Fighting Holiday Grime and Slime

Provided courtesy THE MAIDS Home Services

When the guests have gone home and you've recovered from your holiday high, it's time to start thinking about the cleanup. As much as we dread it, behind every good holiday bash is a task list of things to clean once the fun has finished for the year.

The cleaning experts at THE MAIDS Home Services suggest the following cleaning tips to help ease the pain of post holiday cleaning:

• Pot roast a little overcooked? To clean burnt baking pans, coat the bottoms with baking soda and add just enough water to cover. Let stand for three hours, then gently scrape out the burnt food with a plastic spatula.
   
• To clean your glassware, add a few tablespoons of vinegar to dishwater to cut grease and leave your glasses sparkling. Do not scour glassware with abrasives.
   
• After all of your holiday cooking is over, you'll want to clear all the grease and grime inside your oven. To clean, set the oven temperature to low for about 20 minutes and then turn off. Place a small dish of full-strength ammonia on the top shelf. Put a large pan of boiling water on the bottom shelf and let it sit overnight. In the morning, open the oven and let it air awhile before washing with soap and water. Even the hardest baked-on grease will wash off easily.

NOTE: be careful not to mix ammonia with bleach, vinegar or anything else acidic while cleaning. When mixed together, the two can create a toxic chemical cloud that is dangerous for you and your entire family.

• To rid your refrigerator of nasty leftover odors, pour a box of baking soda onto a jelly-roll pan and place it on a shelf inside the fridge.
  
  
• To clear you microwave of odors and splattered food particles, drop a lemon wedge into a cup of water and boil inside the microwave for a few minutes. The food particles will easily wipe off.
  
  
• Remove melted wax from tablecloths or clothing by placing a brown paper sack, free of any writing, over the wax stain. Gently rub a warm iron over the sack. The heat from the iron will re-melt the wax, and the paper from the sack will help absorb it.
   
  
• Start at the top and work your way down. Making use of a large laundry basket, start on the top floor of your home and work your way, left to right, gathering miscellaneous items that need to find new homes. Once the basket is filled, you can round up family members to put the items away.

About THE MAIDS Home Services: THE MAIDS Home Services, founded in 1979, was rated as the fastest-growing residential cleaning franchise in Entrepreneur magazine for the past two years. It is one of the oldest and largest residential cleaning franchisers in the United States and Canada, serving over 800 territories in North America. For more information, visit THE MAIDS Home Services' web site at www.maids.com. “Nobody Outcleans The Maids.”