White Vinegar for Cleaning and beyond

I am beginning to wonder if there is anything vinegar can't do!

I can't believe how long vinegar used to sit in my cabinet and never get opened.  Now, I have it my cabinets in my kitchen and bath, in my laundry room, and in our garage. It seems like we use it for everything: kitchen, bath, cooking, garden, laundry, and even deodorizing!  We have cut chemicals out of our daily routine all together.

Since “green” cleaning has become more popular, vinegar is finding it's way into more buggies at the grocery store. White vinegar can still be purchased fairly cheap and I will put it up against any commercial cleaner any time and it will win every time!

10 uses for white vinegar around the house

1. Clean your produce -  If you don’t want to rinse fruits and veggies in plain water, you can simply wash them with 10 parts vinegar and three parts water. This will keep berries from getting fuzzy if it takes you a while to eat them.  Need a little extra cleaning:  add a little lemon juice and a touch of baking soda to the mix to get non-organic veggies really clean. Just be sure to rinse well with plain water before eating.

2.  Give new life to leafy vegetables - Don’t throw away wilted lettuce. Soak in a bowl with cold water and a splash of vinegar for 10 minutes. Just rinse and dry before enjoying your revived produce. Works great with Kale.

3.  Drain Opener - Pour 1 cup of baking soda down the drain (let sit for a few minutes to absorb odors)  Pour in 1 cup of vinegar.  Allow to fix and bubble up and leave for 20 minutes.  Pour boiling water down the drain (about 1 quart).  Have you priced Drano lately?  That stuff is expensive and this works just as well.  Another thing I have wasted money on over the years, we live in an old house with old pipes.

4. Fabric Softener – White vinegar is very effective at removing soap residue in the laundry and softening your clothing. Add one cup to the fabric softener dispenser of your washing machine, or fill a fabric softener ball with vinegar and toss it in the load. Laundry comes out feeling soft and fluffy, with no chemical coatings or perfumes like commercial softeners. Also it will help keep colors from fading.  WARNING:  Never use bleach and vinegar together, it produces highly toxic fumes.

5.  Get your dishes to sparkle - Pour vinegar into the rinse aid dispenser of your dishwasher and stop spending the money on expensive commercial rinse aids. This trick works well whether using commercial or homemade dishwasher detergent. If you are like me and hand wash your dirty dishes, add a cup of vinegar to your rinse water for spot-free dishes.

6  Cooking - Make pickles, dressings, and flavor soups and sauces with vinegar. My son has an egg allergy and I discovered that you can replace an egg in baking with 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp water, and 1 TBS of vinegar.  This works great in pancakes, that is all I have tried it in so far.  (and no you do not taste the vinegar)

7.  Cleaning around the house – Vinegar has replaced all my cleaning bottles.  I use diluted vinegar on floors, walls, windows, carpets, showers, sinks, mirrors, and faucets. I sprinkle baking soda inside the toilet bowl and spray vinegar around the lid, bow and allow it to sit. After a few minutes I scrub the inside of the toilet, wipe away any remaining vinegar, and flush! Cheap, easy, and effective. The smell dissipates, but if you have a hard time with the smell, make my Citrus Scented Vinegar Cleaner.

8.  Kill grass or weeds chemical-free - Spray full-strength vinegar on young weeds or grass that creep into places they’re not welcome. This will work within 24 hour.  Larger, tougher weeds may need several sprays.

9. Deodorize -  Pet odors are improved by spraying a mixture of 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water enhanced with a few drops of my favorite essential oils. Spritz this mixture into the air throughout the room; the vinegar smell will dissipate after a few minutes leaving a fresh scent.

10. Keeping away ants - Ants do not like vinegar. Spray in cracks, around baseboards, on counter tops, or anywhere ants tend to crawl around your house. No need to put poisonous ant traps on your floor that kids or pets could get into.  I can't tell you how many chemicals I have sprayed around my house inside and out over the years.  So wish I had known about this a long time ago. 

Citrus Cleaner

White Distilled Vinegar is an effective and inexpensive cleaner for many different surfaces in your home, but if you are like me, the smell can be overpowering.  I found a solution to this problem.  This is the only cleaner that I use in my home now.  It works great and I don't have to worry about the chemicals that are found in the products bought at the store!   

