How to naturally clean your microwave

So today I'm going to share an easy DIY natural microwave cleaning recipe, using two ingredients you probably already have in your pantry!

Why am I (Jessica) sharing this today, you ask? (or maybe you didn't ask, but I'm going to pretend you did because I'm the one writing this blog! Wheeee!) Well we always try and clean our house pretty thoroughly after the holidays are over and done. Sometimes you don't even notice how dirty something (like your microwave) gets after all the festivities!

Don't judge me, but this was the inside of my microwave:

Gross!!! I'm embarrassed to even show you guys that picture! It goes without saying that I knew it needed a deep cleaning. I mean, really. Ew.

But this was serious, cooked on grime. Not even scraping it with a knife was getting it all off!

Hilary has been using lemon juice forever to clean the inside of her microwave and swears by it. I've seen this method done with vinegar, lemon juice, water, etc. I am partial to vinegar myself, but I didn't want to have an awful vinegar smell every time I cooked something, so I used a half vinegar, half lemon juice mix! Problem solved! Here's my process:

Mix equal parts lemon juice and vinegar in a microwave safe dish. (about 1/2 cup of each):

Microwave your mixture on high for about five minutes:

When you're done, there should be condensation all over the inside of your microwave. This is my microwave door, and this was the least wet spot in the whole microwave. This is good:

Take a rag or towel and wipe down the inside. The cooked on grime should slide right off! Remember to take out the parts that make up the tray on the bottom and wipe them down as well:

Here's a picture of a wiped clean area vs. a dirty area in the middle of my cleaning process. I don't think I have to tell you that the left side is the "after cleaning" part:

This is the inside of my microwave now! Look at how sparkly it is, and it doesn't stink like vinegar either! It smells nice and lemony fresh:

I'm happy! The whole process took about six minutes total, and I now have a clean and hygienic microwave again. Always a good thing when you're serving food to other people, right?

I would love to hear some other easy cleaning tips! If you have a quick and easy cleaning tip, DIY or otherwise, let me know below! And you can check out more of our DIY cleaning tips here!

~Jessica