Have you gone to the store to buy cleaning supplies lately and thought, “Seriously, this is how much it cost to have a clean house? Couldn’t I just hire someone to clean my house for this price?”
Yep, I’ve had those exact same thoughts, and I know the frustration. The companies know that we desire a clean house.
So they assume since we need the supplies to clean, then we’ll pay just about anything to have it.
Well, I decided that I didn’t like that logic so I wasn’t going to buy into it anymore. I wanted to share how I’ve started using basic items to clean my house.
So I know our kitchens can often be the messiest places, and we need them to stay the cleanest so I wanted to share with you how I clean mine for around $2.
Easy Ways to Clean Your Kitchen
Here is my process and what I use to clean my kitchen on a budget:
1. Pull Out the Vinegar
via Reader's Digest
Did you know in my area, I can buy a big bottle of vinegar for less than $2? Yes, a large bottle of distilled white vinegar is under $2!
So as soon as I realized this, and I remembered I had heard of my elders cleaning their homes with vinegar, I thought to myself, “Why not?”
Then I headed to the store, bought my large quantity of vinegar and decided to research how to use it.
First, you need to dilute the vinegar a little. It can be harsh when used in excess, and your home will smell like a giant pickle too.
Then you can pour vinegar and water into a spray bottle and go to town. Use it to clean and disinfect your countertops.
Next, spray some on your glass surfaces and wipe them clean with a coffee filter so you don’t leave streaks.
Then spray anywhere else you feel may need to be disinfected in your kitchen as well. When you are done, pour vinegar and water in your mop bucket and mop your floors with it. It is all natural so it should be safe for most floors. Do your research on your particular floor if you are concerned.
Now, you are ready to clean your kitchen from top to bottom with very little expense.
2. Let’s Flavor the Vinegar While We Are at It
So I have to admit, the first time I cleaned my kitchen with vinegar, my oldest walked in and said, “Eeww..what is that smell?” He has a strong distaste for vinegar.
Which led me to further research making my home clean on a budget, but without a strong vinegar smell. We’ve gotten so accustomed to storebought cleaning supplies that are filled with chemicals, expensive but smell like a field of roses that it can be difficult to adjust.
However, I found a solution. I often bought lemon scented items to clean with so I just added some lemon juice to my diluted vinegar and tried again. My house smelled really good!
Then I began cleaning other surfaces that I left out before like my stove top and hood vent. It turns out that lemon works really well to cut through grease.
So not only did I have vinegar that is a great cleaner and disinfectant, but I had lemon juice that would help cut through any build up or gunk left from cooking throughout the week.
Also, I’m happy to report that my son was much happier about the smell as well.
So if you like to save money, but don’t want your house to smell like vinegar, then try adding some lemon juice. Aren’t a fan of lemon scent?
Well, you could also add some essential oils. I’ll do this from time to time as well. I like to add citrus flavors like grapefruit to my mixture. I also like to add lavender to the vinegar solution when I’m mopping my floors. It also makes my home feel very relaxed as well.
However, if you don’t mind the vinegar scent when cleaning, but you’d like a fresh scent when done, if you are big on essential oils, then consider adding some to a diffuser or on a cotton ball and then placing it out of the way. It will give your home a fresh scent that is natural.
3. Don’t Forget Your Dishwasher
via Tip Hero
One area so many people forget when cleaning their home is their dishwasher. You cannot forget your dishwasher. This is what cleans what you eat on, and if you don’t clean it, then it is just tossing dirt and gunk back on your dishes.
And here is the brutal truth, if you want to draw bugs to your home, then don’t clean your dishwasher. It has everything that roaches love. It is hot, steamy, moist, has crevasses for hiding, and leftover food. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? (Total sarcasm)
Because the answer is no! No, that sounds like a nightmare. Roaches are hard to get rid of once you’ve drawn them.
So please take this advice (and whether you use my solution or not) clean your dishwasher…every week.
But I clean my dishwasher for basically no money. For starters, I look in the bottom of the dishwasher and spray vinegar into it.
