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Vinegar is such a cheap and effective all-purpose cleaner. There are so many ways that you can use it all around your home! From the kitchen to the bathroom, vinegar is the perfect ingredient for your homemade cleaners! Plus using vinegar to clean your home will save you a TON of money! For around $5 dollars a gallon, you can make a cleaning solution for almost every surface of your home. Think of how much money you spend on household cleaners that include harmful chemicals! If you are looking for a CHEAP and SIMPLE way to clean your home this is it!
Here Are 10 Clever Vinegar Cleaning Hacks That Will Change The Way You Clean!
Clean Your Microwave
Does your microwave have burnt on food? At one point in time mine did too and I had no idea how to get it off other than scrub and let’s be honest…ain’t nobody got time for that! So after a bit of Pinterest searching, I found this great hack! Grab a microwave safe bowl and fill it with 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of white vinegar and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice. (The lemon isn’t necessary, it just helps with the terrible vinegar smell.) Set the mixture inside your microwave and let it run for 3 minutes. Once the microwave shuts off, let it sit for another 3-4 minutes. Once the time is up, grab a cleaning cloth or paper towel and begin to wipe off all the gunk in your microwave. That’s it!
Clean Your Dishwasher
It is weird to think you need to clean something that cleans, but after a while dishwashers start to get a musty smell. Did you know you can quickly and easily remedy this with vinegar! Place a glass cup or bowl ( I like to use my pyrex measuring cup) on the top rack of the dishwasher and fill it with vinegar. Then remove the bottom rack of your dishwasher and sprinkle baking soda on the bottom of the dishwasher. Using the hottest water setting, run the dishwasher through a cleaning cycle.
Make Your Faucets Sparkle
This hack is so easy! And great because it means we don’t have to scrub the nasty soap scum on the bathroom faucet! Take paper towels and soak them in white vinegar. Then wrap the faucet in the paper towels. Let it sit for 2 minutes. After the time is up unwrap the faucet and wipe dry with a clean paper towel! Your faucet should look like a brand new sparking faucet!
Tip & Image Credit: Best Products
Clean Your Bath Tub & Shower
Bathroom cleaners have a terrible chemical smell don’t you think? Plus they are expensive! You can make your own shower/tub cleaner with vinegar and Dawn Dish Washing Liquid! Mom Always Finds Out has a great tutorial!
To make this cleaner, heat 1 1/2 cups of vinegar until it is very hot. Then carefully pour the hot vinegar into a spray bottle (This glass bottle works great!) and add 1 1/2 cups of Dawn. Shake the mixture and that’s it! You are ready to start cleaning your tub!
Tip & Image Credit: Mom Always Finds Out
Clean Your Shower Head
When was the last time you cleaned your shower head? Probably never right? I mean why would you think to clean something that is meant to clean you? But if you took a real hard look at your shower head I bet it has some nasty hard water stains (I know mine does!) You may think there is no way that you want to scrub all that gunk off your shower, but guess what! You don’t have to!
The Melrose Family had a great idea! Take a ziplock baggy and fill it with white vinegar. Then submerge your shower head into the vinegar and attach the bag with a rubber band. Let the shower head soak in the mixture overnight. The next morning remove the bag and wipe clean with a cleaning cloth!
Tip & Image Credit: The Melrose Family
Give Paint Brushes A New Life
Don’t throw away those old paint brushes! You can restore them with vinegar. Vinegar will remove the dried on paint and soften the bristles, making your paint brushes last longer! Mix equal parts of very hot water and vinegar in a disposable container. Soak the paintbrushes for up to thirty minutes and then rinse out the brush. Remove any of the remaining paint with a few drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid and then rinse again. Just by utilizing this hack it will save you $8 dollars or more when you need to paint!
Clean Your Carpet
Vinegar is perfect for cleaning your carpets! To spot treat your carpet with vinegar, in a large spray bottle mix equal parts of vinegar and water. Spray the mixture directly on the stain and let it sit for a few minutes. Then sprinkle baking soda onto the vinegar and scrub with a cleaning brush. Finally, rinse and vacuum!
You can also use vinegar in a steam cleaner to vacuum your carpet. Just fill the cleaning solution tank with vinegar. As you are cleaning the smell of vinegar will be strong but it will dissipate as the carpet dries.
Related: The vacuum that saved my carpet
DIY All Purpose Cleaner
Did you know you can make your own household cleaners instead of spending hundreds of dollars each year at the store? This DIY All Purpose Cleaner is just one example. Using vinegar and orange peels you can make a cleaner that will be perfect for so many areas of your home! You will need orange peels, distilled white vinegar, a mason jar, and a spray bottle.
Fill your mason jar with orange peels and add vinegar. Seal up the mason jar and let it sit for 2 weeks. (It takes time to create this magical solution.) After 2 weeks, strain the vinegar from the orange peels and pour it into a spray bottle. This glass bottle works great! And that’s it! You are ready to start cleaning!
Clean Your Washer
This hack came from Jamielyn at I Heart Naptime and it is brilliant! You can clean your washer with just one ingredient, Vinegar! (<<ofcourse,right?) Just add 2 – 3 cups of white vinegar to your washer and turn it on the longest and hottest cycle. That is it! How easy right!
Clean Your Towels
If your towels are starting to smell like mildew and need a good cleaning, vinegar is the perfect solution! Add 1 cup of vinegar to your load of towels and wash on a hot cycle (I add the vinegar directly to the washer drum.) Then place them in the dryer on high heat. This should leave them smelling nice and clean! If they are really bad you may have to do two wash cycles.
Do you have any tips for cleaning with vinegar? Comment below and let us know!
I’m in the UK what can I use instead of dawn?
Hi Diane!
You can use any kind of dish soap! Whatever you typically like to use should work!
Do I add the vinegar in the drum with the towels or just in the fabric softener/ bleach dispenser? Thank you in advance.
Hi Michelle,
I add the vinegar straight to the drum, but I don’t see why you couldn’t put it in the dispenser if you wish. I think that it would just be released later in the wash cycle.
Thanks!
Awsome, using vinegar is good trick.
Is vinegar safe for septic tanks?
Hi johnnie,
Yes you can use it in your septic tank with no problems! In our home we use it to clean all of toilets and drains and have had no issues. It is known as a natural way to maintain your septic tank without chemicals.
For the faucets, instead of paper towels, could rags be used? We are low waste and don’t use paper towels.
Yes absolutely!