Tuesday Tip: How to Clean Your Garbage Disposal

I am bit of a neat freak.  The proof?  I have a cleaning schedule for chores that need to be done weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually.  (Yup total nerd/dork/etc right here).  I love lists, and I have a tendency to forget things.  I also don't like the idea of "spring cleaning" where you clean absolutely everything in your house once a year.  No thanks--I'll do it a few times a year to save time and headache.  I also live in an apartment and not a house so cleaning the two windows and glass doors in my apartment once a month might change to once a quarter in a house with ten windows and two glass doors.  Cleaning the garbage disposal?  A once a month task because it's easy and quick.  How easy and quick?  Let me show you...

{Garbage disposal}

{Freeze either lemons, lemon juice in ice cube trays, or vinegar in ice cube trays (be sure to mark them!)--any and all will work.  I froze peeled lemons because I had 5 or 6 and wasting is not in my blood}

{Frozen peeled lemons}

{Turn the cold water on and let it run the entire time plus 30 seconds after turning it off.  Never use hot or warm water because the motor, etc could overheat}

{After turning on the cold water, turn on the garbage disposal, drop the frozen whatnot down the disposal and let it run until you hear it clear; turn off the disposal.  Continue running the cold water for 30 seconds after turning the garbage disposal off}

See?  Told you it was easy.  Just in case you don't believe that ice is okay to clean the garbage disposal with, the following are reputable sources (you won't hurt my feelings; I always double check anything I read because you just never know):

How Stuff Works

Huffington Post

How to Clean Stuff

WikiHow

Apartment Therapy

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