My Favorite DIY Cleaner

We all have those “adult” things that we avoid like the plague. Maybe it’s doing your taxes, or budgeting? Organizing your kids toys or rotating your mattress? For me, it’s always been cleaning my oven. But since falling in love with DIY cleaners and natural cleaning products I set aside time to do all those “deep cleaning” things that with my favorite DIY cleaner.

I had deep cleaned all the things…with the exception of one thing. The Oven. The one thing that I honestly use almost daily.

I have always hated the smell of commercial oven cleaners. So when I switched to all natural cleaning products I knew there must be a safe natural way to approach my oven.

Time to tackle the oven

With my focus on removing toxic chemicals and cleaning products from our house I felt like we would be forever living with that glob of cheese at the bottom of the oven. I mean oven cleaner is FULL of terrible, terrible things and I was not about to spend what I imagined to be hours trying to break it all down with my multi-purpose cleaner.

After my husband was in charge of dinner one night (hello, frozen pizza), he couldn’t stop talking about how he felt like the pizza was burning because of the gunk on the bottom of the oven. I knew that I had to put on my big girl pants to figure out how I could take care of this in a way that was safe for my family and also safe for my sanity.

How do I make this myself, so I know it is safe?

Like any good 2000’s mom, I turned to my trusted google to see what kind of natural oven cleaners I could rummage up. In all its glory google delivered the most amazing solution.

Healthy Holistic Living posted this oven cleaner that included all the natural cleaning products that I was already using around our house! Knowing I already had everything I would need to tackle this project I decided that I would dive in right then and there and clean the oven.

So, I pulled out my trusty baking soda, castile soap, white vinegar, and orange essential oil and got to mixing this DIY cleaner.

The recipe called for:

• 2 tablespoons castile liquid soap
• 1 ⅓ cup baking soda
• 6 drops wild orange or citrus blend essential oil
• ¼ cup white vinegar

Time to get to cleaning

Following the super simple recipe, I mixed up the paste and slathered it on the bottom of the oven. **Note: I didn’t have an extra brush laying around so I just used my hands to smear it in a nice even coat.**

The recipe said to let it sit overnight or for about 8 hours. I did this right after I was done in the kitchen for the night, so maybe around 9pm. The next morning I was up at 6 so I could finish cleaning it before my son got up.

I gave myself an hour, because remember, it had been longer than I would like to admit since I last cleaned it. With a damp sponge and some paper towels I got

to work.

First, I wiped up the paste with dry paper towels. It wiped off SUPER easy and I could already tell how much better it looked. Then with the damp sponge, I went to wipe off all the excess. There was one spot that I had to scrub, but other than that everything just wiped away.

It took me maybe 15 minutes. I couldn’t believe how good it looked and I also couldn’t believe how easy it was. I felt like I had just conquered the biggest giant in my adulting life.

The DIY cleaning accomplishment

All the things that I was afraid of or just didn’t feel like dealing with weren’t even there. There was no terrible odor. There were no hours of scratching and scrubbing. Plus, no giant mess to clean up afterward.

All in all, it was maybe 10 minutes to mix up the paste and put it on and another 15 minutes to wipe it all away. Less than half an hour of my time and a big adulting gold star! It was so easy I added into my “deep cleaning schedule”. Now our oven won’t get to the point of my husband noticing and complaining again.

Honestly, I am so glad that I get to share my favorite DIY cleaner with all of you lovely readers. I hope you can tackle your oven and hopefully feel the same sense of accomplishment that I did! This truly has become one of, if not my favorite DIY cleaner.

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Melissa is a wife and mama to a sweet and wild little boy. She is getting her Masters Degree in Elementary Education. She is also working on living a more minimal, simple, and natural life. Melissa is a second generation Native Nevadan and loves all things Nevada; she is passionate about supporting local businesses, restaurants, and dreamers. In her free time, Melissa loves spending time with her boys at the golf course or out at the lake! Follow along with her crazy adventures on Instagram @mel.bell.reno.

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