Disclaimer: This a sponsored guest post.

New Apartment similar to what you could afford with support from Lending Expert . New Furniture. Old Oven. This is the problem that haunts my apartment. I grew up with gas burners and glass top stoves. I never had an electric stove . My kitchen looks great minus the eyesore of the stove range. The swirled (obviously well used) Electric Stove Burners (also called Electric Range Burner Elements) and the Drip Pans (shiny metal plates, which I call them) below the burners; all caked in leftover debris and unknown gunk from previous tenants.

I could start off my relationship with my new property managers by complaining, but with a 2-year lease, I’m saving my battles for something larger. I could concede, go to the hardware store, plop down 50 dollars and replace the burners and pans. Or, I could do the research, spend 5 dollars and solve the problem. If the burners and pans totally give up, I will have to ask my landlord for an oven repair but for now, I’ll try it my own way. Even better, I found The Green Way to do it. IT WORKS! I’ve done the research, so you don’t have to. I’m just passing the torch. Let’s do it!

Baking Soda, Distilled White Vinegar, an Empty Spray Bottle, and Scour Pads are your very inexpensive friends. You will need these. In fact, you may already have them. If not, these can be found in any grocery or drug store. Baking soda and vinegar in the baking aisle. Bottle in the beauty aisle. Scour pads are in the cleaning aisle. Total cost is about 5 dollars for all. Okay now, you have your tools for the job. Now, read and apply the steps from Home Makers Journal to clean Electric Stove Burners in green way.

STEP # 1 Remove the Electric Burners from the stove top. They should just pop out by placing your fingers under the burner and pull up and out. Then, remove the Drip Pans below them.

STEP # 2 Place all the drip pans on a towel or a few layers of paper towels. Then coat all of them with the baking soda. Don’t be shy; coat them good. Too much can’t harm them.

STEP # 3 Pour half and half ratio of vinegar and water into the spray bottle. Spray the drip pans with this mixture until they start to fizzle. This means it is doing what it’s suppose to do; WORK! Now, you just have to let it do it’s job. Let this sit for 2 hours.

OPTIONAL STEP With this time you can clean off the burners. Just moisten a scour pad in some warm water and wipe the coils down. Just make sure you don’t get the electrical connections wet. Then pat dry with a cloth.

STEP # 4 2 hours have passed and the drip pans should have formed a good paste by now. Scrub with the scour pad and the witness the grime come off. In places that need more attention, you can spray more mixture and add more baking soda to help the scrubbing. Then rinse with water.

STEP # 5 Place the drip pans back into place, followed by the burners. You are done!

Now, this may not be the “brand new” sparkling burners and pans they once were, but it’s a big, noticeable, improvement. If you want brand new, maybe you could consider asking the landlord to install a 2 burner induction cooktop instead. It’d be easier to keep clean for sure. In the meantime though, this method doesn’t hurt the wallet. It’s a natural green, environmentally friendly, way to clean. And to top it all off, I just can sit back, waiting for the day my bathtub overflows; giving the property managers something to do. Hope this helped you. Have a great day!

PS: If you are a green cleaning freak like me you can check out this guide on How to make your own green cleaning products!