Annies Kitchen Drain and Pipe Cleaner

On this beautiful, pseudo spring day, my thoughts turn to spring cleaning. Y’all, people think that because I have OCD that I love to clean. That is simply not true. I love to ORGANIZE.  Cleaning, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. I do clean. Everyday. However, it is not my passion.

The other day, JP commented on a “funky smell” emanating from the kitchen sink. While I didn’t smell anything, JP is super sensitive to odors, so I just took it as a pre-warning that the sink pipes and drain needed to be cleaned.

You might ask how one actually cleans the drain and pipes. It is actually very simple. And completely chemical free. You can amaze your friends, your kids, even your super olfactory sensitive spouse!

Annie’s Kitchen Drain and Pipe Cleaner

• 2 Tbsp baking soda per drain. Remember back when I told you to make sure that your baking soda didn’t get too old because then you couldn’t get your baked goods to rise to their supreme fluffiness? This is where the old baking soda comes into play. As you will soon realize if you follow my blog long enough, I never waste anything. Ever.( If you do not have old baking soda to use, just use your fresh soda. Just think of it as using it up so it never gets old!)
• Shake baking soda into drain, trying to cover as much of the inner drain as possible
• ½ cup vinegar per drain. Again, try to cover as much of the inner drain and pipes as possible as you pour into the drain.
• Sit back and enjoy the fizz. Come on. Admit it. You love the sound of the fizz as much as I do. It reminds me of the days of homemade volcanoes for science fair projects gone awry. It actually is loosening all the gunk that has slowly built up on the walls of the inner drains and pipes. Walk away for 15-30 minutes. Take a coffee break. Go outside. Pet the dog. Read a few pages of your book. Call your mother.
• Pour 4 cups boiling water down each drain, starting with the one farthest from the main pipes. If you don’t know which this is, just take a peak under the sink to see which drain has the long pipe running over to connect it to the other to go down into the cabinet floor. Wait five minutes. The boiling water will continue to loosen grime and wash it away.
• Squirt 2 Tbsp of lemon juice into each inner drain, doing your best to coat the inner drain and pipes. This will leave your kitchen sink with a wonderful citrus scent. (if you have a garbage disposal, send a cut up lemon through the disposal.)

Presto! Non-funky smelling kitchen sink! No harsh chemicals going down your drains. No hazardous odors. No fears of children ingesting toxins from the cleanser. Just good, old-fashion clean drains and pipes.

I try to do this at least once a month. (If I remember.) In that way, I am able to keep JP’s nose happy, while at the same time ensuring that I will not have a clogged or slow-to-drain kitchen sink due to gunk build up.

Enjoy the beautiful reprieve from winter today, my friends.

“Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.” ~Edith Sitwell.

~Annie