Speed Cleaning (4 page)

After you’ve cleaned the area above the stove—the hood usually needs to be sprayed and wiped—start at the back and work forward. Clean the vent filters by running them through the dishwasher occasionally. If they’re gross or dilapidated, replace them. There are two main types of stove tops. Here is how to clean them.

These are easier to clean than electric ranges. Clean one side and then the other. First take the grates from the gas burners on the left side and set them on top of the grates on the right. Now spray and wipe the left side as necessary. You’ll usually need your white pad here to get at the burned-on crud. If your pad won’t work, use your scraper where possible, but the stove’s curved edges often make this difficult.

If you are still unable to get the stove top clean, turn to your tray (next to the sink) and get your powdered cleanser. Use a tiny bit with your white pad. You will be using so little cleanser that you shouldn’t even sprinkle it on the stove top. Instead, dab a bit from the top of the cleanser container with the wet edge of the white pad. If there is no cleanser on the top for you to use, then sprinkle a
small
amount on the stove top and dab with your white pad to pick up a little bit. As a last resort, use steel wool instead of the white pad. But take care not to scratch the surface.

After you have cleaned the left side, wipe (if needed) and replace the left grates, and then move the grates on the right side to the
counter
immediately to the right of the stove. Now clean the middle of the stove top and the right side, and replace the right grates. The grates themselves can be cleaned when necessary by putting them in the dishwasher.

Usually there is a chrome or aluminum ring around the burners that needs attention. Normally you can clean around these rings (the edge of the ring where it meets the stove top) by spraying with Red Juice and using your toothbrush around each ring. Before you wipe, use your white pad to clean the metal itself. Now wipe dry with your cleaning cloth. As usual, work from back to front and from left to right. If necessary, use steel wool to clean the metal rings.

If you can’t get the stove top clean without moving the metal rings, then go ahead and lift up that particular ring (only that one) and spray and agitate with your white pad and wipe. If there is an accumulation under the burner that must be removed (
don’t
if it’s not much), then pull the burner up, remove the drip tray, and dump loose debris into your plastic-lined apron pocket. Use Red Juice and the white pad or steel wool to quickly clean, then wipe and replace. Don’t try to make this drip tray look like new: if it’s hopeless, it’s smarter to throw it away and replace it once or twice or twelve times a year—possibly with one of those nifty Teflon-coated pans. But they do get reasonably clean in the dishwasher, and you can use powdered cleanser to remove residual grime.

Now that the top is clean, start down the front of the stove. The first little roadblock here is the row of burner control knobs. They can be cleaned by spraying with Red Juice and using your toothbrush on them and around their edges.

If you can’t get this area clean without removing the controls,
first clean and wipe the knobs themselves while in place.
Then pull each one straight out, wipe it clean, and set it on the counter to the right of the stove in the same relative position it was in while on the stove. While the knobs are off, clean the area of the stove front you couldn’t clean while the knobs were in place. Use Red Juice and white pad on this area and wipe it dry before replacing the knobs. This chore shouldn’t have to be done often (unless the chef of the household is inclined toward hysterical flinging).

Open the oven door to get the oven side of the window. It can be cleaned with your razor blade. Be sure to spray the window first with Red Juice: It’s easier to clean and it’s also more difficult to scratch the glass when it’s wet. This window should be cleaned even if you’re not cleaning the inside of the oven. (Oven cleaning is the subject of
Chapter 7
.)

Wipe the rest of the front of the stove as necessary. Don’t automatically clean the entire front of the stove. Remember that horizontal
surfaces get dirty faster than vertical ones. Once again: If it isn’t dirty, don’t clean it.

Now is the time we chose to turn around and do the work island in the middle of the sample kitchen. Not much to do here. Just spray and wipe the work space. The important thing is not to overlook it. Be sure to draw anything similar on your own floor plan and show by arrows when you are going to clean it.

Return to the last bit of counter area to clean these items. You can make your ten-year-old toaster look like new by removing that burnt-on “brown” stuff with your razor
(gently)
and a white pad. Unplug the toaster and be brave. Wet the toaster liberally with Red Juice before you use the razor or you will scratch it. Just like the scraper, keep the razor at a low angle. Clean the rest of the toaster with Red Juice and your white pad, and use your toothbrush around the handles. Wipe the chrome dry and streakless (as you would glass). Clean the toaster
oven similarly with Red Juice and use your toothbrush in those areas you are learning that your cloth won’t reach. Also, use your razor blade on the (wet) inside glass of the toaster-oven door. Clean the can opener with Red Juice and use your toothbrush around the cutting wheels and gears as necessary. If any parts are removable, pop them into the dishwasher. The microwave is easy. Spray and wipe inside and out.

Remember, don’t “come back” to anything. Make sure everything has been attended to the first time around. If you have to go back to clean something you missed, you are doing something wrong, and you are wasting valuable time better spent elsewhere.

You will finish the trip around the kitchen by ending up in front of the sink. If there are dishes in the sink, there shouldn’t be. That is not
weekly
cleaning. It is
daily
cleaning. The dishes should be put in the dishwasher or otherwise dealt with before you start this weekly cleaning.

Clean above the rim of the sink with Red Juice (not cleanser) and a cloth—all except in the bowl of the sink itself. Every time you clean, use your toothbrush around the faucets and where the sink meets the counter. It makes a vast difference and it takes only a few seconds.

