btw, we've entered my cocooning/nesting/domestic season (coldish weather, rainy, cloudy, etc.), so I'll have more questions like this, I'm sure. Bear with me; I'll be back to my slatternly ways in the spring.

In the meantime, here's another tip, unfolding at this very moment: you know those incredibly stubborn rings you get around your most used burners on your glasstop stove? You know the little razor/scraper thing you're supposed to use to get them off (that takes hours of elbow grease, and doesn't really work that great anyway)? It seems some WD40 really helps that go faster/work better. Also, I'm not sure if this is just a tip for cleaning your glasstop stove, or getting your husband to clean your glasstop stove... I asked my husband if we had any WD40 because I read somewhere on the internet that it worked well for cleaning glasstop stoves - and now he's been cleaning the stove for the last half-hour. Interrrrresting.

taz, WD40 will get men to do most anything in my experience. I eat a lot of cereal, so I take it out of the box and just close the bag with a chip clip (it also takes up less space that way). As for the mold/mildew, I just take a toothbrush and bleach to it and re-caulk/seal as necessary. You might want to investigate *why* it's getting that way back there? Is something leaking?

how/where do you keep your dry cereal?

In the box it came in, in the pantry. I have a large, beautiful pantry that is embarrassingly and chaotically disorganized.

How do you keep your vegetables?

Not very well at times. I keep things like onion, celery, carrots, cucumbers, and some herbs in the refrigerator crisper. I keep garlic, bananas, tomatoes, and pears on a ledge in my kitchen. I keep potatoes in the pantry.


Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter?

Not mildew, but it gets a bit grungy back there. I pour a little bleach diluted with water, let it sit for a moment and scrub with a toothbrush dipped in Comet. Then dry very well. It's caulked back there, so I don't want to soften the caulk or the laminate.

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes? One of those sponge/scrubber combos? Brush? Both? Something else?

I use Scott or 3M scrub sponges. And my favorite dishrags: the ones with a srubby side and a normal side. These are fabulous. Everyone should have these dishcloths. The scrubber side cleans dried up bits on everything. From the counters to tables to dishes. I generally dislike sponges, I prefer the dishrag. I keep Scott sponges on hand to clean pots and pans and my ceramic stovetop with Soft Scrub and a scrub sponge.

Where do you keep it? If it's any kind of sponge, how often do you replace it, and do you clean it in any way?

I keep it in the bottom of the sink or next to the faucet. It's not very attractive, but that's where I keep it. A package will last me a couple months. I put them in the top rack of the dishwasher every few days to clean and sanitize. I wash the dishcloths in the washer and wash with hot water and bleach with other whites, usually white towels. I guess that could go without saying.

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets? How about the inside?

For the outside, at least once a month, or more frequently. My cabinets are white laminate so they can take almost any cleaning product. If I notice something grungy around the knobs I'll spray 4-09 or Windex and wipe. I use Soft Scrub or Comet on them too, if they're really bad -- if spaghetti sauce splattered everywhere. To get the Soft Scrub residue off, I'll wipe with a clean, damp rag and then spray with Windex and dry.

The insides, not often enough. I did clean the inside of a cabinet where I keep my pots and pans the other day. It was looking rough. Usually for this kind of job, and almost any cleaning job: Fill the sink with hot water, put in a squirt of dishsoap and a capful of bleach, or two, dip a rag, and clean. I use this solution to wipe my counters down, my kitchen table, appliances, even my wood laminate window blinds at times. The kids have been known to flick spaghetti sauce, juice, whatever on these blinds in my kitchen. I'll follow up with SoftScrub or Comet for stains on countertops, cabinets, and stovetop. I always wash my sink with Comet and a srub sponge. Comet rules. :)

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?

We don't have a lot of leftovers in this household. Husband is good about purging items. Before we go to grocery store we purge, or we purge when we get home. Once a month or so, I empty the entire thing and wash every surface with above bleach/dishsoap/water solution.

And... gimmee any great kitchen tips that come to mind?

It's not my own, but I do what Rachel Ray does. I keep a big mixing bowl for garbage next to my work area.

