ask Clean Mama

Today's 'ask Clean Mama' comes from Jodi from Make Three Blog:

(Jodi has 3 great questions that I'm going to answer today - feel free to chime in in the comments to add your tips!)

What is the best daily cleaner for a glass stovetop? For a thorough cleaning, I wipe down with a baking soda/water paste. But for daily cleaning, I constantly see streaks even though it seems clean.

I don't have a glass stovetop, but I love using a degreaser formulation of my favorite all-purpose cleaner for the everyday cleaning of my stove.  For a natural (you probably have the ingredients already solution, I'd mix a little bit of dish soap with a water and vinegar mixture - spray and wipe.  Adding the dishsoap will clean your stove and it should eliminate the streaks.  My favorite way to clean the stovetop?  I just toss the grates and liners in the dishwasher.

What would you recommend for cleaning a microfiber couch thoroughly. Water is great when I catch dribbles but once in awhile, the couch will feel grimy. Vacuuming isn't enough. Doing a complete wipe down with a sponge and water isn't enough.

When I worked at PB, we demonstrated how easy it is to clean a microfiber couch.  I clean my microfiber couch and chair this way and have great results.  (Please check your manufacturer's instructions before trying this.)  Use a large clean (or new) sponge and a bucket of warm, soapy water.  Dip sponge in soapy water mixture - THOROUGHLY wring out the sponge and start to drag the sponge over the couch - go in one direction and repeat this process - dip, wring, wipe - until the entire couch has been cleaned.  You shouldn't need a rinse if you wrung the sponge out and it barely dampened the furniture.  Allow to dry and smooth couch out with hands.  I prefer to use a sticky roller to pick up dirt, dog hair, etc. off my microfiber couch and chair - I think it does a better job with the in-between cleaning than a vacuum cleaner. 

Any suggestions on how to clean wood paneling? Maybe one day I'll paint it or put drywall up but for now, I'm stuck with it and want to make sure my walls in our finished basement are clean.

I don't have wood paneling, but I think good, old fashioned  hot, soapy water in a bucket with a big sponge would do the trick.  Work in sections and dry as you go with a microfiber cleaning towel so you don't get drips and it thoroughly dries. 

Thanks for the great questions, Jodi!  I hope this is helpful!