Now use the powdered cleanser in the bowl of the sink. (Use powdered cleanser
below the rim only,
or you’ll spend too much time rinsing.) Conveniently enough, the cleanser is in your carryall tray right next to the sink on the counter—where you left it when you started your trip around the kitchen. Wet the inside of the sink. Sprinkle cleanser lightly on the bottom of the sink, put the cleanser back, and then use your white pad to agitate the cleanser around the bottom and sides of the sink. Use your toothbrush to clean the little groove around the drain or garbage-disposal opening.

Rinse the sink thoroughly to remove the cleanser. Use your fingers to feel the sink bottom to be sure all the cleanser is removed. This is especially important since you may be using the sink as a bucket for some ammonia and water (see below) and some residual bleach from the cleanser could react with the ammonia. So rinse well. Now dry the faucet spigot and handles with a very dry cloth so they will shine nicely.

Put the Red and Blue Juice and the feather duster into your carryall tray. Take either ammonia or floor cleanser/polisher (see below) and put it in your apron pocket. Set the tray just outside the kitchen door (out of the path of the vacuuming).

First step is to sweep or vacuum the floor with the Little Vac and its large brush attachment. Vacuum into the room so the cord or exhaust is not dragging or blowing debris. Pick up large items that may clog the vacuum—like dog or cat food, dried lettuce leaves, carrot slices, nylon stockings, sleeping hamsters, etc. Pay particular attention to corners and to the grout on tile floors. Use a broom if no vacuum is available. (It can actually be faster, unless there are lots of dustballs around.)

The next step depends on what type of floor you have. Use Method A (ammonia and water) if your floors are “no-wax” vinyl, hardwood floors coated with polyurethane, or tile floors (glazed, unglazed, or quarry). Use Method B (floor cleaner/polisher) if your floors are “wax” or “no-wax” vinyl or linoleum. (You may have noticed that “no-wax” vinyl floors made both lists. Use Method A or B on no-wax floors, or alternate between them.)

Grab the Sh-Mop from the doorway where you left it when you started the kitchen. Take two or three clean terry cloth Sh-Mop covers from your tray and put them in your apron. Put the bottle of ammonia or floor cleaner/polisher in your apron pocket, depending on whether you’re using Method A or B below.

Close the sink drain and run an inch or so of warm water into the sink. Then add a small amount of ammonia (approximately 3 tablespoons, depending on how dirty the floor is). Dip a Sh-Mop cover in this solution. Wring it out but leave it almost dripping wet, and place the cover over the Sh-Mop head. Start in the corner farthest away from the exit door and clean an area of the floor. When the terry cloth cover is too dry or dirty to continue, put the soiled cover into your lined apron pocket and dip a clean one in the ammonia solution in the sink. Repeat as necessary. As with other surfaces, different degrees of cleaning are called for: the dirtier areas of the floor in front of the stove, refrigerator, and sink require harder scrubbing than less-traveled areas. As you’re mopping, be prepared to use your scraper to loosen mystery globs on the floor. Use the white pad to remove smears and heel marks.

Since you don’t rinse the soiled terry cloth covers in the sink, the water in there stays perfectly clean. This means that a bucket is unnecessary, even for the most fastidious of cleaners.

When you pass the sink for the last time, let the water drain, rinse the sink, and dry the chrome if necessary. Mop your way out of the kitchen. Put the soiled terry cloth covers in the wash with the dirty cleaning cloths.

Close the sink drain and add just an inch or so of warm water. Dip a Sh-Mop cover into the water and wring it out a bit, but leave the cover almost dripping wet. (Or run a little warm water over it from the tap.) Put the cover on the Sh-Mop and go to the corner of the room farthest from the exit door. Apply a thin line of cleaner/polisher about 4 feet long directly to the floor. Don’t apply closer than 2 feet to any wall or cabinet. Spread this line of cleaner/polisher as evenly as possible over an area of floor approximately 4 feet by 6 feet, using enough pressure to clean as you go. Your purpose is to use the Sh-Mop to pick up the dirt while leaving a little cleaner/polisher for a modest shine.

When using your scraper on blobs that the Sh-Mop doesn’t remove, loosen them (once again at a low angle) and then either mop them up or pick them up and deposit them in your apron pocket. Sprinkle a little more water on the terry cloth cover as needed. Use the cover until it is too heavily soiled. Then put it into your lined apron pocket, moisten a fresh cover, and continue. When you pass the sink for the last time, let the water out, dry any water spots on the chrome, and clean your way out of the kitchen. Put soiled terry cloth covers into the wash with your cleaning cloths. Don’t let them dry out before washing because most cleaner/polishers dry as hard as old paint. If it’s going to be a while before you wash them, rinse the cleaner/polisher from the covers now.

If you have one of the shiny floors that tend to show streaks (marble,
wood, smooth vinyl, for example), you can eliminate the streaks by drying the floor quickly with your Sh-Mop. Do this with a clean and
dry
terry cloth cover. Because the Sh-Mop has such a large surface area, it takes just a minute. And it works amazingly well—just as if you dried it with a towel on your hands and knees!

_______________YOU’RE FINISHED!

If you’re working alone, it’s time to start the bathroom. If you’re working in a team of two, report to your partner if he/she has finished the bathroom and begun dusting. If you have finished the kitchen first, then
you
start the dusting and give your partner a secondary assignment when your partner finishes the bathroom. (See
Chapter 9
, Team Cleaning.) If you’re working in a team of three, go see the team leader.

On the next page is a summary of the kitchen procedures.
You
are most welcome to tape a photocopy of it at eye level in the kitchen to help you on your first adventure or two with Speed Cleaning your kitchen.