By Susan M. Keenan
The kitchen is one of the busiest areas in an active home. The family gathers there to eat their meals each day, often lingering over coffee or dessert to catch up with each other’s lives. Guests arrive on holidays and often congregate in the kitchen as the other areas of the home overflow with company. School projects often require a large, flat working space and the kitchen table is the perfect solution for this. Additionally, the kitchen is often the chosen place for doing homework, especially for the little ones who might require some assistance.
Therefore, it is important to keep the kitchen as clean and fresh smelling as possible. Even with the daily and weekly cleaning tasks that we perform, there’s still a bit more that we can do to guarantee a nicely scented kitchen. Cleaning the garbage disposal properly and frequently happens to be one of them.
Cleaning the Garbage Disposal
Even though the garbage disposal is designed to pulverize and remove kitchen waste from food products, food particles often become trapped in the nooks and crannies of the garbage disposal and kitchen drainpipe. This provides the perfect environment for mold and bacteria to grow and create unpleasant odors, as well as unhealthy spores.
At first, the odors may not be noticeable. However, given enough time and lack of cleaning, the unpleasant odors may become stronger as the bacteria and mold continue to grow. Cleaning the garbage disposal at least once a week with one of the following methods will help to keep it free of nasty bacteria and unsightly mold.
Method 1: Pour one half cup of baking soda down the kitchen drain. Carefully pour one cup of white vinegar down the drain on top of the baking soda. Place the drain stopper in the sink to close off the drain. If you have a double sink, you should do this for both of them. The mixture will fizz and make a bit of noise or fizzing sounds. Allow this to work its magic for a few minutes while you boil some hot water. Use a full teakettle or medium size pot of water. Once this has boiled, pour it down the drain.
Method 2: Using a clean container, mix a gallon of water with one tablespoon of liquid chlorine bleach. Carefully and slowly, pour the solution down the drain and allow it to sit for several minutes. Flush the drain thoroughly with cold water for several minutes.
Freshening the Garbage Disposal
Maintaining a clean garbage disposal using one of the above methods will help to keep it smelling fresh and odor free. Additionally, you can encourage this by grinding ice cubes in the garbage disposal to clean the cutting blades. Simply place several cubes in the drain and grind.
If you want to add a little bit of scent to the area, you can add rinds from any of the citrus fruits in the drain with the ice cubes. The citrus fruits include oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits.
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