How to Use White Vinegar to Clean Your Home

I guess I’m just an old-fashioned kind of gal. I don’t see the need for shelves upon shelves of kitchen and other type cleaners when a simple White Vinegar solution will do.

One of the things I love is to explore amazing ways to use common household items. This saves money and does a perfect job without you breathing in toxic cleaners.

Vinegar is cheap and can be used in multiple rooms and for a variety of things as a cleaner.

White vinegar is comprised of acetic acid (about 5-10%) and water (about 90-95%), which yields a vinegar with an incredibly clean, crisp, strong taste.

With germs and high traffic areas in your home, you need an ingredient that will disinfect and one that’s also safe to use on a regular basis.

Kitchen

Here are my top 13 ways to keep your kitchen disinfected, shiny and clean.

1. Mix 1/4 vinegar with 1 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 3-5 minutes. Once the mixture cools a tad, dip a washcloth in the solution and then wipe clean the inside of your microwave to remove the explosions of food.
2. Clean your coffee pot by using 1-part vinegar to 1-part water. pour the mixture into your water bay and brew half of the pot, turn off your machine and let sit for two hours and then finish brewing. Run two pots of plain water before making coffee.
3.  Protect and clean wood floors by rubbing them with half a mixture of white vinegar and vegetable oil.
4. For clogged sink heads fill a bag with vinegar a tie it around the faucet. Leave until all of the scales have flaked off or dissolved.
5. To disinfect your cutting boards and butcher blocks use full strength vinegar after every use. The acetic acid in the vinegar is effective against E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus.
6. Let your ceramic tile floors become squeaky clean by mixing 1/4 cup vinegar in a bucket of warm water and mopping them.
7. Wash the inside and outside of your fridge with 1-part water to 1-part vinegar to disinfect. To prevent mildew use full strength on your gaskets, inside walls, drawers, and trays.
8. Add 3 cups of vinegar to your tea kettle and bring to a full boil for 5 minutes. After your timer goes off, turn off your stove top and let the pot sit overnight. Rinse the next day with cold water. This removes mineral and lime buildup from the inside of your pot.
9. Eliminate grease with equal parts water and vinegar. This will clean and deodorize your countertops, kitchen table, stove, broiler and more.
10. Add 3-4 Tablespoons of white vinegar to your dish liquid and give your bottle a shake. This will help fight grease and save you money because less dish soap will be needed.
11. Work and school lunch boxes can smell like tuna in a can. To remove the smell, place a vinegar-soaked piece of white bread in your sealed lunch box and let it sit overnight. Wipe clean in the morning and the smell should be gone.
12. To keep the film off your dishes, add 1/4 cup vinegar to your dishwasher’s rinse cycle.

Office

1. Clean your computer mouse with 1-part vinegar to 1-part water. Remove the ball from underneath. Dip a washcloth in the solution. Make sure your washcloth has been wrung out well. Wipe the ball itself, the chamber and the top of the mouse. Let air dry for a couple of hours before placing the ball back inside.
2. To erase pen from your walls or desk get a cloth and dip it in full strength vinegar. Dab on the pen mark and repeat the process until the work of art is gone.
3. Computer keypads can become filthy. To clean use equal parts of warm water and vinegar. Place a washcloth in the mixture and wring out really well. Make sure your machine is turned off. Wipe the keys and surface area clean. Use cue tips between keys.
4. The mixture in #3 is also great for wiping off your printer and fax machine. Again, be sure to turn off your machines.
5. Clean your scissors when they become sticky or just brighten them up with a simple wipe down of vinegar.
6. Clean your windows by mixing 1-part vinegar to 1-part hot water. Moisten the window with the solution and clean. Do not wash when the sun is shining on the windows.  To avoid damage, rinse and dry window frames.
7. To remove watermarks on your wood desk, mix equal parts vinegar and olive oil. Moving with the grain of the wood, use a soft cloth and wipe. Use another clean cloth and buff to shine.

Laundry Room

1. To set colors, add 1/2 cup vinegar to one gallon of water. Put the clothes into the solution and then wash them like normal.
2. To prevent colors from fading over time add a 1/2 cup of vinegar to a load of bright colors.
3. Clean out your washing machine by dumping 1 gallon of vinegar to a large cycle without any clothes. This will clean out dirt and grime that builds up over time.
4. Use 1/2 cup white vinegar instead of your everyday laundry detergent to wash your clothes.
5. To use vinegar as a fabric softener, take 1 cup and pour it in the washing machine when the last rinse cycle starts.
6. To remove or keep deposit from building up on your iron fill the water holder from time to time with vinegar. Set to high steam and let it clean itself. When the reservoir is empty, flush with clean distilled water.

I realize there are multiple more uses of the clean, crisp magical, white vinegar, but this list will give you a head start to cleaning and deodorizing the main areas of your house.

Creating the habit of using a simple ingredient instead of rushing out to the store and spending money on toxic products you don’t need is a great way to protect yourself from fumes and create a fresh environment that you and your family can enjoy.

Healthy living involves more than diet and exercise. Healthy Living is our home and everything that surrounds it. From cleaning products to makeup, foods, chemicals we put on our lawns and more.

Choose simple and non-toxic everyday items to keep a healthy home and you.

–Heather Earles