Cleaning Your House With Vinegar

I have to admit, when I first began to research this topic, I was a little skeptical. Don't get me wrong, I know that there are household products that work double duty, for example, Cola can clean the erosion around your car's battery and can take the ring out of the toilet (and we drink that stuff!).

And I knew that vinegar is used to clean coffee pots and can shine a window, but I was amazed to learn there are so many other uses for the stuff! I mean, other than seasoning my meat with it, there wasn't much else to do, right? Boy was I wrong!

Vinegar can be used for everything from getting out odors to making your house shine. I've researched a few sites and found a couple that I thought were very helpful. In an age of organic foods and living a chemical-free lifestyle, this information can assist those who are looking for an economical and safe way to clean their homes.

According to Mrs. Clean and the website Mrs.Clean.com, vinegar is a great cleaner for your hardwood and linoleum floors. She suggests that you add vinegar to warm fresh water, dampen a sponge or mop and mop those floors. She says the vinegar water mixture gets rid of the grease and grit and leaves your floor shining. She warns however, that you should NEVER use vinegar on marble or other stone floors.

The website also recommends the use of vinegar, full strength, to clean and sanitize the bathroom counters and chrome. It shines the chrome and cuts down on soap scum. You can add vinegar to the toilet bowl to clean and sanitize it and put vinegar on a soft, clean cloth to clean the outer rims of the toilet.

Another website, LifeScript, a website with helpful tips for women, says vinegar is a great computer cleaner, as well as the printer and fax machine. Turn off all components of your equipment and mix equal parts water and vinegar. Wet a cloth with the solution you've created, but don't saturate it, and gently wipe the surface of the equipment.

The website also says you can clean your window blinds with vinegar. Again, mixing an equal part solution put on white cotton gloves and dip your fingers in the solution and then slide them across the blinds. The site also says to keep a bucket of clean water close by so that you can clean the gloves periodically.

Also according to LifeScript you can clean, deodorize and unclog drains with vinegar. Pour a half cup of baking soda and then one cup of vinegar down the clogged drain. The mixture will begin to foam and the drain will unclog. When the foam is gone, flush the drain with hot water. Then in five minutes, flush with cold water. If your drain is a little slow and you want to speed it up, use a half cup of salt and then two cups of boiling vinegar in the drain. Flush with hot then cold water and watch the speed increase. I plan to give this one a try this weekend. I have a painfully slow drain in my bathroom tub. We unclog it with traditional products and it helps some, but not for long. I'll let you know what happens.

This final use for vinegar has to be my favorite. As a sinus sufferer, I am allergic to cigarette smoke. According to the site if you take a cloth moistened with vinegar and waive it around the room, the cloth with absorb the smell of the cigarette smoke.

Who knew vinegar had so many uses? To learn more, just search cleaning with vinegarin your internet search engine and research away. Vinegar is inexpensive and is sold at any grocery store. Good luck and happy savings!