Deep Cleaning Tips for a SPOTLESS Home in a Fraction of the Time!

Don't you think you would deep clean your house more often if you had really good hacks and tips and knew how to do it faster? I know that has definitely been the case for us. So today let's deep clean together. We're going to start in the fridge. I'm not actually using this for the fridge. I just, I've really come to like this, but we'll get to that. So I saw a video from Cass on deep cleaning. It was so good. A lot of really good things. A couple of things that don't quite work for me, I think we could maybe improve on or do differently. I love Cass. She is like one of my biggest cheerleaders and I think she is the coolest, but everyone's house is a little bit different and whatnot. So I love Cass's first tip, which is to grab a box or a bin or something, we're going to go shelf by shelf. But if you have this handy, you can just pull everything off into it very quickly instead of going like one item at a time. Okay, so you get everything out from the top shelf. Again, you could pull this out and wash it. It's kind of a pain and that step keeps me from doing it more frequently. And I know some friends who have broken theirs while doing that. So I love Cass's idea just to take some wet cloths, towels, whatever you got, and set it on there. Let it soak a little bit. Cause man, this is grody. Capital G. Oh man. You could probably spray it with something too, but I think this is going to work just fine. And then while that's soaking, we can make a quick pass over the garbage can right here of all of the extra stuff or all the stuff that was in here. That's just, it makes me so sad to waste food, but that just aren't good anymore. The other thing I like about this method is you could do it one shelf at a time. Like you don't have to do, oh, that is actually coming up really easily. All right. I'm digging this, Cass. Good job. Well done. You could just do one shelf or one container on your door a day. You don't have to do the whole fridge. This would just feel like a good maintenance thing that you do throughout the week. So we'll get this all wiped up and then we will put the food back where it can be done. A clean fridge might be something you're only able to fully appreciate in person. It feels so much better. You don't even realize how yucky everything is getting until you pull everything out. And just such a great time to go through everything that has expired. I know, we try so hard. Keep low inventory. That is, you know, the best chance at staying on top of everything. But certainly when you can see everything easily and it's not all crammed together, definitely makes it a lot easier not to waste food. Okay, so let's head over to the oven now. This is funny because I didn't think our oven was this bad. It's actually pretty gross. Okay, so Cass's recommendation is to use baking soda and Dawn Power Wash and a Scrub Daddy Dry. So I'm going to spray this down, let it soak for a few minutes. And then, I don't know, I'm curious to see if this is going to do the trick or if we're going to have to pull in something maybe a little bit more abrasive. I don't know. Okay, so unfortunately the Dawn Power Wash and baking soda was not cutting it. It was, I mean, it was coming off. It was just requiring way too much elbow grease. So I remembered that I had gotten this at the Dollar Store, which is LA's Totally Awesome Grill and Oven Cleaner. And if you read the directions, all you're supposed to do is spray it on and then wipe immediately with a clean damp cloth. Like, no way. I sprayed this on and it was not, it really didn't do anything. So then I went to the pink stuff. So this is just the multipurpose cleaner. So I sprayed some of this on, added a little more baking soda, and that worked awesome. So this would be the combination I would recommend if you have a pretty baked on stuff. Also, Cass made a great point, don't put too much on. The baking powder, it just takes a little bit. Mine was coming out fast because it was a new box, but then it's kind of a pain to get back off of the door and the bottom of the oven. So it doesn't take a ton, but this would be the combination I would recommend for a moderately dirty stove. But I want to test out something else with you that I got if you have a very, very dirty stove. So we're going to head over to my parents' house for that one. Okay. So over at my parents' house and we are going to clean their oven together. No judgment, right? Some of us are, this is what our oven looks like and it's totally fine. There's wisdom in knowing when you just have to use the chemicals and when you can get by with the more natural stuff, right? Obviously, if we can get by with baking soda and vinegar for everything, we do that, right? And maybe you could for this, but I don't want to work that hard. So I got Easy Off. It's not even the fume-free. We got to get this back to square one, and then we can maintain it. This I'm kind of excited to try out. So this is a kit for cleaning the racks, cause those are pretty grungy too. But you put them in a bag and you let it sit for eight hours and then you clean