The Wonderful World of Vinegar
Jan 29, 2010 Cleaning Products
By now you probably know that vinegar is pretty useful for cleaning around the house. The smell isn’t always the best, or so my husband says, but it fades away quickly as the vinegar dries, so I really don’t consider it to be a problem.
Here are some of the many ways you can use vinegar around the house. Please feel free to share any further ideas you have.
1. Clean the microwave
Water can do this pretty well too, but it lacks the deodorizing capabilities of vinegar. Just heat a cloth that you have dampened with vinegar for 15 seconds or so. Once it’s cool enough to touch again, wipe the inside of the microwave clean with the cloth. The moisture should have helped to loosen some of the splatters.
2. Clean and unplug a showerhead.
Especially if you have hard water, your showerhead may get somewhat gunked up at times. Vinegar can do a slow but good job of cleaning it up.
Fill a plastic bag with vinegar. Put it over the showerhead and attach with a twist tie. Allow to soak for at least 15 minutes.
The vinegar may still be used after for other cleaning projects. Might be a good time to finish off cleaning the bathroom while you have it there!
3. Kill weeds
This can be a bit slow, as it kills the leaves but doesn’t touch roots. Spray it on the leaves and repeat as necessary. Eventually the plant will stop regrowing if it can’t get energy from its leaves.
4. Make soil more acid
On a gentler note, vinegar is good for adding a bit of acid to garden soil for plants that love acid soil.
5. Clean up pet urine
After cleaning up the mess by soaking up the liquid and then cleaning with water, pour vinegar on the area, blot out the excess and allow to dry.
6. Hair rinse
Rinse your hair with vinegar after shampooing. It removes the last of the shampoo nicely. Some say it helps with dandruff also.
7. In the laundry
Vinegar also helps to get the soap out from the laundry. Add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle.
8. Afraid colors might run?
Soak brightly colored clothing in a mix of vinegar and warm water before washing. You’ll soon see if dye bleeding might have been a problem. I don’t know if this works with all dye types, but it’s been amazing what comes out of some red clothes.
9. Tenderize meat
There’s a reason why vinegar is so often used in marinades. The acid in it help to make the meat more tender.
10. Clear a drain
This one takes baking soda too, but it’s wonderful! Pour a half cup of baking soda down the drain, follow with a half cup of vinegar. Allow to work for 5-10 minutes, then pour boiling water down the drain. Repeat if necessary, but I’ve never had it be needed.
11. Deodorize the air
Spray vinegar in the air to control odors, or set a small pot of vinegar and water to boil. The vinegar smell will fade away.
12. Clean windows
Use vinegar as you would any other glass cleaner. Wiping with newspaper is highly effective too.
13. Use in the carpet cleaner
Vinegar can be used mixed with water at about 1 cup of vinegar to a gallon of water. Not terribly strong, but nice for a general cleaning.
14. Remove water rings from wood furniture
A mix of olive oil and vinegar can be rubbed on wood furniture to get rid of the white rings caused by leaving a wet glass on the wood.
15. Clean the garbage disposal
Make a few vinegar ice cubes. Put down the garbage disposal and run it while running cold water down the disposal as well.
16. Clean the dishwasher
Pour a cup of vinegar into the empty dishwasher, and run it.
17. Clean the coffeemaker
Your owner’s manual may even tell you about this. Pour a cup of vinegar into the reservoir and run the coffeemaker. Run it twice more with just water in the reservoir to rinse.
18. Soothe a sunburn
Apply vinegar to the sunburned areas with a cloth.
19. General cleaning
Use vinegar to clean hard surfaces in the bathroom and kitchen. It works well on tile and many other hard surfaces. You can dilute it with water for mopping as well.
20. Toilet bowl cleaner
That includes the toilet bowl. Pour 1 cup into the toilet and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes before flushing. This won’t get the areas out of the water, of course.
Tags: homemade cleansers, vinegar
Easy Floor Cleaner
May 1, 2009 Budget Environmentalism, Cleaning Products, Eco Friendly Home
Cleaning floors is not one of my favorite things. Somehow my kids always manage to make it just a little pointless, generally by getting particularly dirty in the back yard later that day or the next, and tracking in tons of dirt, chalk and/or mud. They’re talented that way. And I love it.
They’re some of the big reason why I love making my own floor cleaner rather than buying it. No nasty chemicals, cheap, and I can even make my kids use it if they mess things up too quickly.
Here’s my basic formula for tile. Just as easy as mixing something bought at the store.
Basic Vinegar Floor Cleaner
Add about a half cup of white vinegar per gallon of water. My husband hates the smell of vinegar, so I add a bit of lavender essential oil to cut the vinegar scent until it dries. Mop as usual.
This mix is generally safe for tile and wood floors; just make sure that you don’t get the wood excessively wet. Your mop should be just damp. Some people like to add some vegetable oil to give wood floors a bit more of a shine.
Tags: cleaning, floor cleaner, homemade cleansers, vinegar
Lemony Fresh Cleaning
Feb 17, 2009 Budget Environmentalism, Cleaning Products
I do a lot of my cleaning with baking soda and vinegar, but sometimes another choice is better. That would be cleaning with lemon juice.
You can’t beat the smell for one thing. An area cleaned with lemon juice smells good!
A classic use is as furniture polish. There’s a reason why so many store bought furniture polishes are lemon scented. You can put two parts of olive oil to one part lemon juice to make your own hardwood furniture polish.
Plain lemon juice is also good for cleaning wooden cutting boards.
Mixed with baking soda into a paste, it can polish chrome or copper. Salt can work in place of the baking soda, as it provides grit for scrubbing. I like baking soda in most cases, although it is less gritty.
Lemon juice is also good for your laundry, as it can help with natural bleaching. Hanging clothes out to dry in the sun can help with stains too, but sometimes you want that boost from lemon juice. Just add a half cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle, then dry in the sunlight. A small amount of lemon juice also just makes clothes smell good when they dry, but honestly I’ve never found the need to worry about how my clothes smell after washing.
You can also soak clothes in a mix of vinegar and lemon juice to get a stain out. Just soak for a half hour before washing.
Lemon juice is a pretty flexible cleaner, and delightful for those times you don’t want the smell of vinegar when you clean. Sometimes scent matters.
Tags: homemade cleansers, lemon
