One of my first projects was to tackle our refrigerator. It hadn't really been cleaned all summer, there was orange juice "glue" from when the boys had spilled an entire container of OJ all over the place, and the side and top of the fridge was covered in layers upon layers of grease with dust on top. The OJ was our fault, but the grease and dust was there when we moved in four years ago. I swear the people who lived here before only cooked fried food.
It's so disgusting.....UGH!!!
The reason the orange juice turned into glue is because when it happened I didn't have time to take the inside of the fridge apart to deep clean. Then it turned to glue. Then I couldn't figure out how to clean it up. I tried multiple things but it would not come up. Same thing with the grease and dust all over the fridge. Nothing was taking it off. Bleach, Comet, magic erasers, Goo Gone.....nothing.
Finally, after poking around on Pinterest, I found mention of mixing hot water, vinegar (which I already use for cleaning anyway), and a bit of Dawn dish soap. Honestly, I figured it wouldn't work - nothing else had. But this was touted as "miracle solution". What did I have to lose?
Turns out, it does work like a miracle. It took the orange juice glue right up. (I should have taken pictures of that but since I wasn't expecting it to work.....) The inside of the fridge was sparkling. Then I used in the freezer where a jar of jam had leaked and then frozen to a shelf. It took that right up. Then I turned my attention to the outside of fridge. If this worked on the inside when nothing else had, would it do the same for the years-old grease layer with it's protective coating of dust?
Yes. Yes, it did.
Do you see that?!?! I've been frustrated with that grease layer for over four years, have scrubbed and scrubbed until my arms hurt, and all I needed to do was mix hot water, vinegar, and Dawn?? I literally jumped up and down, giggling like a crazy person. There were a few tiny trouble spots, but the Goo Gone worked on those. I guess I'd taken up enough layers of grease that the Goo Gone was able to do what it's meant to do.
The kitchen looks cleaner as a whole and I feel happy when I don't see grease staring me in the face when I cook (the side of the fridge is right next to the stove and would catch every little splatter). Now if there's anything that splatters, I can just wipe it down and it comes right up.
I am so happy to be back, working to simplify our lives. The best part is, my husband has totally gotten on the bandwagon over the last few months and his hoarding tendencies are diminishing. It really helps motivate me to keep going!
No comments:
Post a Comment