Your Guide to Keeping House Cleaning Under Control

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For countertops: Wipe up after cooking with a good all purpose cleaner. You can also disinfect cutting boards with your own homemade solution of a quart of water mixed with a tablespoon of liquid bleach, says Cobb.

For stovetops: A little baking soda on a damp sponge cleans your stovetop naturally. And, best of all, "you can use it without rubber gloves," says Cobb. (Obviously, if you haven’t been using your stove, there’s no need to clean the cooktop.)

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For appliances: Cobb recommends that you keep a spray bottle filled with a homemade mixture of 50 percent rubbing alcohol and 50 percent water. This is great for chrome, glass and stainless-steel appliances. "You can clean your other appliance faces with club soda, it can even be soda that's gone flat," she notes.

For cabinet faces: Laminate cabinets clean up nicely with an all-purpose cleaner. For wood cabinets, Cobb suggests that you "buff them with lemon oil or Avon Original Bath Oil. Grease will roll right up and you don’t have to do any washing."