Grandma’s Cleaning Tips and Why I Wish I’d Have Listened More

Laura Hopson

Have you ever sat down with someone who is well, let’s just say “elderly”? Alright, alright OLD I mean someone real old. Like in their 80’s or 90’s. If you haven’t, you should. They are a fount of knowledge. Before my grandparents passed away, they lived less than 50 yards from my front door. I was always that way. I was in a love hate situation. I loved it and hated it‌. Now, when I look back, I miss it dearly. Growing up, they were always there. Always. No matter what I needed or when I needed it, I knew if something happened and my parents were working or if I forgot to get extra money from my parents for something I always had right there. I didn’t appreciate it at all at the time and for that I am terribly sorry. I miss them a lot. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t use some little tidbit of knowledge they taught me. My grandmother was a stay at home mom and then a stay at home grandmother. She kept me and all of my cousins every summer and if we were sick and had to miss school, we went to my grandmothers. She was always there with a smile and a “what do you need, dear?” My grandfather worked and provided for anyone of us that needed anything. If our parents couldn’t afford it, he stepped in and made sure we had what we needed. I think he bought more cheerleading uniforms for me than he probably wanted to and a couple of prom dresses, but he never complained. If he wasn’t at work, he was outside in the garden or doing some odd job that needed done. I, to this day, never have learned to mow because the man wouldn’t let a girl mow the lawn. He said I had too many cousins that were boys that could do that stuff to “go see what your grandmother needs help with in the house!” At the time, I got irritated and now I realize it was just his generation. Not that he didn’t think I was capable, he actually just didn’t like to see me getting too hot and all red in the face. It was his way to show he cared. Sounds strange, I know, but it’s true. He was a giant of a man at almost 7 feet tall and as stout as an ox but he never once spanked me or even raised his voice. I didn’t realize how much they influenced my life until recently. They had just as much of an influence on me as my parents. I know that this type of relationship isn’t as common these days. So I now share some of the knowledge that they passed on to me on to you. It would be a shame to let it go to waste. If your grandparents are still around or if there’s a nice neighbor who is a little older that you can sit down with, my advice is to do it now and learn all you can before they’re gone. Not only will you benefit, but so will they. So without further ado, here are 5 cleaning tips I learned from my grandmother.

The best thing to clean glass pane windows with is an old newspaper and white vinegar.

Take a spray bottle and fill with half vinegar, half distilled water and spray on glass windows or mirrors. Use a newspaper (or a microfiber towel because a printed newspaper isn’t just lying around like it was when my grandmother taught me this) Use either to wipe the vinegar solution off using a horizontal swiping motion NOT vertical. This will keep your glass free of streaks. Horizontal for streak free and vertical if you’re a savage and like streaky windows. LOL

Never, ever wash a cast-iron skillet in a sink full of water and soapy water. Never, ever put it in a dishwasher either. However, if you do or if you have a child who is washing dishes and not paying attention like I did one time at about the age of 14, then there is a way to fix it so don’t freak out. It can be fixed with three things that are probably in your kitchen right now. All you need is a potato, salt and some form of oil or even Crisco. I recommend ‌you lay out some wax paper or some type of towel to catch some of the mess this could make on your working surface. If memory serves correct, this was a very messy job, but kind of fun. That is, it was fun after grandma got done letting me sweat and finally told me I didn’t ruin her cornbread skillet and Poppaw would not be mad. After you prepare your working area lay your pan on top of that. Take about ½ cup of salt (for a 12inch pan) and sprinkle that into the bottom of the pan. Cut your potato in half and hold it in the palm of your hand with the cut side down where the part you sliced will touch the pan. Then in circles like the guy says on that movie “wax on and wax off” Just kidding. Just apply a small amount of pressure and use a circular motion to rub the salt all over the pan, even into the handle. This is the messy part. As you go, add salt as needed. Once the pan is clean. If it was terrible, you may need to rinse and start over. After the pot is clear of all the rust, you will then rinse the salt and rust away and pat the pan dry. Once it’s completely dry, take the grease and a paper towel and rub the oil into the cast iron. After it is well coated with oil (but not dripping), place it in the oven for about 30 mins at a temp of 300 degrees. After 30 mins, turn the oven off, leaving the pan inside to cool. Then store in a dry space. Repeat the oiling process after you use the pan and wash it, coat it in oil and place it in the oven again. Then let cool and store.

An extremely cheap but versatile cleaning solution only has 3 ingredients and you probably have them at home right now. One cup water, ½ cup of peroxide, and two tablespoons lemon juice or a few drops of lemon essential oil. (Not to be used on dark porous stone like marble because peroxide can discolor dark colors if left on too long.
For hard water buildup in the shower, use dish soap, baking soda, and a lemon. Wet the tub, then take the baking soda and dish soap and mix it into a paste. Use the paste with the half lemon to scrub using circle motions on the toughest hard water stains. Rinse with warm water when it looks shiny again.

5. To clean an oven, take two METAL mixing bowls and put ammonia in one (about 1 ½ cups-2 cups) and 3 cups of boiling water in the other and put both in the oven for 3–4 hours. I usually do this at night and set my oven to cut off after 3 ½ hours. If you don’t have a cutoff timer, it can be left overnight. Be careful when you remove them. They will be hot. After the oven cools off, you can wipe the rest with a dish cloth and soapy water. All the hard-to-remove gunk should be easily removed.

Those five tips have saved me countless hours of scrubbing. One last thing: the last tip can be altered to use in a microwave. You just change it into a plastic bowl of water about ¾ full. Put the bowl of water in the microwave, turn the microwave on for 2–3 minutes. Remove the bowl (water will be hot. Use caution). All the dried food should now be loosened and easily come off. Take any dishcloth or sponge and wipe out the loosened residue and you’re done.

I learned so much just from being around my grandmother. It actually amazes me how often I use all that I learned from watching her. I wish now that I had paid more attention. My house never seems as clean as hers was and my food doesn’t taste ‌as good. I’m not sure if that’s all in my head or if there were little things that I’ve forgotten or just never learned because I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Oh well, it’s too late now. I wish now I’d have taken an empty journal to sit with them and asked questions to document all of that lost knowledge. They knew so much that isn’t taught in books or school. Frankly, I think a lot of things are being lost and society is less for it. Their way of life, as simple and as hard as it sometimes was, had a lot more to teach our generation than most of what they seem to learn now. We wanted our kids to have more and not have to work so hard for it that maybe we missed the part about teaching them the value of a good day’s work and a job well done. That life doesn’t hand you everything you want and parents won’t always be there to do it for you. There’s nothing wrong with wanting better for your children, but perhaps we should make sure they ‌deserve that “better”. If we hand them everything, they come to expect to get something for nothing. They don’t respect or value what we went through to get them those things if they don’t experience at least some of that process for themselves. If we don’t make them work for anything and hand them everything, how will they turn out? Spoiled children turn into lazy adults and more than a few are hateful and even cruel. I really wish my grandparents were still here so I could ask their thoughts and advice on things I see happening today. If yours are still around, perhaps sit and talk to them for a little while. Perhaps you’ll come away with a few little gems of knowledge that you didn’t know before sitting down. Just something to think about.