 

 1.  Ingredients

       Lemon (or other citrus) Peels

       White Distilled Vinegar

       Large jar

2.  Chop all lemon peels into small sections.

3.   Fill a large, wide mouth jar with the chopped lemon peels.  (I make fresh squeezed lemonade every week, so I have plenty of lemon peels for this task.)  Recipe here If you do not, you could collect them in a Ziploc bag or airtight container and keep them in the refrigerator until you have enough.

4.  Cover the peels with white distilled vinegar.  

5.  Let brew for four weeks, shaking the jar occasionally to mix it up.  Once the four weeks are up, strain the liquid mixture twice.

6.    In a spray bottle mix equal parts of the mixture and water for a stronger clean. Put one cup of mixture with the rest of the bottle filled with water for normal cleaning.  This makes a great window cleaner and counter top cleaner.  I love to use it on my shower.  Test surfaces first by just cleaning a small area.  

Melissa

Many uses for Vinegar

This year I decided to start looking for more natural ways of cleaning my house so that I did not have to use prodcuts wtih toxic chemicals around my family.  I soon discovered the many great ways to use White Distilled Vinegar for cleaning around the house. 

Clean the Microwave

In a microwave dish just add 2 cups of water and 1/4 cup vinegar and heat it up for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then you will be able to easily remove that stuck on food and grease.

Using as an All Purpose Cleaner

By mixing equal parts of vinegar and water in a spray bottle, it is great for counter tops, windows, shower, toilet, etc. 

Use Vinegar instead of bleach

Vinegar can also be used instead of bleach for whites, just add 1/4 to 1/2 a cup to your wash. It can prevent dyes from fading as well.  Use one or the other, never the two together, it can produce harmful vapors.

Stainless steel cookware

A few tablespoons of vinegar mix with a few teaspoons of common table salt works well for removing stains on stainless steel cookware and silverware.

Walls  

To remove dust and shine the walls, add one cup of vinegar to 1 gallon of water.

Deodorize and Clean the Toilet

 Pour straight vinegar in the toilet bowl and let sit for a few minutes before scrubbing with a toilet brush. This helps remove stains and help the bowl smell fresh.

Drain Opener

• Pour 1 cup of baking soda down the drain (let sit for a few minutes to absorb odors)
• Pour in 1 cup of vinegar.
• Allow to fix and bubble up. Leave for 20 minutes.
• Pour boiling water down the drain (about 1 quart).

Homemade Laundry Detergent

In my quest to start using more natural cleaning products I finally decided to try homemade laundry detergent.  I found an amazing recipe that works great, is easy to make and is very inexpensive.

1.        Ingredients:

Borax 20 Mule Team

Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

Bar of soap (Ivory, Fels-Naptha, Zote) 

2.        Shave soap:

Shave the bar of soap into a mixing bowl.  I use Zote laundry soap.  Because it is a larger bar, I use one half of the bar for this recipe.

3.        Add ingredients:

Add 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda to the shaved soap.

4.        Mix ingredients:

Mix thoroughly until smooth.  Or shake it in it’s container.  You could also put in a food processor to grind it up smaller.   I have tried it both ways and don’t really have a preference.

That is all there is to it!!

Use 1 tablespoon per load, if load is extra soiled use 2 tablespoons.  Each batch yields approximately 32 ounces, which equates to between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load. 

Disclaimer:  HE front loader users should research before trying this detergent.  It is a low suds detergent and I have been told it's safe to use, but I do not have a HE front loader. 

This will fill up a quart mason jar.  You could store it in any container.   You could also make several batches at one time and store it in a 5 gallon bucket.  It would last a while and wouldn’t need to made again for a long time.

Cost analysis:

·  1 – 55 ounce box of Arm & Hammer® Super Washing Soda = $3.15

·  1 – 76 ounce box of 20 Mule Team® Borax = $4.29

·  1 – 1 bar of Zote Laundry soap = .99 cents

This price would buy you one large container non-brand name detergent.  With this homemade method you get a lot more detergent.  I have been very happy with using it, you will be too.