Are You Cleaning Your Garbage Disposal Often Enough?

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Cleaning your kitchen can be a lot more complicated and time-intensive than the job appears on the surface. Who knew, for instance, that you need to clean your spice jars because they are probably incredibly dirty? Or that you can increase the life of your dishwasher by cleaning the filter? There's another fairly obvious spot in your kitchen that also needs some sanitation now and then, otherwise it might be causing more kitchen odors than your stinky trash can. Your garbage disposal is a kitchen stalwart, doing a dirty, thankless job. Its ferocious gears grind up kitchen scraps and all those leftovers you don't particularly want to touch when you clear your plate, washing them away with a mechanical whir. But your garbage disposal's yucky tasks mean that it is prone to build-up that can cause weird noises and some seriously funky smells.

How often you should be cleaning your disposal depends on how often you use it. If it's getting daily wear in your household, you probably should give it a good clean it once a week. If it doesn't see that much action, you might be able to get away with it every two weeks or even twice a month. As for precisely how to clean it, garbage disposal cleaning drops are convenient to have on hand and not that expensive, but you can easily clean your malodorous disposal with some pantry items that are already at your disposal ... pun fully intended.

Knowing when to clean your garbage disposal is half the battle ... knowing how to clean it is the other part of the equation. Look, you don't need to beat yourself up for going too long without sanitizing your disposal. We've all been there. Getting into good habits can be tricky, but cleaning this appliance is delightfully easy, meaning that there's no excuse not to start now.

All you need to clean your disposal is that quintessential natural cleaning duo: baking soda and vinegar. We use this combo so much that we actually favor buying baking soda in bulk instead of those tiny boxes! Pour a generous amount of baking soda down your drain first. If you have fresh lemon juice, it will make things smell delightful (just squeeze some over the powder). Then, dump several glugs of vinegar down there. The resulting foam should sit for 10 minutes before it's flushed away with very hot water. Just like that, your garbage disposal is clean.

You can also take some simple steps to ensure that your garbage disposal doesn't get so dirty in the first place. Always run water when grinding food, as this will wash away a lot of smelly particles. Also, avoid disposing of fibrous or hard items that are tough for the disposal to chew up, such as corn husks or eggshells. These are more likely to linger and stink up the joint, forcing a need for more frequent cleaning.