If I could only eliminate one commercial cleaner, I think it would be oven cleaner. It definitely does a great job, and that’s why it’s a huge temptation for me, but I don’t like the ingredients or the way I felt the one time I used it. A friend that has eliminated a lot of the toxins in her family’s diet and cleaning products also noticed that she didn’t feel well after using it recently. Once you start decreasing the toxins in your food and environment, it’s easier to observe how harmful they can be to your health.

I will admit that I don’t clean my oven as often as I should. It’s generally only something I look at when it’s hot, so it’s easy to forget. A few months ago, something spilled in my oven, and smoked up the house. My plan was to let it cool, then clean it up, but I forgot. Next time I turned the oven on to preheat it, my husband said, “Something’s smoking.” I was in a hurry and decided to use it the way it was. I’m a little embarrassed to say that this happened a few more times before I remembered that I needed to deal with it.

Let’s just say that mess was really stuck by the time I took care of it, but I have found that soaking my oven for several hours with vinegar and water makes it really easy to clean. To do this I use two big bath towels in bad shape, and lay one on the open door and one in the bottom of the oven. I pour a mixture of hot water and vinegar on the towels and let that sit overnight. By morning it’s very easy to clean under those towels. The sides can be sprayed several times during the soaking time and this helps to making cleaning the sides a little easier. I have found the sides to be a little more work, but definitely worth not having to breathe in those toxic fumes. Do you have any tricks to cleaning your oven, especially the sides? I would love to hear some tips.  

Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, get rid of the distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. If you are working toward a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was get your salt right, week 2 was get your sleep right, weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were get your fats right, we had several weeks about seasonings and herbs, some important discussion about natural sweeteners, talked about Forgiveness, hopefully we got our eggs right, learned about the benefits of pastured, clean meats, considered getting mercury removed, we got the toxins out of our mouth, skin, and hair, and this week we will continue to focus on our house. Join us next Tuesday for Get Your . . . Right.