What Can Vinegar Do For You?

Apparently much more than I originally thought! I took these recipes from a website called Wise Bread: Living Large on a Small Budget. (I found the site when I was looking up how to live without an air conditioner this summer. We are going to experiment with that. Wish me luck!)


In Addition to this, I also  found a vinegar and baking soda shampoo. Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda to 3 cups water. Only use a small amount in your hair, make sure you get it every where, then rinse with 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar. The author said it takes about two weeks for hair to not feel too dry. Also, she said she missed the smell of her shampoo. I don't see why you can't add a few drops of your favorite E.O. to the original mixture. PS Your hair will not smell like vinegar after you rinse it out with water. I will try this when I wash my hair next time. Don't hold your breath, I only wash my hair every 10 days or so. 

All purpose cleaner:

2 parts vinegar, 1 part water

Extra dirty spots:

Scour dirty areas with baking soda, then spray the all purpose cleaner (recipe above) over the area and wipe clean.

Floor cleaner:

Brew a cup of peppermint tea (use 1 tea bag: one cup for you, one for the floor). Squeeze half a lemon in to the floor mix, and add 1 cup of vinegar. Mop away with your solution; the vinegar disinfects, the tea has antibacterial properties and removes marks, and the lemon freshens & disinfects.

Pee stains on carpet (presumably from pets):

Blot up the initial stain, flush it with water, then apply equal parts vinegar and cool water. Blot it all up, rinse, and let dry. This will eliminate odors and stains.

Hard water stains and mineral deposits:

Allow a cloth soaked in vinegar to sit on a hard water stain (for example behind your faucet) or mineral deposit for a few hours. Wipe clean.

Appliance cleaning:

Clean your coffee maker or laundry machine or dishwasher by running vinegar through it, followed by water. This reduces soap buildup and keeps everything in working order.

In The Kitchen

Remove labels from glass jars:

Saturate the labeled area in vinegar and scrape the stickiness right off.

Dirty pot bottoms and cooking utensils:

Fill the pot with enough water to cover the stain, add 1 cup of vinegar, and boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Let cool, then scrub the stains off. While you’re at it, put your stainless steel cooking utensils in the pot to get them sparkly clean too.

Fruit stains on hands:

Had a little too much fun making that cherry pie or berry salad? Just rub your hands with vinegar to remove the stains.

Coffee stains on china:

Use a mixture of salt and vinegar to clean coffee stains from china.

Wooden cutting boards:

Wooden cutting boards are great, except they can be a hothouse for bacteria (especially if grooves have been cut into the board with use). Disinfect it regularly with vinegar to keep it (and your food) clean.

Veggie maintenance:

Clean and crisp up your veggies by soaking them in a mixture of water and a tablespoon or so of vinegar. Any bugs lingering on your produce will float away, and your soggy celery will come to life again (depending on how far gone it was to begin with).

Smelly onion hands:

Eliminate onion odor off your hands by rinsing them in vinegar. This also apparently works with other stinky parts of your body that soap isn’t cutting through, such as underarms.

Clean sticky scissors:

Sometimes those scissors get so gummy you can’t even make them work. Just wipe them down with vinegar, and they’ll be like new again.

Laundry

Fabric softener

There are a few fabric softener strategies you can play with:

Add equal parts vinegar and baking soda, OR just ½ a cup of vinegar to your wash when you would add fabric softener (final rinse cycle). Line dried towels will come out softer with a vinegar-based softener.

Water:

You can also add 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar to your wash water, which does the following:

• Reduces the amount of soap you need to use
• Reduces lint
• Brightens colors, and stops them from running
• Acts as a rinse aid
• Keeps the washing machine running clean and well

Stain removal:

Use vinegar on stains before washing to remove stubborn ones like perspiration, fruit, mustard, and coffee.