Three Simple Ways to Freshen Up Your Garbage Disposal!

Three Simple Ways to Freshen Up Your Garbage Disposal

1. Use the power of citrus
Citrus is coming into season, and it’s the perfect time to stock up on oranges and grapefruits. As a general rule, I usually gorge myself on grapefruit over the winter months. (During the winter I was pregnant with Prairie Baby, I had horrible cravings for grapefuit and I consumed approximately 60 pounds all.by.myself. For real.)
Before you toss those orange peels (or lemon, or grapefruit, or lime) into the garbage, place a couple pieces of peel in your garbage disposal, and run some water down the drain as you turn on the diposal.
The rough peels help to clean the blades, and the citrus oils do a fantastic job of naturally freshening things up.
2. Ice Cubes
Place a handful of ice cubes into your garbage diposal, turn on the water, and allow it to run for a minute or two. This can help to “de-gunk” the blades and remove odor-causing food particles.
A variation on this idea is to freeze vinegar in your ice cube trays and grind it up instead. You can also try adding some rock salt in with your ice cubes for extra cleaning power.
3. Make a volcano 
(Also known as the baking soda/vinegar method)
Sprinkle some baking soda down your disposal (I usually use  1/4 to 1/2 cup).
Pour  vinegar (approximately one cup) down the disposal, and allow the two ingredients to foam and bubble (this is a great time to get the kids to help!).
Allow the mixture to sit for 5-10 minutes. Then, run hot (or even boiling) water down the disposal as it is running to flush everything through.
Baking soda and vinegar are my favorite cleaners for many areas of the home, and they do a great job of deodorizing a garbage disposal as well.