When I'm frying something greasy like hamburgers or chicken I'll dampen an old bath towel with hot water and an all-purpose cleaning product like Lysol or Mr.Clean. I'll place it under the stove on the floor --where the grease splatters. After cooking I'll shimmy the towel around on the floor and wash the floor. The grease splatters on the towel, instead of the floor. I use the grease splatter things, but I still get some grease no matter what I do. The towel thing is good if people are coming over in a hurry and you don't want to break out a mop.

how/where do you keep your dry cereal?

In it's original bag, in the pantry, hopefully with a chip clip if we can find it. MuddDude doesn't mind stale cereal, and I don't eat much of it.

How do you keep your vegetables?

In the crisper, except tomatoes which are kept in a bowl on the counter.

Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter?

Nope, I make sure to dry that area every time I use the sink.

How did you get rid of it?

Bleach. Dilute it a bit first, or buy an over-the-counter mold/mildew solution.

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes?

Sponge with a scrubby surface on one side. I just keep it next to the sink. I rinse it in hot water before I use it and throw it out when the scrubbing surface starts to degrade and the sponge starts to shrivel up.

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets? How about the inside?

Never. (OK, I'll spot-clean them after a particularly splattery dinner)

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?

Keep all the leftovers on one shelf, so it's easy to find them all. My biggest problem is finding rotting vegetables in the crisper.

My cooking want

I want a cutting board with little bowls on each end, so that I can chop different types of vegetables and then sweep them off to one bowl or another, then chop the meat on the same board.

Wolfdaddy, There's only about an inch of space between the sink and the wall behind it, so there's really no way to do anything in the sink without splashing back there. I wipe it down constantly, but it's a hazard. It's had the mildew stains since before we moved in, and I tried bleaching it by soaking paper towels in bleach and leaving them for hours, re-wetting along the way... and nothing. No help at all. It's silicone caulking at the seam, and it seems like maybe the mildew is under the silicone. Probably we'll need to pull it all up, clean and re-caulk, which is ugh.

LoriFLA, love the tips! And I'm envying you your large, lovely, chaotic pantry so much. More on that later!

wolfdaddy: taz, WD40 will get men to do most anything in my experience.

*hehehe*

WD40: Your new secret weapon! All Purpose!!! You heard it here first, folks!

I'll have to look for chip clips. I just bought some cereal, because one is supposed to eat breakfast, and one is supposed to get more fiber - so I bought some nice fibery cereal... but I'm terrified of pantry moths, so I'm always transferring opened packages of things to glass and tupperware containers. But one runs out of containers and space. And patience.

PANTRY MOTHS?!?
I could deal with that. Trade you big cockroaches for them, taz?

Oh, also, The General (ie, my mom, who's home improvement/repair/kitchen/cooking/garden goddessmatriarch of the family) says if the mold/mildew is underneath the caulking, it's time for the ugh part. Good news is you should be able to get a silicone caulk that's specifically marketed as mold/mildew resistant.

if you can't find chip clips, a couple of clothespins will do the trick as well, taz. Or some of those big paper clips like these.

aaaargh! We actually have big cockroaches here... Almost all outside, thank goodness (and so far, though I've found one or two dead ones inside, which creeps me); but I'm a veteran of Florida and Louisiana, so I know all about the whole cockroach thing. Too much.

re: pantry moths. Read it and shiver.

It's silicone caulking at the seam, and it seems like maybe the mildew is under the silicone. Probably we'll need to pull it all up, clean and re-caulk, which is ugh.

Yeah, I know what you mean, but it's not such a big job. A plastic caulk remover tool costs about a dollar. There are those little caulking kits -- with the little tool that ensures the caulk bead looks professional. I insist on a professional looking caulk bead! ;)

My cleaning wants:

The Sh-Mop and a telescopic duster.

oops, wrong link, but you know what a telescopic duster looks like.

Muddgirl, I love the idea of the cutting board with the bowls! Have you seen something like that, or did you just make it up? (if so, go directly to manufacturing; do not pass go, do make telemarketing arrangements! :))

But, you don't want to cut meat on the same cutting board, no matter what... too much danger from contamination. I've become so hypervigilant that I don't use any cutting board for meat/fowl any more; I just use regular plates o cut up smaller pieces, and larger pans for bigger things, because these can be completely washed/sanitized.

Now I want a Shmop, too! I already have a telescopic duster, which is handy. But now my ceilings are too high for it to be as perfectly convenient as it once was. Now I need the super extra really really extra telescoping duster. Which I haven't found yet.

