There’s something about the holidays that makes even the messiest of us want to deep clean the heck out of our homes. Nooks and crannies you never gave two thoughts to in October suddenly appear unbearably dirty, and your kitchen, which you only use to boil noodles and make toast, is suddenly this unsanitary room that must be sterilized ASAP.

After all, Santa – er, we mean Mom and Dad – would NOT approve of gunk in the microwave, grease stains on the cabinet or, Santa-forbid, food stains on the stove. While most of the problem areas are easy enough to deal with if you have some 409 and a rag, the oven is an entirely different story…

Agh, the oven. If you’ve ever cleaned an oven before, then you know that the cleaners they sell at your local grocery store are full of chemicals and make your eyes water and your throat burn. Many have warnings on the labels to not let the cleaner come into contact with skin and to not breathe in the “fumes.” Sounds safe, right? Um, no. Those labels are for real, and I would know, because I made the mistake of letting the cleaner touch my forearm, and I still have a burn mark.

Aside from being completely chock full of hazardous chemicals, oven cleaners still require you to scrub for at least an hour to wipe away all the gunk that’s been accumulating in your oven since last Thanksgiving. And even then there’s no guarantee that your oven will be spot free by the time you’re done.

But, you may wonder, what’s the alternative? Live with a dirty oven? Thanks to one Facebook user, you may be able to achieve a clean oven AND stay chemical free, and here’s how.

The Hack

You gotta love the internet these days, as there’s always a hack for something. And, to the internet’s credit, many of them work! Case in point, this homemade oven cleaner.