For the most part, I’ve tried to switch to earth-friendlier cleaners that you can find in stores. My favorite thus far is the Method brand. I’ve also read and heard a lot the cleaning powers of vinegar and baking soda. So here I go, giving them a try for Natural Cleaning Solutions – For the Oven.
Today I cleaned my oven using just baking soda, vinegar, sponge and a little scrubbing. I can’t believe just how well it worked! Sorry I don’t have a “before” pic but take it from me, my oven was a MESS after a bad spilling-over a couple weeks ago. It’s been stinky ever since, so you know it was a bad one! And yippee to no more toxic chemicals or nasty self-cleaning oven burning stench.
I originally found this trick on Listotic’s 55 Must-Read Cleaning Tips and Tricks post. This lead me to the “instructable” Cleaning Your Oven Without Poisonous Earth-Destroying Chemicals which shows you how to clean your oven.
Definitely put the vinegar in a sprayer – makes life SO much easier. But get a GOOD sprayer, not this crappy one I got at Harris Teeter that barely sprays. Good thing it was just vinegar dripping down my hand and not some bleach concoction! I sprinkled a generous helping of baking soda on the bottom of my oven and sprayed it with vinegar. That wouldn’t work for the walls so I made a vinegar/baking soda paste to smear on the walls.
And then to my amazement, I was able to scrub minimally to get that yucky burned stuff off. The hardest part was the repeated rinsing but even that wasn’t too bad. I filled a glass bowl with water and used it for the rinse/repeat step and reduced the number of trips to and from the sink. Be sure to rinse well because if you don’t, the first time you bake something, the residue will crust over a little. If this happens, just give your oven another wipe down after it’s cool. One thing I did notice was that this didn’t seem to work to well on the glass/window. I’ll need to look for another solution for that!
Tada!! I can’t wait until the next time something boils over so I can do this again.
Now that I’m a believer, I’m going to start trying out other natural cleaning solutions and will be sure to let you know all about them – only the ones that work, of course!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Feel free to make my day by leaving me a comment, following my blog on Facebook or on Instagram. The more the merrier, of course!
Christine, aka happyvballgirl : )
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Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links. ๐
Anonymous
I am not sure this would have worked on my oven. Embarrassingly, my oven hadn't been cleaning for a number of years. My excuse was I am always busy at work….. it got in such a state it even used to set off the smoke alarm when I turned it on! i tried to do it using a similar method to yours but it was too hard….. i ended up calling in a professional oven cleaning company here in Sheffield called Oven Cleaning Sheffield. the oven looked brand new afterwards!!!! i am made a promise to myself that I will never allow it to get in such a state ever again.
happyvballgirl
lol! Ovens are, well, a pain! and I can't fault ya for letting it get that bad. Mine was pretty bad too as it would smoke and stink up the kitchen as well, but it hadn't gotten around to setting off the alarm. lol. Glad you got yours cleaned one way or another. And here's to not letting it get to that state again! Good luck! I'll need some too! ๐
Anonymous
Guh! Cleaning the stove is the worst job ever! But it's so satisfying to get such a clean result at the end. It feels even better when you know you've done it without murdering baby ducks in the future. Green products for the win!!
happyvballgirl
I completely agree with you 100%!!! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Freshana Organic Solutions
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happyvballgirl
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your sweet comment, Freshana! Will definitely checkout your website and see what great things you guys are doing. ๐