It seems to me that whenever I am search of a cleaning cure at home, the first thing to always pop up is white distilled vinegar.
Since I am about to embark on a Fall cleaning spree (the kickoff started last week with a closet overhaul), I thought I’d share some tips on cleaning with vinegar. You could easily find lists out there with a mountain of tips for cleaning with this agent. These are simply a few that I think would apply to any of us and our homes.
1. use equal parts of salt (or baking soda) and white distilled vinegar to gently scrub stains from coffee and tea cups
2. nix soap buildup and odors from the dishwasher by pouring a cup of white distilled vinegar inside the empty machine and running it through a cycle
3. remove calcium and lime deposits from faucets by either letting it sit in vinegar or scrubbing with a toothbrush (and there are actually many variations of this)
4. clean and deodorize *counter tops with a vinegar soaked cloth (*do not use vinegar on marble since the acid may cause damage)
5. remove carpet stains with equal with a mix of parts water and vinegar; use a spray bottle, let sit for a few minutes, dab spot
So far I have only tried #3 (and it worked!), but the other four are on my list for sure. I hope you found this useful. And for many many more uses of the magical white vinegar: 1001 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar
{image stacked oil and vinegar set | indigo $20}
You stole my blog post 😀
I was just planning to post about the number 3 (with some variation)
Did not know about the number five, thanks.
Leena, I will be looking forward to your post nonetheless!
My boyfriend is weirdly obsessed with vinegar and wants to eat it with everything, so I don’t think we ever have enough to just clean with, haha. My mom used to clean the bathrooms with a vinegar/water mixture. I know you can use vinegar on a damp cloth to remove musty smells from old wooden furniture!
That is an especially great tip for a girl who recently discovered estate sales.
When you’re finished with your cleaning spree can you come by my place and help me? 😉 I’ve only used vinegar to clean windows but will try out the carpet stain removal tip soon…
The bottom of our dishwasher is looking a little dingy, so I’ll have to try tip #2!
I’m def going to add it to my dishwasher cycle. Thanks for the tips 🙂
Brilliant, I’m going to try those. Especially no. 5, we have a couple of stubborn marks in my daughter’s room. x
Great tips. My dishwasher needs some help. I also use white vinegar in the wash for gym clothes & to ‘set’ the dyes in my dark or bright colored clothing.
Oh that’s a new tip for me- thanks Cyndi!
I use it for the bathroom since my cat drinks out of the tub and sink faucets and sometimes licks the sink. I don’t want her licking chemicals so I tried it and the bathroom doesn’t smell like vinegar for long after I’m done. I also recently used it for getting a cigarette smell out of a thrift store wooden lamp. It worked really well.
Interesting, I did not know about number 4 – I’ll have to give that a shot sometime when my kitchen really needs that scrubbing
I’ve been using it with baking powder as a “drain volcano” recently, thanks to this new cleaning app/website I’ve discovered called UFYH (um, you’ll have to Google what that stands for, I’m afraid).
hahaha- just looked it up. You made me laugh.
Thank you so much for the tips!!!!