Ah, that’s better (cleaning, again)

In an earlier post I lamented about the state of this house and my efforts to clean the grotty kitchen worktop. Here’s a quick post about the result which was pretty good.

I wiped the baking soda/peroxide mix away after about 30 minutes. The worktop, which looked more like this…

Now looks like this!

I’m happy with that. (That’s not the exact same bit of worktop but you get the idea.)

The first picture shows how the grout is still stained, even after a good clean. It’s been bleached and cleaned with alcohol but you wouldn’t know that by looking at it. As well as disinfecting it the peroxide/baking soda mixture has really whitened the grout so I’d say it works really well. Because the peroxide works into the grout it’s not just clean looking but also biologically clean too, which is more important at the end of the day, especially in the kitchen. There are still a few stubborn spots but they will be much improved when I go over it again, which I inevitably will.

Ultimately though I’d like to find a cheap and easy way to cover these damned things up, which could be tricky in France because many diy related products and materials seem super expensive. Or maybe I’ll just ask the landlady for a new kitchen. Next, the fridge and freezer need to be decontaminated. The fact that we just started using them without cleaning them properly grosses me out every time I open the door and take a look at the seals. Yuck.

Watch this space for more riveting updates on my house cleaning efforts!