How to Clean a Garbage Disposal

Slice a lemon in half, then cut each half into thin half-moon wedges. Pop the seeds out so they don't end up rattling around the disposal chamber. The acid in the lemon does the cleaning work, and the citrus oils leave the kitchen smelling like, well, lemons.

Push the wedges down through the splash guard a few at a time. A whole lemon usually fits comfortably. Use a spoon to nudge them past the rubber flaps if they get hung up.

Turn the hot water on first. A steady stream matters here - it carries the ground lemon pulp through the disposal and out the drain line so nothing settles. Once water is flowing, flip the disposal switch and let it run a full minute.

You'll smell the citrus right away. The blades stay cleaner with hot water too, since cold water lets fats congeal back onto the chamber walls.

Make these ahead: pour cleaning vinegar into a regular ice cube tray and freeze. Two or three cubes per cleaning session is plenty. Warn whoever else lives with you - vinegar cubes in the kitchen ice bin make for a rough surprise.

Drop the cubes through the splash guard, turn on hot water, and run the disposal until you hear the ice fully break up. The frozen vinegar abrades crud off the blades while the acid neutralizes the smell.

Measure out about half a cup of plain baking soda. The kind in your kitchen for cookies is fine - no need for any special cleaning version.

Pour it straight down into the disposal and use the back of a spoon to push it past the splash guard so it actually lands on the grinding chamber. Then walk away for an hour. The baking soda absorbs the funk while it sits there.

After the hour is up, slowly pour a full cup of white vinegar into the disposal. You'll see white foam bubble back up out of the drain. That's the vinegar reacting with the baking soda - harmless, just CO2.

Let it fizz for two or three minutes so the foam scrubs the chamber walls. Then turn on hot water and flip the disposal on for another minute to flush everything down the line.

If the smell is really stubborn, Borax is the heaviest hitter of the four methods. Measure 2 to 3 tablespoons and tip them straight down into the disposal. Push it past the splash guard with a spoon.

Let it sit for fifteen minutes. Then run the hot tap for a good thirty seconds and flip the disposal switch for another minute. Borax kills the bacteria that cause the smell at the source instead of just covering it up.