Then I wipe it out completely. I’ll check the drain to see if it has caught anything. If so, I pull it and the filter out as well and clean it. I do this just by running clean water over the filter. Keep in mind, your dishwasher may be made a little different than mine, but be sure to check all of the places in it to make sure that there is no leftover food.
Next, I wipe down the door and the seal around the door with diluted vinegar.
Finally, I place a cup of vinegar in the top of my dishwasher, and I run the sanitizing cycle with the vinegar inside. That way it cleans and sanitizes while I’m doing something else.
As I said, this is a good thing to do every week when cleaning because you don’t want to risk bugs being in your dishwasher. They climb on your dishes and definitely carry things that can make you sick if you aren’t careful.
4. Bleach It
Some people are all about being all-natural, but some people want to smell the scent of bleach to know that their home is clean. I don’t blame you.
Honestly, during flu season, I’m the bleach queen. Just being honest, here. I have 5 people in my house. If one gets sick, we all do, and it is terribly difficult to get rid of it.
So during flu season, I buy a large bottle of off-brand bleach. I save my squirt bottles, or you can buy one here.
Either way, I follow these instructions for bleach and sanitize my kitchen and bathroom with it daily because I feel like those are the areas that are most likely to get everyone sick. Thankfully, since I’ve been doing this our family hasn’t been sick.
Also, bleach can be used when mopping your floors, to clean and disinfect your counter space as well. I should also mention, if you have a white sink, bleach will make it shine like new again. At our old house, we had a white farm sink. I loved it.
But over time, I really disliked cleaning it. I would scrub and scrub yet, the sink would still show every stain of anything that was ever poured down the drain. My kitchen always looked dirty because of it.
Then one day (during my disinfectant routine) I sprayed down my sink and accidentally forgot about it. I came back an hour later and realized my sink was becoming whiter.
So I sprayed it some more and before you knew it, the sink looked like new again. After that, I sprayed the sink down daily, allowed it to sit for about 15 minutes, then ran hot water in the sink, and wiped it out. The sink shined after that!
So if you want to bleach your kitchen to feel comfortable with its cleanliness factor, then follow this site to what you are looking to clean and it will let you know how you can wash everything from your floors, dishes, walls, disinfect, or sanitize your kitchen as well.
Plus, off-brand bleach (in my opinion) works just as well as name brand and it costs less than $2 in my area.
5. Your Oven Needs Love Too
via Choice.com
My final area in the kitchen that needs to be cleaned and can often be expensive, if you don’t learn a few tricks, is the oven.
So at our previous house, I had an oven that was not self-clean. I’ll be honest, when we moved to our new house we had some extra cash leftover from the move. The first thing I did was buy a new stove for the house that had a self-cleaning oven.
But I know this is an investment so if you have a stove that isn’t self-cleaning, don’t fret. Cleaning it will take elbow grease, but you can get it clean on a budget as well.
So you’ll want to make a paste out of baking soda and water. I usually start with a few tablespoons of baking soda and equal parts water until I feel the mixture is thick enough, and I have enough of it to do the job.
Then you will coat all of the greasy, sticky mess that fills your oven. It helps to do this regularly (like once a month or so) so you don’t end up with an overwhelming mess.
Next, I let it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour. Then I take a sponge that has been soaked in warm water and begin rinsing off the mixture.
Then I repeat as needed until I get all of the gunk off. Keep in mind, this will take some elbow power, but it does work in my experience.
Also, if you have some really stubborn grease, you can add a splash of Dawn dish liquid or some lemon juice to cut through it and make it a little easier to remove as well.
As you can tell this is another inexpensive method of cleaning your kitchen because in my area, baking soda is less than $1 per box and one box should last you a while for this purpose.
So you now have 5 different tips for cleaning your kitchen on a shoestring budget of about $2, depending upon which methods you use and the prices in your area for the supplies.
Also, don’t forget you can actually make your own vinegar if needed. Here is a recipe for ACV and one for distilled white vinegar as well.
Now, tell me, how do you clean your kitchen on a budget? Do you have any cleaning recipes you’d be willing to share with us?
We love hearing from you so please leave us your tips below.
