I’m working away at the week’s ironing this evening - but I’ve got a few moments while my iron heats up from the “Nylon” setting to the “Polyester” setting, so I thought I’d share a few tips from the manual on cleaning refrigerators.
The authors of America’s Housekeeping Book (1945) acknowledged that many American kitchens still contained "ice refrigerators" and wrote up lots of instructions - completely mysterious to me - for removing accumulated "slime" from the drain pipe and refreshening the ice supply with an occasional bath of baking soda. (Boy, am I glad not to have to worry about slime in my kitchen!) Here is some welcome advice on caring for "automatic" refrigerators:
Daily:
Wipe up any spilled food at once.
Wipe top of refrigerator with a cloth wrung out in soap water. Rinse with a cloth wrung out in clear water. Dry.
Remove any fingerprints around the handle of the door with mild soap and water. Rinse and dry as above.
Weekly:
(This cleaning is usually done after defrosting. Unless your refrigerator is equipped with an automatic defrosting device, it should be defrosted whenever the accumulation of frost is ¼-inch thick.)
Empty the pan under the freezing unit, wash in warm suds, rinse thoroughly and dry. Remove freezing trays, empty and wash in hot soapsuds. Rinse with scalding water and dry. Remove racks or shelves and wash in the same way.
Remove racks or shelves and wash them in hot soapsuds. Rinse with scalding water and dry thoroughly.
Wash interior with a cloth wrung out of cool water in which borax or baking soda has been dissolved. (1 tablespoon of borax or soda to 1 pint water.)
Wash exterior with mild soapsuds. Rinse with a cloth wrung out of clean water, dry thoroughly.
Follow the manufacturer's directions for oiling the motor at regular intervals. (With most new models no oiling is necessary.)
This last Saturday morning was the first time I'd cleaned my refrigerator since the middle of last summer --- and then only because I was expecting houseguests. Though cleaning it every week still sounds a bit excessive to me, it's definitely a little easier when you empty all the food at once as well as the racks and bins. Plus it's a great chance to face your scary leftovers and get rid of any expired foods you might have forgotten about. The fact that the manual suggests that the kitchen be cleaned the day before the housewife does the bulk of her marketing makes good sense, too. She'd be able to check on the freshness of whatever produce she might still have on hand. And if she's running low on something she keeps in the fridge, here's her chance to take stock and add it to the grocery list!
Have any of you ever cleaned with borax? I've never used it before. Is it safe? Is it useful in cleaning other items?
10 comments:
I put some borax in with my laundry detergent to help soften the water. I also mix up some Borax, salt, Lemi-Shine,washing soda, and some essential citrus oil to add to my powdered dishwasher detergent. We have extremely hard water and have to add things like that to get decent results.
The 20 Mule Team Borax company has a booklet on their website you can download for more information about using Borax in your home.
I've used borax in laundry, and sprinkled on carpets. It is considered safe, although it can irritate your skin-I got a rash from it in laundry.
On carpet, its a great way to get rid of fleas..don't ask.
Borax is considered natural and a great laundry booster.I would use it..I think my sister in law must have been born in the wrong er- she cleans her refrigerator nightly and makse it orderly- as for me- I dont think so- but I can daydream!
Zoinks! Kass, your sister-in-law cleans her fridge every night?!?!? And I thought once a week was going to be bad. I even checked my other vintage housekeeping manual, "The Good Housekeeping Housekeeping Book" (1947), hoping that they would tell me once a month was okay, but nope. They instruct it to be done once a week, too.
Hairball and Public Artist, thanks for the tips on borax. I can recall seeing that 20 Mule Team stuff in the laundry aisle at the supermarket. My skin tends to be on the sensitive side to stronger detergents, so maybe I'll stick to the baking soda for cleaning the fridge. (And maybe some rubber gloves!)
I used Borax to soak soiled diapers. Plain water wouldn't take out the stain, and didn't kill the smell. Baking soda only came in little boxes, but Borax was cheaper and could be purchased in larger almost detergent size boxes. Borax also saved the diapers from being worn out from chlorine bleach. (Disposable diapers were incredibly expensive and were just awful. They didn't fit tight and fell apart when they got wet. I made the mistake of buying them to use when we went on a trip.)
Hint: Don't use scalding or boiling water on parts in a newer refrigerator. The parts will melt or warp.
Hint: If you are worried about using Borax, use white or cider vinegar.
Hint: Oh, always make sure you purchase REAL (sorry for the shout) cider vinegar and not the distilled or flavored kind.
Borax is probably safer than Tide Laundry Detergent as far as having any kind of reaction to it.
As to the refrigerator - no, it didn't get cleaned once a week. Who in the world had time to do that?!? Actually, as long as containers were clean when they were put in the frig and any spills wiped up immediately, it didn't need to be cleaned that often. The drip pan under the frig usually got cleaned once a week when the floor was scrubbed and waxed. The front did get wiped off daily, along with the wiping the range and counters, scouring the sink, sweeping the floors and the porches.
Sheesh, all these things we did that I haven't thought about in years!
Borax is a good anti bacterial but it also kills ants and cockroaches so it can be toxic. Use gloves and use sparingly. I have it in my homemade washing powder but I don't put this water on the garden.
I can't imagine a fridge without so much stuff on top of it! How will you fit all this in? I will try this one from next week!
I use borax to make my kitchen floor shine. I see the Amish and Mennonite buy it ... The Amish houses I have been in really SHINE and smell clean.
Packrat, your word of caution about scalding water reminds me that the same warning - well, not in so many words - is stamped on the inside of each of my vegetable bins. It tells me to clean using warm water and soap. That's hard. My instinct wants so badly to kill, kill, kill any germs and guck with a nice pot of boiling water. (Plus it saves on the elbow grease!) I guess if I'm cleaning the fridge every week the bins won't get as dirty... I'm glad I can still use a little scalding water on the racks.
I didn't mind using the baking soda this last time to make up my cleaning solution, but a box would definitely go quickly when you're using it weekly! I think I may have to pick up some of the vinegar in one of the economy-size jugs. Can you get vinegar that doesn't smell vinegar-y?
rebecca77, good luck with the routine! I'm getting antsy just thinking that Friday is drawing close and the kitchen will have to cleaned again --- of course, there's lots I can improve upon when it comes to technique, etc.
tailleur, thanks for sharing the Amish connection. I think I'm definitely going to investigate the borax thing and see if it feels okay to me.
i just cleaned my fridge this week... I'm trying to do it once a month...
one thing i like to do is just wipe down the shelves (after you've cleaned them) with a bit of vanilla essence (the real stuff not the imitation essence)... as it is alcohol it keeps it clean, and releases a light vanilla scent every time you open the fridge... loverly
Ooh, neat idea! I'd settle even just for neutral --- no odor at all.
Post a Comment