them. So I'm excited to try this out and let you know if it actually works or not. And then while we're letting the chemicals do their magic, I'll show you some of my favorite ways to use Dawn Power Wash around here as well. I think I've heard you can do this with garbage bags. I would just worry, like this is a really kind of a heavy plastic. Oh, it even has a Ziploc top. I would just worry that the chemicals in it might disintegrate the bag. I don't know if that's even a thing. Let me know if you've done something like this without even having to buy a kit. Three easy steps. Bag it, soak it, rinse it. It always says rinse it. And I'm like, it is never that easy just to rinse it. But whatever, it's fine. It doesn't have a super strong odor, so that's good. So back to the oven, we had, there was an old broom here. So I was just going to unscrew this end and then I'm going to try and get all of this stuff. So you can even take out the elements, but I don't like to, you know, ever since that time with taking apart the oven door and all of that, I don't really like to get too much into disassembling things. So. All right. Okay. So we have all of anything loose off that could come off. So I think we're going to warm this up, spray it down and let it, I think we're going to give it a good amount of time to work. Now, if you have a flat top stove, you actually might've recalled, I tried so hard to get this ring off of this burner and no matter what things I tried and professional things and all the tools and whatnot, it still didn't come off. It's fine. Like it is what it is. But if you have a flat top stove, I think Dawn Power Wash is the only way to clean it. I don't know. It works so well and you just spray it down a little bit, let it soak for three to five minutes and then come back and wipe it down. Everything comes off really easily. And then, you know, except for that remaining ring, that's just going to permanently be there forever, right? It's fine. Everything comes off so easily. And then another place I've started using it is if you have grimy cabinet doors or regular doors, if you spray a little of this on, and it's nice cause it doesn't run down it. But again, spray it down, let it soak for a few minutes and then we're going to come back with our scrub pad and I'll show you. It just, it doesn't matter how much buildup or how long it's been there. It comes right off. Seriously, it comes right off. Can you see that? It's awesome. Like hardly any scrubbing. And whenever I've done this, I haven't had to worry about harming the finish of the cabinets. Voila, like new. Okay. I found one more that could use a little sprucing up, cleaning up. So let's see how this one does. It seriously just comes right off. It is remarkable. It seriously just comes right off. I can't believe how easy this makes it to clean off. And I did actually get some cabinet pulls too. So that will help solve the problem for the future. Okay. I thought I set the oven to 200, but it keeps going up. Okay. It says to set it to 200 once it gets there, then turn it off. And now we can spray this down. Oh, it also says to put newspaper on the floor under the door so that if any overspray gets on the floor, it doesn't harm the floor. Okay. This is a really big deal. Today's video is sponsored by Helix and they are offering you, friends of the minimal mom, 27% off. That's huge. But you have to use code HelixPartner27 and you kind of have to hurry because it ends shortly after Labor Day. 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Someone had recommended Easy Off Pro one time when I was cleaning the oven and it was under my mom's sink. And I had, I was like, I know I bought it. Where is it? Yeah. You know, um, anyways, so there is a pro version if you do have like a really tough stove or whatever, but this, um, the heavy duty seems to be working well. There are fumes. So I'm going to go out of here while this soaks and then we'll come back and see if we can get it totally cleaned up. But overall this has been way easier than I thought that it was going to be. The parts where there wasn't any stuck on food are coming off super easily. The parts where there were stuck on food is not really coming off well at all. So I think these parts need to soak a little bit more, but pretty much most of the other stuff. Yeah. There's like some stuck on stuff here too that just doesn't want to, um, come up yet. So I think I'm going to try and get this all wiped out really well and then let it soak some more. Okay. So this time I let it soak for about an hour. And, um, definitely the places that still had baked on food, whatever, were not coming up very easily. And then I remembered I had this guy from when I was trying to clean the flat top. Um, so I was using this, this worked great to get like all the rest of just a little bit of residue that was left on the glass and then also inside the oven. This total, I probably have about an hour into it, not including like soaking times. And so I was trying to decide like how far, am I really trying to get it perfect or just close? And then we'll just do a better job maintaining it and try to