Spring Cleaning: Don't Clean This Thing in Your House--It May Be a Health Risk
By Sarah Jio, Glamour magazine
My dears, are you doing any spring cleaning this month? If you're dreading the big annual scrub-down, here's a part of your home that health experts actually suggest steering clear of:
Permission to slack off on house-cleaning a bit: According to some experts, cleaning your oven may make you sick. Here's why: The harsh chemicals in mainstream "oven cleaner" products contain nasty products that can affect your respiratory tract, but that's not all: Prevention magazine experts note that the self-cleaning cycles on most ovens, which use extremely high heat to blast the grime, may actually release low, but unhealthy levels of carbon monoxide into your home (even when the oven door is tightly closed, it can still seep out). Not good.
Yeah, you can't exactly leave all that old burnt-on, petrified cheese at the bottom of your oven stay there forever. Here's a healthier alternative:
*Spritz your (unheated and completely cooled) oven with a bit of water--just enough to moisten up the grimy spots.
*Next, sprinkle baking soda all around, particularly on the spots with baked on ickies.
*Let sit overnight, and in the morning wipe away the sludge.
Confession: I wrote and researched this post for myself since, um, my oven is a teensy bit in need of cleaning (and "teensy" may be a big understatement).
Gals, do you dread spring cleaning? Cleaned your oven lately?
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Photo Credit: Condé Nast Digital Studio
