After the holiday season your home will doubtless need a thorough clean to bring it back to it's best condition. With many expensive cleaning products on the market or the choice of a professional cleaning company, this job could be expensive. On the other hand, if you are one of those individuals who'd prefer to do it themselves, here is an option for you. An eco-friendly, cheaper alternative that has fewer health risks are homemade products. Keeping those germs under control and making sure your home is thoroughly clean does not have to mean bringing toxic chemicals into the home. Here are a few tips on how to clean without chemicals (or, at least to decrease their use in your home). Julie Kinnear, MLS listings expert known for her environmental approach, will share few tips with you!

Cleaning up the Microwave

With hard left over spills, food bits, muck and grease your microwave needs cleaning inside and out, otherwise the mess will start to smell and be difficult to clean. British experts on hygiene propose using a bowl of water in which you place slices of lemons and oranges. By putting the bowl in the microwave and running it on its highest setting for approximately five minutes, the oranges nicely absorb the greasiness, the lemons get rid of the offensive smell, and the steam breaks up the crusty leftovers after which are then easily wiped off with a sponge. If citrus fruits aren't at hand, you can use a wet rag instead to make the steam (don't forget a dry one would catch on fire!). The rag needs to be left in the microwave for a few minutes for the best result.

The Right Way to Clean up the Fridge

The inside of the fridge can be washed out with a little soapy water, but remember you don't need alot of the soap item. A toothbrush with a tiny blob of toothpaste is fantastic for those hard to reach places. Turn off your freezer if that needs cleaning and place a tub of hot water inside, this creates heat which helps the ice melt. Lemon is a great way of getting rid of odours and leaving things smelling lovely, so use lemon water to clean the inside.

Cleaning up the Kitchen Stove

Owning glass-ceramic or induction cookers means you need to pay special attention to your cleaning methods due to the fact these products can be scratched easily. Day to day cleaning of your stove, by wiping of any spills and marks to avert build up of stubborn marks should be an intrinsic part of cleaning your cooker. But, if there are any food splatters or you can't get rid of the greasy film, use a mixture of baking soda and water and a plastic scrub brush to carefully scrub the top clean.

How to Scrub your Oven

Scrubbing the oven is a task most individuals hate to do. If you aren't fortuitous enough to have a self-cleaning one, the chore is not fun. Certainly there are a few ways to succeed in doing the job that are not difficult to do. Here's a simple recipe that really does the job: Mix 5 tbsp of baking soda, 3 drops of liquid soap, and 4 tbsp of white vinegar into a dense paste. Put it inside the oven and use a sponge to clean the insides Then, just wipe the complete oven clean, rinse it out thoroughly, and let it dry. If you have any ammonia in the house, place half a cup of the liquid inside the oven for a few hours, make sure you remember to close the oven door. Dispose of the ammonia in the morning and sponge the surfaces down with a wet cloth to see the outcome of your work.