I hear so many great things about the Shmop. It's nice because you can throw the terry cloth pads/wipes in the washing machine. I think I might buy one today!

How/where do you keep your dry cereal?
I haven't any. But I keep the farina and steel cut oats in tins in the cupboard. The rolled oats stay in their cardboard tube in the baking supplies.

How do you keep your vegetables?
In a basket on the counter because I buy and cook the same day when it comes to veggies. If I have a chance of plans, into the fridge in the container in which they came. Except roots. Those stay in the basket on the counter.

Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter? How did you get rid of it?
Nope. I scrub it regularly with a toothbrush in a light bleach solution. But my countertops are awful stained 80's formica which make me weep.

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes? One of those sponge/scrubber combos? Brush? Both? Something else?
I have a regular sponge with a scrubby side. A soft bottle brush. A rag. Really mucky stuff, I boil on the stovetop and then wash.

Where do you keep it? If it's any kind of sponge, how often do you replace it, and do you clean it in any way?
I keep the brush and rag on hooks over the sink. I keep the sponge on the sink and replace it when it looks bad.

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets? How about the inside?
Outside: weekly. Inside: yearly.

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?
I don't keep food in the house. When disaster comes, I'm going to starve.

Tips?
I have none.

Wants
A dutch oven, new cabinets, a 3/4 fridge, a fisher-pakel single-drawer dishwasher.

taz: wms-sonoma has the cutting board with colander. I think I saw a similar thing with bowls at the Bloomingdale's home store, but I don't recall.

how/where do you keep your dry cereal? On top of the fridge in the original boxes. Usually it gets eaten before it gets stale.

How do you keep your vegetables? Potatoes and onions in bowls on the counter; garlic in a cute adorable slightly too small ceramic blue pot that says Garlic on it (and it has a cork top! It is sweet! I like my garlic pot!) and all others in the fridge in plastic bags or just loose in the crisper drawers. Except for giant winter squash, which I usually put artistically on the dining room table because it doesn't need the fridge and doesn't fit in my tiny kitchen.

Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter? Not in this house, but I did in the other one.
How did you get rid of it? Get rid of it? You can get rid of it? I decided to consider it a design element and I ignored it. Also, I glued small plastic glow in the dark dinosaurs and bugs and aliens on the little ridge on the splashback above it and then I looked at them instead of the mold. Win/win!

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes?
Those cheap sponges from the grocery store. I prefer the ones with polka dots or stripes or other neon colored design elements - I will pay up to 35 cents more for color and pattern! Where do you keep it? On the sink somewhere. Or on the counter. Or, you know, wherever. If it's any kind of sponge, how often do you replace it, and do you clean it in any way? Those sponges come in two-packs and I keep the unused ones under the sink. When one gets nasty, I start using it for countertops and stuff, throw away the old countertop sponge and pull out a new one for dishes. Otherwise, I don't really clean them, just squeeze them out at the end of every dish doing ordeal.

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets? Whenever there is enough crud on them so I catch the dogs licking them and/or my mother is coming over. Sometimes my daughter comes over, takes one look at the kitchen, heaves a huge martyred sigh and cleans them. That is excellent.
How about the inside? The inside? Are you mad?

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?Shouting. I shout a lot about the terrible waste going on in this household and how poor we are and how certain people could have new video cards if those certain people didn't consider themselves apparently above leftovers and also, those certain people might be teenagers now and able to eat horrible chemical fast food that is destroying the planet but they had better watch out since it will all catch up with them one day. This does no good at all so I end up throwing them out, muttering darkly under my breath the whole time.

And... gimmee any great kitchen tips that come to mind? Those Mr. Clean magic eraser things? They really work. They are incredible. They will turn your hands to shredded relics of their former selves and they're no doubt destroying the ecosystem even as we watch, but holy shit, man, you can take one and just swipe it over 5 months accumulated grease and, like, whoa, it's gone. Also, never buy more than one eggplant. And go ahead and program all the local takeout places into your cel phone.

wants? A new kitchen that doesn't hate me and clonk me in the head repeatedly with its evil cabinet doors.

mgl, I love you! I'm pretty much like you (see cheery "slattern' comment above), except after my last move (and having moved so many times, I decided that I was never again going to live in a place only to do superhuman cleaning years later when moving out, and think to myself, "damn! this place looks great when it's clean!"

