The Craftiest Workshop

My task for January 16 on my January Self Care Calendar is clean the stove and/or microwave.

I should have written “oven” as I meant the inside but the top of the stove could definitely be a task in itself especially if you have a coil stove.

The oven in our new home is very clean and the microwave just needs a quick wipe down.

I did, however, clean my oven in Fort Mc Murray on New Year’s Day.

What a sparkling way to ring in the New Year.

Here are two pics of the inside and the door after the racks were removed.

I could not turn off the oven light so the pictures aren’t that great.

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Not as bad as it could have been but still quite dirty.

We do have a self clean function on our oven but I had the time so I chose to clean it using old fashion elbow grease.

I found an empty spray bottle, filled it with water and sprayed the inside.

Next I sprinkled baking soda as best I could everywhere.

Unlike with cleaning the cutlery, I didn’t try to scrub it right away but left it sit a few minutes first. I started with the door and used a rag to scrub.

I discovered later that a cheap dollar store scrubbing sponge works better.

When I was having difficulty getting the baking soda to stay on the sides, my husband suggested making a paste and that worked much better; just add a bit of water to baking soda in a bowl and then glop it on the sides.

Things got a bit messier at that point but I was able to get the sides clean.

I kept rinsing the sponge in a bucket of water and had to change the water a few times but after about an hour or so everything was clean.

The last thing I did was chase all that baking soda down the sink drain with a cup of vinegar. Helps to clean the pipes.

It feels so good to open the oven door and see how clean it is.

Last year I posted about defrosting my freezer. It was similar to this post where I wrote what worked for me so that I could refer back to it. The suggestions I got after were great and I used them to defrost the freezer over Christmas this year. Took so much less time…thank you.

So…
If anyone has any tried and true oven cleaning suggestions please comment. I will stay away from oven cleaner but any other suggestions are welcome.