Remove Stains

Scrubbing your range tops is going to use a heck of a lot of degreaser

It always appears that you have more stuff than you remember when you have to place it all into a truck and drive it away. When I first moved into my small house, it only took me one trip, and I was done . Three years later, two trips with a U-haul along with a few more trips with the brother in laws Nissan, we still have enough garbage left to fill up the dumpster outside. How did I acquire so much junk over the past three years? It is not like we went to IKEA or to garage sales every two weeks. I am amazed by the way all this junk seemed to increase over a short space of time.

After all that challenging work, there is still all the cleaning up I had to do in order to get back my security deposit back. I am also amazed at how dirty everything seemed now the clutter had been cleared away. There were grease stains on the carpet from my bike, very small little nail holes in the dry wall that needed filling in, mildew on the tiles and around the taps in the bathroom and the kitchen. I don't even want to mention those little drip pans that were caked with grease from three years worth of dinners

My theory on ovens was that they are all sort of self cleaning. I figured if I turned the burner on blast and let it burn long and hot enough, that it would magically incinerate all the muck beneath it. How wrong was I? In fact, apparently the longer you go without cleaning those drip pans, the more impossible they become to clean. I tried soaking them in heavy duty degreaser overnight. It kind of made it easier to clean, but not to my satisfaction, only removing about one year's worth of crud off. I really should just have bought new ones.

You never know how many things you really have until you have to pack it all up in a box truck and then move it across town. When I first moved into my small house, it only took me one trip, and I was done . Only three years later, it took me two trips in my ten food U-Haul and about twelve trips in my brother-in-law's truck; I still had enough junk to fill and entire dumpster. I still don't even know where all this stuff came from! I didn't go to cheap furniture stores or garage sales continuously. It is just remarkable how clutter seems to grow.


Then, even after you move everything, there is still the house cleaning with degreaser that needs to be done to make sure that you get you deposit back. I am also amazed at how dirty everything seemed now the clutter had been hauled away. There were grease stains on the carpet from my bike, minor little nail holes in the dry wall that required filling in, mildew on the tiles and around the taps in the bathroom and the kitchen. I don't even want to talk about those little drip pans that were caked with grease from three years worth of meals


I had presumed falsely that my oven somehow was self cleaning. I figured if I turned the burner on blast and let it burn long and hot enough, that it would magically incinerate all the muck beneath it. Not so my buddy, not so. In fact, apparently the longer you go without cleaning those drip pans, the more impossible they become to clean. I even tried to soak them in the strongest degreaser I could find at the time, and left them soak for over 8 hours. It sort of improved, but not nearly the degree I was hoping for, only taking off about one year's worth of crud off. I really should just have bought new ones.

It always seems that you have more things than you remember when you have to place it all into a truck and drive it away. When I first moved into my small house, it only took me one trip, and I was done . Only three years later, it took me two trips in my ten food U-Haul and about twelve trips in my brother-in-law's truck; I still had enough junk to fill and entire dumpster. Where did I get all this stuff from? It is not like we went to IKEA or to garage sales every two weeks. I am taken aback by the way all this junk seemed to increase over a short space of time.

After all that hard work, there is still all the cleaning I had to do in order to get back my security deposit back. There are the grease stains on the flooring from your bicycle, those minor holes in the wall that need spackling, windows with mildew, a bathroom with even more mildew, And then there is the range top of the stove. Oh, please do not even let me get started on those drip pans caked with three years of accumulated grease and grime.

My theory on ovens was that they are all sort of self cleaning. I figured if I turned the burner on blast and let it burn long and hot enough, that it would magically incinerate all the muck beneath it. Not so my buddy, not so. I know the truth, the longer you leave those little drip catchers without cleaning them, the more hopeless it is to clean them. I even tried to soak them in the strongest degreaser I could find at the time, and left them soak for over 8 hours. It kind of helped, but not a lot, only taking off about one year's worth of crud off. I gave up and did the smart thing; I bought new ones.