get a little bit more each time we clean it moving forward. And so I decided that like 95%, 93% was going to have to be good enough. And so here is what the before and afters look like though. I really do think the Easy Off worked well. It didn't smell that bad. It was like initially when you spray it, it was kind of a little bit strong, but then once you closed the door and stuff and then reopened it, it wasn't that strong. I do know that they do make an odor-free Easy Off, but I just figured for this type of job that it probably wouldn't be strong enough. But again, I think once you get your oven back to a place like this, then you can maintain it without needing all the chemicals and with more natural methods, if you so choose. Okay, so again, if we're going to deep clean quickly, we have to have the right tools for the job. I had gotten this a little while back when I was testing Amazon cleaning products. I was kind of like, meh, it's a little gimmicky. It's for cleaning your ceiling fan, kind of singular in purpose, until I realized all the other things I could dust. And what's so nice about it is how fluffy, how many areas are in here to trap dust. Sometimes Swiffers, I have a love-hate relationship. They can get to a point where they're just kind of smearing the dust around, it seems like. And so this feels like it is fully grabbing it and trapping it. So of course we can use it for our ceiling fans, which works awesome. We can also use it to dust the walls. I know some people wash their walls. That was never a thing we did growing up. I was like, really? You don't say. I mean, wash where fingerprints are, yeah, but actually go around and wash your walls. And I love what Cass says that you don't have to do that. In fact, sometimes it makes it worse or streaky or whatever. But dusting our walls, it is pretty remarkable what we might get off. This also works great for dusting baseboards. And then I'm also going to show you how I wash them with the Oceaner mop too. And also if you have furniture with legs, this is perfect for dusting under there as well. So this is like my go-to duster now for anything that is at all out of reach. It has worked well. It washes up well. You just throw this in the wash, comes back out, it's nice and fluffy again. And then you just wait until you're just feeling really excited about dusting your walls again. But I'm telling you, when you have the right tool for the job, I don't dread these things anymore. It's actually kind of fun and gratifying to do these things, right? You can just do it every once in a while when it fits into your schedule. And that's pretty much what we do now. I know people often ask for my cleaning schedule and I'm like, yeah. But our house is simplified. I have the right tool, so it's kind of fun. And I just do these things occasionally now and it works out really well. I almost forgot to mention that you can use this for your blinds too. And also Cass says for screens, we're going to test that out. I'm kind of skeptical about that. Okay, well Cass says that you shouldn't need to wash your screens. You should just dust them with a fluffy cloth is what she recommends. I don't know. I think it, again, depends on how dirty they are. These screens have probably not been washed in a few years. So I want to try dusting them with the blue thing, with a microfiber cloth. And then I think we'll just take them to the bathtub and see how much dirt still comes off of them. See if dusting them is adequate or if you actually have to wash them. To get them back to square one, then I think just dusting them moving forward would probably work. And then we might as well wash the windows and clean the windowsills as long as we're going to have the screens off as well. I'm just thinking to myself, I'm like, there is no way that Cass has a windowsill that that's dirty. I mean, it's very satisfying as the kids would say, but also just pretty gross too, but it's fine. Okay, so I dusted the screens on both sides, but let's just run them through the shower quick, wash them off and see how much dust comes off. Okay, Cass might be right on this one. I thought the bathtub water was going to be way dirtier when I was done washing them. I had washed the ones in our bathroom, I don't know, earlier this spring with our mentorship group and we were doing bathrooms. I'm like, you know what, I'm going to go out and do the screens. They were so dirty and I'll show you here how dirty they were. So maybe Cass is right. Maybe we can get by with just dusting them with a microfiber or something really fluffy. And that's all we have to do. I will certainly do it more often if that's all we have to do. I really thought this was the only way to get our screens clean. So I'm feeling pretty good about that. Okay, next, let's talk about using your O-Cedar mop to deep clean and some hacks we can use with it. Now, here's what still surprises me. This is just a very traditional style mop, traditional ringer, whatever. With all the fancy mops out there and like electric ones and ones that spray and steam and all that, isn't it funny that this, I think works hands down the best. In