Cleaning Your High Chair

So I’m taking a little break from fashion reviews.  Like I mentioned here my winter coat only technically fits.  And by technically, I mean just absolutely barely will zip.  If anyone is around (like a coworker) to watch me in my attempt to zip it, I just pretend like I love having my coat flapping open in 20° weather.  Going for the “lol, I’m a loose cannon” angle like people who wear shorts 365 days a year.  When in fact the reality is that I don’t have normal arm function with the coat fully zipped.   Sooo, I’m working on some healthy eating swaps so I don’t have to waddle about like a penguin while wearing a coat and in the meantime I have some cleaning and organizing tips to sub in.  

Cleaning Your High Chair

 I recently saw a tweet that said, “Do you love constantly cleaning but never actually living in a clean house?  Then having kids might be for you.”  Umm, yes!!  It’s like I really spend a ton of time cleaning — and in new and inventive ways– and everything is always gooed up.  And nothing is a bigger culprit than the high chair.  It’s very tough to put pictures of exactly how gross my son’s high chair is out there, but I bet some of you are in the same boat.  In my defense:  we can put a man on the moon but we can’t make an easy to wipe off high chair?!?  Let’s work on that, people.  

Step #1:  Face what you’re working with

This is a hard step — what could be lurking under the high chair cover and do you in fact want to find out?  What we’re facing today is grape juice stains, spaghetti sauce, ground in cracker and who knows what else.  Take off your high chair cover and throw that in the wash, vacuum up the bigger crumbs and move the whole show to the bathtub.  

Step #2: Mix up your cleaning solution

Grab a glass container and an old toothbrush.  Put a couple tablespoons of baking soda in the dish and then carefully add about 1/2 cup of bleach.   Use the toothbrush to mix it all together.  

Step #3:  Start Scrubbing

Again, the best place I’ve found to work on this is in the bathtub — just make sure you’ve got enough ventilation and are working carefully so none of the bleach flecks back on you.  And I would highly recommend gloves.   The time I didn’t wear gloves, my hands strongly resembled steel wool after.  Start working the solution into the straps and scrubbing out the stains.

It takes a bit of scrubbing and going back to get rid of some of the deeper stains like grape juice, so just work your way around until you feel good about the results.  

Step #4:  Rinse and dry

Use a spare cup to rinse the straps and chair in hot water once you’ve got all the crud scrubbed out.  Make sure you rinse all of the solution really well and then place the high chair somewhere it can dry.  The porch is usually a good bet for us, or if I angle it right in the tub, that seems to work too.  

Admire your work for the 2.5 seconds it will stay clean if your house is anything like mine.  Always a proud 2.5 seconds for me :).  Now if anyone has tips on keeping your carpeted kitchen clean with two children and a dog, please send them my way :).