I've never been very awful, but almost never had things as nice as I'd like, either... and now (at a rather advanced age) I've decided to be a Pretty Good housekeeper. Seven months later, so far, so good. Most days, if the landlord (or anyone) happened to show up knocking on the door, I wouldn't freak out. This is progress!

How/where do you keep your dry cereal?

In a plastic container that has a cup for a lid so you can measure it out. But I just had to throw away a load of porridge oats because they were full of spider webs. Yes! In my breakfast cereal!! It wasn't because of the container, though, because I also had an unopened box and they were in there too. It was a bad batch, I think.

How do you keep your vegetables?

In the fridge, except for onions, which I keep out.

Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter? How did you get rid of it?

No, I don't have it, but I think bleach will do the trick.

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes? Where do you keep it? If it's any kind of sponge, how often do you replace it, and do you clean it in any way?

I use both a brush and a sponge/scrubber. I have a one-and-a-half sink with a removable strainer in the 'half' bit, so I keep them in the basket, where they dry. I replace the scrubby thing when I pick it up and think 'eeeew'. I usually have some to hand under the sink, as I tend to buy a pack of 15 or so every few months.

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets?

When I'm about to go away on holiday and I know people will be coming in to feed my cats. But even then it's only pretty cursory.

How about the inside?

Um ...

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?

I have a tiny UK fridge which fits under the counter. I have only a very small freezer compartment. This encourages me to (a) eat more fresh things and (b) shop more often. So it's rare I'll find something yucky lurking at the back of the fridge.

And... gimmee any great kitchen tips that come to mind?

I love my spoon rest. I always thought they were a waste of space but it's great to not leave saucy stains on the worktop when I'm cooking. Also cleaning up as you go along is something I am always glad when I do, but I don't do it as much as I ought to.

how/where do you keep your dry cereal?

In the box, on the shelf. I used to have a cereal holder thingy, but I realized that it wasn't airtight and now I just use it to hold things that aren't in danger of going stale.

To add to the pantry moth discussion, when I moved in here I inherited the last tenant's pantry moths. I ended up having to throw away all my dried goods and it was pretty gross and I went apeshit disinfecting the kitchen. I haven't seen them return yet, so hopefully I'm in the clear.

How do you keep your vegetables?

Mostly in the crisper or just loose in the fridge. If it's something that needs to ripen (avocado) or some ripe tomatoes, then they can stay on the counter in a dish.

Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter?
Yes. I've had that wherever I've lived. Bleach and water seems to help but only a little.

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes?
It seems that every little shop and dollar store in this city sells these mini-scrubby sponges (they are little yellow sponges about 4" x 3") in packs of 10-12. I buy these because I have a tiny sink so they match. When the dish sponges get grubby I will soak them in hot water to clean. Then I'll retire them to some other task (like cleaning out the fridge or wiping up spills on the floor).

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets? How about the inside?
Rarely. My cabinets are high up and not over the sink /cooking area, so they don't really get anything on them. I'll dry-dust the outside if someone's coming over. The benefits of a microscopic kitchen!

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?
Having the green bins for organic waste in addition to recycling helps a lot. Since I'm always cooking for one, I try not to buy something if I'm not going to finish it. So if something is going to go bad before I can use it, I will try to freeze it or find another use for it. My fridge is never full so it's pretty easy to see if there's a sneaky 1/3 of an avocado getting slimy in a ziplock hiding in there.

My cooking want
EVERYTHING. Oh lord. My kitchen is so sad. So so sad. I have ONE PLATE. I have about 5 glasses and they are all booze promotional (ie: guiness pint, a german stein, corona beer glass, etc). I have one mug which doubles as a bowl. I also use the metal bowl of my rice cooker for larger mixing jobs. I am still working on getting things like spices, oil, vinegar, etc. My pantry is sad. My friends make fun of me when they come over. But I do have the essentials - coffee maker, rice cooker, one good fry pan, etc.

People wash the outsides of their cupboards more than a couple of times a year? Huh.

