Smelly items in the fridge

Last week every time I opened the fridge door I could smell something very sour and rotten.  I checked the cheese, tossed out some cream that was past its use-by date, checked for rotting vegetables then closed the door.

With the next fridge visit the smell was still there.  I just couldn’t work out what was causing the smell.  I even ate some of the cheese because I thought it was the offending item, but that didn’t solve the problem.  No there was still something sitting in the fridge causing the obnoxious odour.

Finally I looked at a dish containing some left over tinned butter beans.  As soon as I lifted the lid I realised that was the item causing the offensive smell.  I drained off the fluid and washed that down the drain, placed the beans in the green compostable bag, for the council bin, then washed the dish.

Thankfully as soon as I had removed the beans the fridge smelt OK again, but the plastic dish the beans were housed in was a different matter.  Just washing it in hot soapy water didn’t remove the smell.  Something more drastic had to be done.

I found the vanilla essence in the cupboard and poured some into the dish, with a couple of table spoons of water, sealed the lid on top and left the dish for a day.  Thankfully the vanilla essence did its job and when I washed the dish the following day, the foul bean smell was no longer there.

Vanilla essence is a great way to remove offensive smells.  But you must be sure you are using the real essence.  There are bottles of vanilla on supermarket shelves which are imitation and not true essence.  Now if you are making cakes the imitation vanilla is great, but if you want to remove smells you need the pure version.  It does say on the bottle that it is extracted from vanilla beans, so when you are purchasing a bottle check the label.

Leaving a dish with a little neat vanilla essence in the fridge helps keep the inside smelling fresh and clean.  Whenever I wash out my fridge I put vanilla essence in the washing water.  It always helps.

So if you have a bad smell in the fridge, get yourself a bottle of vanilla essence and be amazed at the results.

More information about cleaning, written by Julie Finch-Scally can be found in Stinking Cleaning, published by Austin Macauley. 

Electrostatic Dusters

For many years I have been a fan of the electrostatic dusters-on-a-pole, especially the telescopic type.  The extension helps one reach high places and the duster itself attracts and holds the dust in the fibres.

You might be wondering why I am such a fan?  It isn’t only that they are great collectors of dust, but because being long and thin, when used like a cloth in a hand and wiped over surfaces, the duster-on-a-pole covers a larger area with each wipe, and gets into small gaps where a hand cannot go.

When I first came upon the electrostatic duster-on-a-pole they were on sale for a reasonable price, just under $4.  I tried them and was impressed.  For several years I found them easy to purchase until my supplier decided not to stock them anymore.  I had to look elsewhere. 

As this was in 2011 it was quite a while ago, and although I have discovered short handled electrostatic dusters-on-a-pole, none of them were as successful as the extendable version.

Why I am so emphatic about this specific version of dusters-on-a-pole? Because they were popular.  I have had people ringing me from interstate asking if I knew where they could be purchased.  Even a member of my local hardware store told me they sold thousands of them and didn’t know why the product had become a deleted line. 

As one can see from the picture, there is a difference in dusters-on-a-pole.  And guess what?  I recently found the multicoloured version in my local hardware store.  Fantastic, but it wasn’t telescopic.  At least this was a good brand name.

So where does that leave us?  With a preference to telescopic dusters-on-a-pole, that many people prefer, maybe it is time to contact the company to see if they can bring out an updated version.  This company has extension handles but they fit into mops and brooms with a screw.  No place on this little duster-on-a-pole for the extension to screw into.

I’ve sent a message.  If you like me feel a telescopic duster-on-a-pole would be useful in your home, why not send a message on their website.  Let’s encourage a new item.

Julie Finch-Scally

Author

Stinking Cleaning

Extractor Fans and dust

The other week I had to clean the extractor fan in the bathroom.  I had noticed dust in the cover for quite some months and been annoyed because it looked bad, but as can be seen from this picture, I didn’t realise how bad until I took the fan apart.

For years I have been telling everyone about dust generated everytime we use a towel after a shower; but it must be doubly so with an extractor fan.  Not only does the condensation make the dust stick, but static electricity build up by the rotation of the blades attracts the dust. 

I had to use a ladder to reach the fan so I could remove the cover.  I took that into the laundry to soak in a tub of soapy water and scrubbed it with a dishwashing brush.  The colour of the water, once I’d finished, was black.  But that section of the fan was nothing compared to the dust sticking on the flaps which stop air being blown back into the room.  After some investigation I found out how to clip out the frame that held the flaps and took that section to the laundry. 

Removing the flaps revealed dust sticking to the fan blades and the tube in which it is housed.  The dust in the tube and on the blades was quite disgusting: at least three to four millimeters thick.  I couldn’t believe it.  I’ve been into many homes and seen dust but this was similar to the fluff that sits in the air vent of clothes driers. 

I couldn’t remove the fan so to clean the tube was difficult.  A damp cloth took the skin of dust away but left a dirty mark.  This meant I had to wash down the tube and fan with a sponge and some soapy water, than wipe over the affected areas with a dry cloth.   I must say when I had finished you could have eaten your dinner off the fan and the tube it was so clean. 

Wouldn’t you know it, I was washing the flaps as they came out of the frame which meant I had to re-assemble the whole thing before replacing it.  Thankfully the cover was easy to put back just a twist and it was sitting in its usual position.

When the job was finished I was proud of myself.  The extractor fan in my bathroom looked pristine and clean.  I must not leave it as long as I did before cleaning it again.