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During the summer months, the heat gets the best of everything.  It gets hot outside, inside, and sometimes you just can’t escape it.  Unfortunately the heat can make smells worse than ever.  I am such a clean freak that smells just drive me crazy and sometimes our kitchen sinks just STINK! So, I am always looking for those effective cleaning tips to bring simplicity into my life.  So LADIES, here is a little secret of mine to help clean those stinky kitchen sinks:

Pour down several quarts of boiling water to flush out grease. Do double-duty by adding 1 cup of baking soda followed by 1 cup of white vinegar down the drain; then sprinkle more baking soda in the sink to scrub clean.

The best part about this cleaning tip is the products you use are cheap and most everyone has them already on hand.  So, here’s to keeping the kitchen sink clean and to bringing that word I love “Simplicity” back into our lives!

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Sometimes I feel as though all I do is clean my kitchen; and I don’t really like to clean.  I have two kids, a dog, and of course my husband and I dirtying it up all day long and sometimes it just never stays clean long enough.  I have found a few ways I can cut down on the time it takes me to get my kitchen clean and presentable.  Simplicity is key here.  I do deep cleaning on specific days and otherwise i move quickly.  The first thing I do is give myself a time limit.  This is how long I can spend.  It makes me move faster.  Next, I unload my dishwasher as soon as it finishes the cleaning cycle so it will be ready for the next load of dishes going in.  I don’t know how I would function without my dishwasher.  I find that the area that has the ability of getting messy the fastest is the sink.  Every product I use in the kitchen is dishwasher safe.  That is a must in my house.  As I use dishes throughout the day, I load as I go.  This gives me less to do at the end of the night after dinner.  I also use a spay bottle of 1 part vinegar and 1 part water to mop my floor.  I spray the solution onto the floor and then mop it right up.  This way I don’t have to wring out my mop each step of the way; and I don’t have to wait as long for the floor to be dry.  I also love the pre-moistened kitchen wipes.  I hope these suggestions help you spend more time with those you love and less time cleaning a dirty kitchen.

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So…I have animals in my house…two dogs…one cat…small house. Get the picture? I love to have people over and cook for my friends and show off my fabulous culinary skills (which is a total scam…it’s all because of the cookware…I have nothing to do with it!). People who don’t have animals notice instantly that my house may “smell” different than another house. Not a bad smell, just “animal” smell – which I am completely immune to. I love my little munchkins but I certainly don’t want to put a bad smell in someones nose when they come to visit me! I always send them on a little vacation to the back yard but what to do about the “animal smell”? One night, I was making one of my most favorite meals for a of couple friends of mine: Citrus Tilapia and Orange, Almond Basmati Rice. For the talapia, I use lemon, lime, and orange slices and of course, orange zest for the rice. So, I had my cutting board out on the counter and I had sliced up half of each of the citrus pieces, I had zested the orange into a little ramikin, and had the slices all fanned out on the cutting board and the open halves just kind of to the side. Well, one of my guests arrived early and she came in my side door which leads right into my kitchen. She immediately said, “Wow! You’re kitchen smells so clean and fresh! I would never have thought of that – and it looks so colorful!” Well…while I was certainly happy for the compliment – it took me a second to follow her gaze to where she was looking and realize she was talking about my citrus on the cutting board. As I glanced over to it, it seriously did look like a picture right of a magazine with the halves strewn about haphazardly and the slices all fanned out. The color was really amazing and all night long, everyone commented on how fresh smelling the house was. So, I’ve figured it out – I’ve started slicing up citrus peices on the cutting board about 15 mintes before people come over and it fills the whole area with this amazing fresh, clean smell and it certainly brightens up the kitchen – and not to mention is makes me look like the perfect little Simplicity Gourmet Homemaker! Martha…watch out!!!

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