Okay: here's a big, honking WANT. How do I find a store with a meat market that will cut me a tri-tip? Or a butcher? Do butcher's shops even exist anymore in this day and age of big box grocery stores with no meat department, just pre-packaged meat? Tri-tip is everywhere in California (and, apparently, Brazil) but here, in Texas, which, y'know, is a pretty big state with a fair number of cows in it, it's all about the t-bone which I'd, frankly, rather shove up my ass rather than eat. BLEAH.

I've taken in the wiki description I've linked above to several "epicurean" stores and I just get blank stares. Today, the guy cut me a 15 pound roast. When I told him that wasn't what I wanted, he cut it in half. When I asked for the manager, I was told they were all in meetings. Or maybe meatings. Sigh.

Butcher shops exist here, WolfDaddy, surely they must exist in Texas.

People wash the outsides of their cupboards more than a couple of times a year? Huh.

I wash mine because they are white and they show dirt very easily. We're probably slobbier than the average family. I always notice crud on the cabinets. Not the ones above the fridge, but the other ones.

I have the cheapest of the cheap white Formica cabinets with white Formica countertops. They show every smear of grime.

My big want: A new kitchen. Husband has sticker shock. He doesn't realize that nice cabinetry or furniture, or anything other than televisions, cost more than a few hundred bucks.

Do butcher's shops even exist anymore in this day and age

Hell yes they do. Where in Texas are you?

Wolfdaddy: have you considered meat by mail?

We've got quite a few butcher shops here in AR, from the 'specialty' ones that sell a lot of European cold cuts to the ones that'll unload the deer from your truck for you.

I don't have a lot of useful thoughts about most of these questions, but as for sponges - We have one of those sponge-on-a-stick things where you fill the stick part with dishwashing soap. It's probably a waste of soap, but I love it anyway. (We have a dishwasher so we don't wash a lot of stuff by hand but do sponge/rinse off most things before throwing them in the dishwasher.)

We keep the sponge-on-a-stick next to the sink in an old coffee cup with the sponge side up. Not very pretty but it lets the sponge dry out between uses which keeps it from getting stinky.

How/where do you keep your dry cereal?

In the pantry. I buy the jumbo sized Cheerios which comes with two bags. I use a chip clip to keep them closed once open. Once I open the second bag the box gets tossed into the living room to be used as a cat toy. It's usually there only a couple days and then it gets recycled.

How do you keep your vegetables?

Potatoes and onions are in the pantry in a plastic basket. Tomatoes are in a bowl on the counter. Everything else is in the fridge in the crisper.

Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter?

No, it gets wiped down at least once a day.

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes? One of those sponge/scrubber combos? Brush? Both? Something else?

Cheap white facecloths/washcloths. They're easy to toss into the washer with bleach. They're draped over the faucet to dry between uses.

Where do you keep it? If it's any kind of sponge, how often do you replace it, and do you clean it in any way?

We also have a couple kinds of scrubbies - plastic woven type and a sponge type. They're both kept in a little fold out thingie that the previous owner made in the front of the cabinet. I'm not sure how often they get replaced because the mister usually does the hand washing for pots and pans.

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets? How about the inside?

You're supposed to do that? Just kidding. I wipe down the outside of the cupboards when I notice grunge. Haven't done the insides yet (been here a year).

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?

The mister goes through it every week as he gets the garbage ready to go to the curb.

And... gimmee any great kitchen tips that come to mind?

We have a small lidded bin on the counter to hold stuff for the compost bin.

Put the stuff under your sink (cleaning supplies, etc.) in a plastic bin/basket for ease of pulling out of the cupboard. It helps to keep it all together so you know what you have and don't have to hunt for anything.

Wants
I want to redecorate the kitchen (new cupboard fronts, new counter tops, new flooring, paint). And a maid/cook.

There's lots of meat markets here in Houston. Only one that I could find out of the Yellow Pages actually even knows what tri-tip is. Strangely, it's the meat market my grandparents (and my mom, when I was much younger) used back in the day.

Just got back from there. I have a tri-tip. I paid 3 times for it what I would have paid in California. Having it for lunch. If it's good, it might be worth the price. But I'm continuing to look for other sources.

Regarding cross-contamination for cutting boards:

Well, I use a plastic board now instead of wood, and after every use it gets tossed in the dishwaser on super-hot. MuddDude just cuts up the meat in the pan, too, but that scratches up our nice coated pans!

