From your floor to your backsplash, removing greasy buildup between tiles is easier than you think with this trick.
How to Cheaply Clean Your Kitchen Grout
The time you spend within the kitchen is not always glamorous. For every meal you create, there are about five labor-intensive chores required to keep your kitchen looking clean. There are counters to wipe down, ovens to wash, and dirty sponges to throw away. But our least favorite chore has to be cleaning the grout between our kitchen tiles.
What if we told you it was easy and all you needed was an old-fashioned secret ingredient — baking soda. Intrigued? Read on.
Why Baking Soda?
Baking soda does just about everything, from polishing silverware to cleaning between those pesky kitchen tiles. It can actually be more practical than your dish soap.
Though soap and baking soda are basic (i.e., they have higher pH levels), soap contains fat molecules that make it gentler. Baking soda, on the other hand, is hard enough to handle the most stubborn stains in your home. Just make sure you are not confusing your baking soda with baking powder — there is a difference.
What’s the Recipe?
We are glad you asked. For best results, we recommend baking soda and vinegar. When the acidic vinegar combines with basic baking soda, the concoction fizzes like a science fair project. But it really works into all the grime on your grout.
First, clean the area around the grout by vacuuming, dry mopping, or wiping down.
Next, apply a paste made of water and baking soda to stained areas. Then pour equal parts warm water and vinegar (another great cleaner you already have at home) into a spray bottle. Once you spray the vinegar-water mix on the paste, scrub the solution-coated grout to remove stubborn dirt and grime. Clean off the vinegar, baking soda, and water with a damp paper towel and voilà! Your tiles will look new.
That’s Not All You Can Do
If you do not have vinegar and a spray bottle handy, there is an even easier way to clean out that grout. Hydrogen peroxide (which you will likely have under your bathroom sink), baking soda, and dish soap. Combine these ingredients into a bowl, then use a toothbrush to get rid of dirt buildup from those tile floors.
To save time you can choose a broom or a drill brush, though toothbrushes are just as effective. Either way, you will dazzle everyone in the house with your sparkling grout lickety-split!