6 Things You Can Clean with Vinegar

I usually clean with major chemicals.  It just seems to feel cleaner if the label says “antibacterial” and the harsh chemical smell invades the house.  Lately I’ve started reconsidering this mentality.  I have five kids in the house and I’ve become uncomfortable with the idea of continuous chemical exposure.  I decided I could either stop cleaning the house {smile} or find alternative cleaning solutions.  After some research, I decided to test vinegar as a non-toxic, environmentally friendly, healthy cleaning agent.  I came up with 6 things you can clean with vinegar and thought they might interest you as well!

Heinz has a new Cleaning Vinegar available and I went to Walmart to buy some.  If you’re unable to find cleaning vinegar at Walmart, you can order it on Amazon {affiliate link}.  I was impressed that this vinegar is such an affordable alternative to other cleaning products.  I spent a fortune on all kinds of other cleaners and a bottle of vinegar will suffice for most tasks.

I’m excited to share some of my natural cleaning tips with you!

Cleaning the coffee maker was the first test.  My coffee maker gets a lot of use and it had become fairly grungy and a bit slow.  I used one cup of Heinz Cleaning Vinegar and brewed it as I would a pot of coffee, then poured it back in and brewed it again.  After, I ran two cycles of regular water through to ensure there wouldn’t be a lingering vinegar taste.  The vinegar will remove the mineral deposits from the coffee maker and allow it to function better.

The microwave was next on the list.  With seven people using it, our microwave is often covered in splatters and I hate scrubbing it down.

I put a glass measuring cup with one cup of vinegar and one cup of hot water in the microwave and ran it for ten minutes, then wiped it down with a paper towel.  The condensation from the steamy vinegar solution made the wipe-down easy {I did remove the rotating tray and washed it in soapy water}.

One of my pet peeves is seeing tea and coffee stains on the inside of white mugs.  I read that vinegar will remove those stains and I couldn’t wait to put it to the test.

I swished a small amount of cleaning vinegar in both white mugs and wiped them out with a paper towel.  The brown stains were completely gone!  I have to admit that I was surprised and a bit excited about my little chemical-free cleaning experiment!

I soaked the kitchen sponge overnight in a bowl of vinegar.  It not only removed the unpleasant musty odor from the sponge but the acetic acid will kill bacteria in the sponge, reducing the spread of bacteria as we wipe up.

Next I tackled the bathroom of a teenage boy.  The shower gets a lot of use and not always a lot of cleaning, and with the humidity in Texas, red mildew grows easily.  I used plain vinegar to wipe it down {then rinsed with water} and the mildew came right off without any scrubbing.

My last vinegar experiment centered around the toilet.  Yikes.  We all know that little kids miss the toilet and sometimes that nasty smell lingers even after lots of cleaning.  Please tell me I’m not the only one!  I used a sponge {that was later discarded} soaked in vinegar and wiped under the edge of the toilet then rinsed with water.  That funky smell was gone!  Vinegar is the great deodorizer!

I really loved my vinegar experiment and I can’t wait to continue.  I already have plans to use vinegar as a fabric softener and as a soap scum remover.

I’d love to hear the ways you clean with vinegar as a green cleaning agent.  What are your tips and tricks?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and HEINZ.  All photos and opinions are my own.  #CBias #SocialFabric

For more cleaning ideas, be sure to check out this tip for getting rid of the stinky smell in shoes …

… 35 spring cleaning tips …

… and 10 tips to clean the bathroom fast!