Regarding Tri-Tip: when I was a high-schooler in California, and thus a big consumer of barbequed Tri-Tip sandwiches, I heard the rumor that Tri-Tip is like, copyrighted, and can only be packaged as Tri-Tip in California.

But how is that possible, to copyright a cut of meat? Now I want to find some to use in my chili next summer.

muddgirl, the story I heard living in California is that it was called tri-tip because it was "discovered" in Santa Maria, and was only popular in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. Thus the "tri" took on a double entendre because the meat is a roughly triangular cut. Never heard the copyright rumor. However, the meat market does have a sign that says "We now have California tri-tips" so perhaps there's something to it. Not a copyright though, maybe a patent on the way it's "supposed" to be cooked or something. I dunno.

I was given one of these as a wedding present a million years ago, and I use it at least five or six times a week, as a veggie steamer or to cook rice (without the colander insert) in the microwave. I'm always on the lookout at jumble sales or charity shops for a spare, just in case this one should melt or something (although it's showing little sign of wear and tear).

How/where do you keep your dry cereal?
In cereal containers in the pantry.

How do you keep your vegetables?
In the vegetable garden. Well, we will when they start to produce actual edible vegetables. Otherwise, in the crisper in the fridge.

Did you have mold/mildew in that seam behind the kitchen sink where the wall meets the counter? How did you get rid of it?
Not currently, but in the past, yes. Rip out the silicone bead along the join and replace it with one treated for mildew. No matter how clean you are, mildrew will eventually grow under and inside the silicone bead.

What do you use to hand-wash your dishes? One of those sponge/scrubber combos? Brush? Both? Something else? VERY IMPORTANT: Where do you keep it? If it's any kind of sponge, how often do you replace it, and do you clean it in any way?
Sponge/scrubber combo. It lives on a little shelf above the sink. It gets replaced when the scrubber doesn't scrub any more or when my arms aren't long enough to keep it far enough away from my nose. I just rinse it out and sqeeze it after each dish washing session.

How often do you wash the outside of all your kitchen cabinets?
Um, when they get so bad that, if you lean against them, you need help pulling yourself off again.

How about the inside?
Is this some kind of joke?

What are your techniques to keep from finding science experiments in the back of your fridge?
When they start crawling towards the front of the fridge, I throw them out.

And... gimmee any great kitchen tips that come to mind?
You know how your husband/boyfriend/partner/toy boy/whatever says he's hopeless in the kitchen and proved it once by cooking a meal that consisted of raw food accompanied by charcoal lumps? He's a better cook than you, just lazy - think about how many times he has cooked since that memorable meal and ponder on how well that worked out for him.

The WD40 thing is interesting - if we ever have a glass cooktop again, I'll give it a whirl. My secret for them is to make sure that you put a new blade in the scraper every time you use it - those blades have an edge that goes blunt incredibly fast and, once that happens, they simply won't work properly.

As a fellow greek-er (uhh) I suggest Wettex for the counters. Not sponge (thus does not collect as much bacteria) and not a scrub either. I use the green olive-based soap.

For roaches and ants (my god the ants we have in our place in Athens) I use vinegar. It definitely works but it smells. You can buy the cheap greek vinegar at any store.

I chop up spices (parsley, mint etc) and freeze them. Same with vegetables and tomatoes.

Cereal I transfer to glass containers (never plastic) and keep them in the refrigerator. I never use plastic wrap, if I really have to, I use aluminum foil.

What, d'ya clean the insides of the cabinets? I clean the outsides of the cabinets depending on their color (yuk yuk). Like twice a year.

oh, and one more thing, which always gets laughs out of my overnight guests: I use bar-soaps in the drawers so that the towels and bedsheets smell nicely. I unwrap the paper and just place them in between the sheets. I used to place little cloth envelopes full of lavender, but I got tired to cleaning up the drawers when it got spilled.

carmina, I use 'bounce' dryer sheets in the drawers, after I've used them in the dryer a couple of times (there's still always plenty of scent left in them).

Old sponges get used for bathroom cleaning and other jobs that require they be thrown in the wash afterwards. Sponges, dishtowels, potholders all go in the laundry frequently. We seldom use paper towels. I have to have a steel scrubby next to the sink for very dirty pots & pans.

I wash cupboards while on long phone calls.