♥ Vinegar ♥

Not only do I love to eat the stuff...I have discovered that is fabulous for cleaning! I have been trying to stay away from the toxic cleaning chemicals and vinegar & baking soda have become my very best of friends!!

I found this article on toxins in the home and that really has opened my eyes! So I figured with all the toxins around why add more, right?!

Here are some uses I found on the internet that I feel everyone should know about!

1. For sparkling glass and mirrors, just mix a solution of water and vinegar and clean with a crumpled up newspaper – you’ll never waste money on toxic, store bought sprays again!

2. You know how coffee pots always say to clean every month or so to keep coffee tasting great? Well, I make a ton of coffee – but hadn’t cleaned the pot in forever. Seriously, look inside the reservoir and you too will be dashing to clean it out – beware: it looks pretty nasty if it hasn’t been touched in a while. I ran a solution of vinegar and water through it twice, and then one rinse cycle of plain water (check your appliance for specific instructions) and I have to say my coffee tastes better than ever.grout-cleaning

3. Clean Make-up brushes – instead of throwing money away on pricey solutions at the store, just soak brushes in a solution of one part vinegar to three parts water and swish – make sure you rinse well!

4. Air freshener – No one likes the smell of a lingering cooking odor semi-covered up with a heavy floral scent! If you got inspired to cook a fishy dish at home but don’t feel like living with the smell for the next three days, try this simple, effective idea for air freshener. Simply boil a combo of vinegar and water on the stove, the air will be deodorized in no time, and without smelling like a seafood truck and a fresh cut flower truck had a nasty run in!

5. Ever get weirded out by wondering what sort of chemicals they put in your dishwasher rinse agent? If Jet Dry is freaking you out, just try vinegar instead! A ½ cup of vinegar in the dishwasher will leave your glasses spotless and sparkling – without the need for adding any neon blue solution to your machine!!!!!

6. Add some vinegar to your laundry to deodorize and also help remove soap residue from within the machine! Really helps keep your workout clothes smelling fresh and clean.vinegar spray bottle

7. Lice scare at school? Rinse your child’s hair with a vinegar solution! Use a spritzer bottle with a vinegar and water mixture and comb it through. Apparently lice don’t like the acidity and it also make your hair super smooth so they slip off it!

8. Vinegar can also be great for grout! You can clean and disinfect your tiles with vinegar and water and an added bonus is that it helps keep the grout from graying or yellowing

9. No wax linoleum? No problem! It will shine more if wiped down with a solution of ½ cup white vinegar in a ½ gallon of water.

10. Unclog a shower head! Unscrew it, remove the rubber washer, and place the head in a pot filled with equal parts vinegar and water, bring to a boil and then simmer for five minutes. (You’ll also kill two birds with one stone because you’ll be freshening the air in your house while cleaning the shower head – see tip 4 aka “Fish and Roses”)

I know I said ten tips, but I am included our bonus tip 10A because it just changed my life by helping me fix a problem I had been stumped by in my own home. Yes, there are much bigger things I could be worrying about, but this was my latest distraction…my icky smelling dishwasher! I would often put dishes in but then not run until it was full, which could be a day or two – in the meantime an odor would build up that would have me scared to even crack the poor dishwasher open. But that was before I learned about bonus trick number 10A which has me and my dishwasher back on good terms:

10 A! If you don’t run your dishwasher every day, put a cup of vinegar directly in the dishwasher and run the rinse cycle – this will help avoid nasty odors building up!

If 10 uses are enough to get you on the vinegar kick how about 1001 Uses!