Moving out of my apt...help me give it a natural deep clean

[oiseau]

I'm going to be moving out of my apartment before the end of this month and I'm trying to give it a really deep clean. We generally keep it really neat and clean (my partner is an obsessive vacuumer), so I'm talking about stuff that gets neglected: cleaning the inside of the oven, walls, really intense bathroom cleaning, etc.
Since living here, I've gotten rid of all of our chemically laden cleaning supplies, so this is my first time doing a lot of cleaning with simple products like BS, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, etc.
My main concern is the inside of the oven which is splattered with baked on chicken fat. Any suggestions of how to get this sticky mess off? My attack plan was going to be a BS paste + a scotch brite scrub pad + lots of elbow grease. Any suggestions to make this go quicker?

Additionally, the tub has a lot of built up grime that is really hard to scrub off. I tried using a magic eraser which seemed to do an excellent job, except for rapidly disintegrating on me (then I searched MDC only to find that the magic eraser is potentially nasty...). In addition to the grime, the caulk is really gross and black in places. I'd like to get it back to a whiteish color, but it seems that any intense scrubbing with just break it up.

I'm not 100% opposed to bringing in some tougher cleaners if needed, but I'd prefer to keep it as ecofriendly as possible.

[RiverSky]

If a scrub brush (do you have a nice stiff scrub brush? it works better on my plastic textured shower than any scrub pads) and baking soda (perhaps mixed with a little Dr. Bronner's soap?) don't do the trick on the tub, I would personally possibly resort to the Magic Eraser.

As for the black, moldy caulk, I suggest you remove it all (with a razor or screw driver, perhaps?) and buy a tube of new caulk and recaulk the tub. If you want to kill the remaining mold/mildew, tea tree oil does a good job of that, but so does apple cider vinegar.

[~Megan~]

How do you feel about ammonia?

You can spray this all over the inside of the oven. Let it sit overnight. Open all the windows and turn on the fans then open the oven. The stuff should just come right off.

[luv-my-boys]

do you have or can borrow a hand steam cleaner? I do not use any household chemicals unless I absolutely have to. I ended up buying a steam cleaner (hand held type) after seeing it on a tv shopping channel. I use plain old tap water but the steam acts as a natural disenfectant (due to heat) and the heat gets the soap scum/kills mold-mildew. It has been awesome. I have also used it to clean the oven. I did do a baking soda/coarse salt scrub before hand and then used the steam to melt the rest away. I also use tea tree oil to spray on mildew in the caulk in the bathroom depending on how deep it is it might get it off. Otherwise I would suggest a little diluted bleach.

[SAHDS]

Isopropyl alcohol in the bathroom is a miracle!

[Jodie]

Do you have a self clean option on your oven?

If you do you can run that and when its done and cool, you can just sweep/wipe/vacuum the chared stuff up.

[oiseau]

I'd prefer to skip the ammonia. I'm highly sensitive to smells and I have a lot of pets, so I'd be afraid to make the whole house sick.
Sadly, I don't have a self-cleaning oven. Our stove/oven is gas and this is also the first time I've had to clean a gas oven. The BS/scrubbing was working ok, it's just tedious. I can always get my partner to lend some muscle though.
I tried a few things on the tub this afternoon and it looks like the magic eraser is the only thing that is doing the trick. There were 4 in the box, so I might as well use them. In any case, the one I used fell apart so fast that it might take all 4 to get the whole tub clean....
I'll pick up some isopropyl alcohol and add that to my arsenal.
Thanks!

[weliveintheforest]

I bought a grout brush at a hardware store and I love it for not only grout, but anything that is hard to get into and clean. It's stiff, but narrow, like a big industrial strength toothbrush.