fact, Linda, our cleaning gal, she uses an O-Cedar mop. So obviously mopping your floor, it works great. The way the head is shaped, it's very easy to get your baseboards as well. But did you know that you can also use it to wash doors and cabinets? And you could use it for walls if you really wanted to. But again, we're saying we don't have to do that. Right? But if you're like, eh, I don't want to use the same mop on my floor as for my cabinets. Well, you can just have a separate head that you either keep for that, or use it on the cabinets first, then use it on the floor and then toss it in the washing machine. And then the next time it comes out, you're good to go. So I love the flexibility and versatility of this. And in fact, I did this recently at one of the, well, the moved in house, if you followed our rental property saga. But there was so much dust on the doors from the sheetrock being patched and then sanded. They were so dusty and dirty. But also because with the handle of the mop, you can get really good pressure on it. So if you're just using a microfiber cloth, you can get pretty good pressure. But this, for whatever reason, it cleans really well. It was a good angle and pressure. And then with the handle you can get to the top and bottom. It worked awesome. All right, next, let's talk about the double whammy of the Vinegar and Dawn Dish Soap. Now here's what's so cool though. First, you put it in a mug. So fill up a mug about halfway full with vinegar and then just squirt in some blue dish soap. It doesn't matter actually how much it is. But put it in your microwave, warm it up for about three minutes because it works best when it's warm, as a descaler. But what's so cool is that when you pull it out, your microwave has been steamed. So wipe down your microwave quick, give that a cleaning. Now from there, you can use your solution to descale faucets and faucet heads, or you can pour it into a spray bottle and use it for your shower. Like I've shown before, I love the baggy trick where you put it in a baggie, you rubber band it to a faucet. But I saw a faucet at my parents' house that was real bad. So thank you, Mom, because I wanted to test it out. Because I only like recommending things if they kind of work on everything and not just the easier stuff. That's not fair. So why don't we head back over to her house and we'll test it out quick. I know some of you had also joked that I should get a commission off of Dawn because I've been talking about it a lot lately. I don't really get into gimmicks too much and certainly not brand name. If you look around my whole house, it is all generic. Like, thank you, Mom, you raised me well. But there is something about the Dawn Power Wash that just makes my heart happy and it makes cleaning more enjoyable. And I think it actually does work really well. When it comes to this kind of stuff like this, I think you can use generic, don't tell Dawn, I think it's just fine. Okay, so remember to put your rubber band on the faucet first. Okay, this has been soaking for about 10 minutes now, so we are going to take it off. Oh, wow. It looks like a lot of it has already come off on its own. Oh, that's coming off really easily. So that actually worked really well. It's not perfect underneath it. I could have worked harder on that, but I'm just kidding. 95% today. So, but from here, doesn't that just look so much nicer? Okay, so it's actually the next day. I decided to let this soak overnight just to make sure it was really good and was going to come off easily. I didn't want to do a lot of scrubbing basically, right? So I don't know what's going to be the best way now to deal with this goopy mess, but I don't know. Let's see what we can figure out. Okay, so here is what the racks look like. I cleaned them up with some steel wool. They soaked for 27 hours. I'd probably give that like a C plus. I don't know. I mean, they were pretty covered, but there's still a lot on and I probably could have scrubbed more with the steel wool, but that seems to defeat the purpose then of this whole kit. So I don't know if that's a winner or not. I should have compared it to something else, I guess. Maybe next time. Okay. And the ultimate deep cleaning hack of all is to lower the inventory in your house. So keep simplifying and decluttering. Often the reason that cleaning is so hard and we put it off and we make a big deal out of it is because we don't get to just go straight to the deep cleaning. No, we have to deal with all the stuff that's all around first, right? So as we have simplified and highly simplified and decluttered our home, doing the deep cleaning now, it's actually, like I said, it's kind of enjoyable. I'm going to link to my video about clean like a monk. That was a huge mindset shift for me, as well as a playlist of all of our other cleaning videos. I think they're great to put on in the background. While you clean, we can hang out some more together. But if you have any hacks, would you please leave those down below? It is so fun to learn from you as well. All right, well, I love you. I hope you have a really good day and I'll see you again soon.