Clean with Vinegar

There are so many FANTASTIC ways to clean with vinegar. I love cleaning with vinegar, I do not, however, love how it smells, it kind of smells like pickles, I don’t like pickles.

But the pickle like smell dissipates fairly quickly and the bonus is, that as the vinegar smell fades so does whatever dirty, rotten smells you cleaned with it. I do like a clean smelling house, no nasty odors allowed, so the temporary pickle smell is worth it! Vinegar helps me to keep my house odor free plus it is a great stain remover, germ killer, ant repellent and more. Here is a list of 15 great ways to use vinegar in your home:

1) Dishwasher: Pour 1 cup vinegar straight into the bottom of the dishwasher before running it. This will keep your dishwasher smelling clean. There is super hard water where I live so the vinegar is crucial. It keeps the hard water build up off my dishes and the insides of my dishwasher. Couldn’t live without this trick!

2) Grout: I pour vinegar straight onto my grout, let it soak for a few minutes, and then scrub with an old toothbrush, works wonders.

3) Washing Machine: Fill washer with hot water, add 3 cups vinegar and run through cycle. After cycle is done, take vinegar on a rag or brush (I use a rag and a toothbrush) and wipe down the inside of the washing machine to clean the remainder of the residue form detergent and fabric softeners. I also wipe down the top and the lid. (I like to open the lid halfway through the cycle just to see how murky and dirty the water is, for some reason seeing how much dirt is being expelled is grossly satisfying.)

4) Urine: My kids and dog are now potty trained (yay!!) but when they were in potty training stages I inevitably had to clean up accidents. Straight vinegar does a great job, it cleans plus eliminates the odor, not covers it, eliminates it. Just press with a cloth to soak up as much of the urine as possible, then pour vinegar onto a different cloth and blot, blot, blot. You can then cover with baking soda and let sit over night, and vacuum it up in the morning.

5) Garbage Disposal: Yuck, I hate when my garbage disposal gets stinky and gunky. You can use vinegar to wipe down the seal and keep it clean. For the inside of the disposal, freeze vinegar (ice cube trays work great) and dump them down the drain and flip the switch. Keeps it shiny and clean.

6) Kids Toys: Kids toys can get so dirty so fast! Fill a large tub or bowl with very hot water and a little dish soap, add 2 to 3 cups vinegar and put toys in. Soak the toys then lay them out to air dry.

7) Renew Sponges and Dish Rags: There is nothing worse than picking up a sponge to do the dishes and it just STINKS! I hate stinky sponges, but sponges are not cheap and I just cannot afford to pull out a new one every few days. If you put the offensive sponge (or dish rag) in a bowl with enough vinegar to cover and let sit overnight, the sponge will be good to go for another few days.

8) Keep Ants Away: Ants love my doggy’s food bowl. I can’t use any poisonous pest control there because of my sweet dog, but if I spray undiluted vinegar in the area the ants it helps keep the ants away. Just spray it anywhere those pests just keep getting in.

9) Smelly Plastic Containers: I often send my husband off to work with leftovers in a plastic container. Those containers often start to smell a little. If you wipe down a stinky container with vinegar the smell will disappear.

10) Microwave: Put vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio in a microwave safe container and place in microwave. Bring to roiling boil. It will loosen baked on gunk and remove odors. Take a wet cloth and wipe down the inside until clean.

11) Counter Tops: Pour vinegar onto a clean cloth and wipe down counter tops to help them smell fresh and remove any buildup. I like to wipe down my counter tops with bleach and then follow up with vinegar to remove the bleach smell. (Just a note, don’t use vinegar on granite)

12) Garbage Can: Place vinegar in a spray bottle and spray into empty trash cans to freshen and remove odors. Let sit for a few minutes and then wipe clean. I also spray the outside, the bottom, the lid and the rim of the cans. It may seem like overkill, but it IS a garbage can, I am sure there are yucky germs everywhere!!

13) Floors: Cleaners are great, but they always leave a buildup behind. At least once a month clean your tile or linoleum floors with vinegar to remove the buildup. Put 1 cup of vinegar to each gallon of hot water.

14) Mirrors: Another cleaner that leaves buildup is glass cleaner. Add vinegar to hot water and wipe down mirrors to remove buildup. The mirrors will clean so much more easily after you do.

15) Carpet Cleaners: My carpet cleaner gets used OFTEN! My kids (okay and me :)) spill a lot. I hate the suds that build up in the clean water tank. Why is carpet cleaning solution so sudsy? You can just use vinegar and water and NO soap at all, or just add about 1/4 cup of vinegar with the cleaning solution to the tank to cut down on suds.

If you Google or pinterest search “cleaning with vinegar” you will find SO many more uses for it. These 15 are ones I actually use in my home on a regular basis and I can tell you that they work. Vinegar really does kills germs (because of it’s level of acidity), it is environmentally friendly, and it is cheap! Vinegar is actually so cheap that a few dollars will buy you a big jug of it! So go grab some and get to using it!

How do you use vinegar in your house?

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