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Pioneering Today
Vinegar’s Sweet Side
Are you ever overwhelmed walking down the cleaning supply aisle? There are tons of products on the market, all claiming to do the best job of keeping your house clean. Back in the day, there weren’t foams, sprays, or gels to choose from. Good old-fashioned elbow grease and water were the two products on hand for the pioneers, along with one other little ingredient.
Vinegar.
Vinegar’s preserving ability is well-known. My mouth waters thinking of the variety of pickles lining my pantry shelves. Sauces and dressings wouldn’t taste the same without a small bite of vinegar.
Here are some other uses for vinegar you might not know about or use.
- Window cleaner. Take a spray bottle (I used an old rinsed out Windex container) and add approximately a ¼ cup of white vinegar then fill to the top with water. Even with paper towels, I washed my sliding glass door, mirrors, and all the windows without a single streak.
- Floor cleaner. Add a cup or so to your bucket or sink full of water. No soap. Use to mop your hardwood, laminate, tile or linoleum. Vinegar won’t hurt your grout or your tile like other harsh cleaners, plus it kills bacteria. Ever notice small dark spots in the dips of your linoleum? Overtime, soap builds up and dirt sticks to it. Using vinegar eliminates these spots. If you have little ones or pets, you won’t have to worry about harsh chemicals where they play.
- Laundry room. Add ¼ cup vinegar to your laundry instead of bleach. It will kill odor causing bacteria, clean your washing machine, and no discoloring. I toss mine into the liquid softener dispenser.
Do you have any other uses for vinegar?
I’ll post Pioneering Today articles every Wednesday. Faith based articles will be on Mondays, such as How God Uses Hardships for Good. And I’ll be throwing in Christian fiction giveaways here and there.
Originally published in the Concrete Herald November 2011 edition and also featured on The Prairie Homestead Barn Hop.
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I use vinegar and baking soda to loosen baked-on food. If a pan or baking dish looks like it will be difficult to clean, I sprinkle the surface with baking soda and pour on vinegar. It foams away and loosens the mess so it cleans up easily. If there’s a lot, it sometimes requires a second try, but it sure makes cleanup easy when it could be dreadful!
Thanks, for the tip Christy! Just in time for those baked on holiday goody messes.
Thanks for the tips! Do you know of a carpet cleaner made with all natural products from home? I just ran out of my all natural carpet spot cleaner & we live 2 hours from the closest Walmart!
Thanks,
Susanne
Susanne, here’s a great website w/ lots of recipes for making your own cleaning supplies. Towards the middle of the page is teh carpet cleaner.
http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm
Here’s the carpet part, but they’ve got lots of other good solutions worth checking out.
Carpet stains: Mix equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray directly on stain, let sit for several minutes, and clean with a brush or sponge using warm soapy water.
For fresh grease spots, sprinkle corn starch onto spot and wait 15 – 30 minutes before vacuuming.
For a heavy duty carpet cleaner, mix 1/4 cup each of salt, borax and vinegar. Rub paste into carpet and leave for a few hours. Vacuum.
I use vinegar to unclog shower heads, cleans mildew, cuts thru grease on the glass off my hood range vent and polishes up the black sheet metal on my cook top. My dad always bought rusty tools from garage sales and would soak them overnight in vinegar and they always turned out clean and shiny after some elbow grease. Melissa your right on on the laundry and vinegar is way cheaper than fabric softener.
Thanks, Jess. I’ll have to give it a try on the hood range vent. How long do you leave it on?
It’s actually just for the glass on my hood range vent. I add vinegar to hot water, how much depends on how long between cleanings
. Usually four cups of water to a half cup of vinegar. Wipe glass with white rag to see how clean your getting it. Then polish with dry white rag. I prefer old cloth diapers, they don’t leave rag fuzz behind.
i take 1 tbls of cider vinegar 1 tbs water and a dash of hyoney for heart burn it ia a miracle drink for me since i had my gaul bladder removed
Peggy,
I suffer from acid reflux and am trying to go off the medications. I’m going to try this! Thanks for the tip.