#5 Cleaning with Vinegar

Vinegar is a great household cleaner. It disinfects, and can help get rid of mold, bacteria and other germs because of it's acidity level.  Because vinegar is so safe, I don't mind including my kids in house hold cleaning chores as well.  My mind is at ease I'm not exposing them to harmful chemicals.

Here are some ways to replace potentially harmful cleaners with simple vinegar.

1. Cleaning windows. Before there was windex, windows were cleaned with vinegar and water. Toss the windex, and save yourself the money.

2. Clean your coffee pot with 1/3 vinegar, 2/3 water mixture. Then rinse with just water twice so you don't have vinegar tastie coffee. Sounds yummy..hmm?

3. Add a half a cup of vinegar to your laundry and ditch the fabric softener. If you want to add fragrance, just add a few drops of pure lavender oil. Your clothes will not come out smelling like vinegar...promise.

4. Hard water stains in just about anything.  Toilet stained?  Pour vinegar, swish around, and let it sit for 30 minutes.  You'll see the stains literally break away.  Have hard water on your kitchen glasses?  Soak them for 10 minutes in pure vinegar, then scrub it off.  You'll have brand new looking, less cloudy glasses.

5.  Clean your dishwasher with vinegar.  Put a cup of vinegar and run an empty dishwasher once a month to remove any soap buildup, or mineral deposits from hard water.  You can also add vinegar to each load as your rinse aid, and toss the jet dry.

6.  Bathroom clean up.  Vinegar kills germs, and like I mentioned before removes hard water stains.  Bathtub, shower, toilet, sinks all benefit from this.  Deodorize and sanitize your sink by adding a little hydrogen peroxide to the mix.  Bubble fizz...clean.

7.  Vinegar also removes bad odors.  Remove the stink from your garbage disposal by using a vinegar, baking soda mixture.  Pour down the drain and let it sit for thirty minutes.  Then run the disposal and rinse away the smell.  You can also use vinegar after cooking if you have the smell of garlic, or onions on your hands.  (lemon works well with this too!)

8. To kill germs, spray full strength vinegar on any hard objects (door knobs, etc), and toss out your Lysol.

9. Clean tarnished brass, pewter, and copper with 50/50 salt and vinegar.

10. Ladies...not feeling so great?  Skip the douche and take a vinegar bath.  It's bad for you to douche anyway.


Sources:
1. Vinegar Tips
2. Apple Cider Vinegar Benefits
3. Cleaning with Vinegar