kitchen from Country Living! You may not have a designer kitchen but you can certainly have a neat, orderly, useful kitchen just like this one.

We’ll work the whole week this week on the kitchen and when we’re finished your kitchen will shine!

First things first ….. At some point during the 5 Weeks I will make a post for you to enter a drawing for something very nice that I have made especially for this event. You’ll be able to enter the drawing up to three times; once at the CHK site in the post by replying, once on Facebook and once on Twitter! I won’t tell you what I have made just yet …. but I will say that its cute, useful and I might even show you a small part of it in my next post. 🙂

Let’s start today with the Refrigerator, Freezer and Oven. Come back here each day this week and post your progress. Encourage each other, and use the Mcklinky to share links to pictures of your progress if you like!

Here are some tips for cleaning the frig:
Clean out and throw away unusable or outdated food.
Re-wrap and package food that isn’t wrapped well.
Take everything out of the frig.
Make up a cleaning solution of either your favorite store-bought cleaner or, use a warm water-mild detergent mixture.
Be sure NOT to use hot water on refrigerator shelves or drawers that are glass. The sudden change in temperature can cause the glass to break!
Wipe down the insides of the refrigerator, clean out all the drawers and shelves and then replace the shelves and drawers.
Place a box or canister of baking soda in your clean refrigerator to absorb odors and excess moisture.
Wipe down all the contents of the refrigerator and replace them.
Be sure to gently clean the gasket or plastic seal around the door.

We’re going to clean under appliances tomorrow, but now is a good time to vacuum out from under the frig and vacuum the back of the frig, especially the fan and inside the motor. Be careful!

Cleaning the Freezer:
Most freezers are self defrosting or no-frost today. If yours needs to be defrosted go ahead and start the process.
Pull everything out of the freezer. If the food is not labeled, check the contents to see if it is still good and if it is, re-wrap and label.
Once everything is out of the freezer, and all the food has been sorted and re-wrapped if needed, place it all back in the freezer. Organize it as it goes in. Meat together, veggies together, etc.
Be sure to clean the gaskets or seals on the door.

Cleaning the Oven and Stove:
Most newer ovens are self cleaning. Follow your oven’s manufacturer’s instructions and get the process going.
If you have a Textured Oven or a Continuous Cleaning Oven, all you need to do is to wipe down the inside of the oven when it is cool. Hey … I want that kind of oven! haha.
If you have an oven that you need to clean, you can either use a chemical cleaner or you can use this method:

Ammonia Oven Cleaning Method:
This is a two day process.
Make sure you have windows open and good ventilation before using this method.
Heat the oven to 150* F. While the oven is heating, bring a pot of water to a boil. Leave two racks in the oven. Place a small glass bowl of ammonia on the top rack and the pan of boiling water on the bottom rack. Close the oven door.
Leave the ammonia and water in the closed oven over night.
Next day:
Open the oven and allow it to air for about 15 minutes before you start working.
Use kitchen gloves.
Wipe down the interior of the oven with a soft cloth.
Wipe down racks.
If racks are stained try putting them in a large garbage bag with about 1 cup of ammonia. Take the bag outside and let it sit for 1 hour. Open the bag outside and rinse off the racks.
Rinse the oven interior with clear water frequently while cleaning to cut down on fumes.
Do Not clean oven gaskets with ammonia. Use warm water to clean gaskets.
Do Not mix ammonia with any other cleaner or chemical.

Don’t forget to clean the stove top.

The next 4 days will include:

1. Cleaning under appliances and cleaning floors – Tuesday
2. Cabinets, other storage areas – Wednesday
3. Counter-tops and small appliances – Thursday
4. Woodwork and windows – Friday

Don’t stress if you don’t get everything done in a day! Just do what you can. Pick and choose what is important to you.

I’ll also be posting about how to de-clutter this week!

Questions? Other comments?  Tips?  Add them here in this post!

OK! … lets get busy ……… and if you want to post your progress or pictures feel free to use the McLinky below! I’d love to see how you’re coming along… plus you can share your blog and make new bloggie friends by using my Mcklinky! Please link back to this post and mention the 5 weeks!  Thanks!  Posts that don’t have anything to do with the 5 Weeks will be deleted.