Cleaning products are so expensive and something you have to constantly replace.
I’ve been experimenting with everyday kitchen products, and white-distilled vinegar is my new favorite “find” for a cheap and effective solution to getting the house sparkling clean. It’s effective for killing most mold, bacteria and germs AND it’s very cheap and “green”. I bought a one gallon jug of distilled white vinegar at Wal-mart for $2.38 which breaks down to about 15 cents a cup.
Here’s just a few of my favorite ways (that I have personally tried) to use it……
- CLEAN THE MICROWAVE – Mix 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar with 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring to a boil inside the microwave. Baked-on foods loosen up and odors disappear. Wipe clean. For stubborn stains and baked-on foods dip a sponge in the vinegar/water mix and scrub. *Be careful when you open the microwave door after the solution has come to a boil-you don’t want to stick your head in there immediately, won’t hurt you but it can make your eyes water and sting.
- CLEAN THE WINDOWS – Mix 2 cups of water with 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon liquid soap in a spray bottle. You can get great spray bottles at the Dollar Tree for $1.00. Shake well before each use. (Newspaper is a great substitute for paper towel). *It cost me 25 cents to mix up a 16 ounce bottle of this-way cheaper than glass cleaners at the store!
- CLEAN PANTRY AND CABINET SHELVES – You know how cooking oils can leave that greasy build-up on shelves? Full strength white distilled vinegar is excellent at cleaning that up! Just spray, wait a few seconds and wipe up with a sponge. It cuts right through that grease and any food stains.
- REMOVE WALLPAPER – My son and I actually used this tip when we pulled wallpaper off the walls in one of our bathrooms and it worked great. Simply mix equal parts of white distilled vinegar and hot water in a spray bottle. Spray on till saturated and the wallpapers peels off really easily.
- CLEAN MINI-BLINDS – Mix up a solution of equal parts warm water and white distilled vinegar. Put on white cotton gloves, dip your fingers in the mixture and simple run your fingers across both sides of each blind. So easy!
Here’s a few other favorites – Pour full strength white distilled vinegar on weeds to kill them, stop insect bites and stings from itching by dabbing with a cotton ball saturated with undiluted vinegar and of course you can always use vinegar for cooking!
Tammy’s Tip ‘O the Day
For many, many more excellent ways to use white distilled vinegar check out the article 1,001 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar at www.vinegartips.com Very informational!
This is the horrifying "before" state of my microwave!
The incredibly satisying "after" shot. With only vinegar! Wow.
The "Lazy Susan" before a good vinegar-scrubbing...
...the amazing "after", and with very little work on my part!
I love to clean the drains with it… when I feel the baking soda I keep in the fridge (to soak up those unwanted odors) is ready to throw away, I shake it slowly into the kitchen sink drain. Trying to get as much down the drain as I can without using any liquid. THEN….. (here comes the fun part) Using my gallon jug of vinegar holding it up over the drain let a few ‘glugs’ pour down the drain. WHOOOSH…. instant fresh smelling and clean drain pipes in the kitchen!
I am trying that! (and I do love my baking soda-working on all the wonderful, cheap and green ways it can clean your house for a future post)
These are great tips and I am going to try this on the weekend. I was just curious about the vinegar smell… is there anyway to mask the smell? I have a glass shower and cannot seem to find a product out on the market that will bring my shower door back to the original “clear” look. do you have any tips on getting the scum off of glass showers? Last but not least, will the vinegar solution work on kitchen cabinets and painted walls? I get little splatters behind the stove and behind the sink in the kitchen but my walls are painted.
Rikki….the smell of the vinegar will disappear fairly quickly and you won’t be able to smell it. Try the vinegar on your glass shower, it should get rid of the soap scum…(baking soda always helps with stubborn stains and it won’t scratch.) I haven’t tried this but I’ve read that if you put a little bit of lemon oil or baby oil on clean glass shower doors, it will help prevent future soap scum. And the vinegar shouldn’t hurt the painted walls…I would spray just a bit first, but I actually just squirted it on my wall and it took the dirt spot off and left the paint on. I do use baking soda on tough dried on spots on the walls and it works great. (a paste of baking soda and water is great, wipe it off and then wipe with a bit of vinegar and then wipe with warm water and that works really well on extra tough stains!) I always do a deep clean in the kitchen this time of year (from all the holiday cooking!)…using vinegar really works and saves tons of money.
I read online somewhere that you can soak the vinegar in orange peels… can probably do the same with lemon peels too… so I am going to try this and see how it works on my shower doors. The comments online said you have to soak the vinegar and the peels for two weeks but I am still going to try.
I love this article!
Rikki….Let us know how it works