Vinegar as a cleaning agent

[Scarlet Feather]

Just recently tried pure undiluted vinegar as chrome and stainless steel cleaner. Also, mixed it with olive oil in a ratio of 1:3 to clean and polish furnitures. It works!

[jana]

:nod: I don't buy chemical cleaning products anymore. Vinegar is wonderful. I use baking soda to scrub & deodorize. If you mix vinegar & rubbing alcohol (about half & half) in a spray bottle, it makes a wonderful glass cleaner. If you don't like the smell of vinegar, some people handle apple cider vinegar a little better. You can always add a few drops of essential oil into your cleaning mix, too, to mask the scent, and EOs also have antimicrobial properties.

[HeavenLeigh]

I agree about vinegar. Vinegar w/ warm water will clean about anything. Makes windows shine (especially if you use crunched up newspaper instead of papertowels), works great on toilets, etc....

Baking soda on tough/need to scrub surfaces with vinegar poured on it makes a bubbly foam (we used to use this mixture in sceince class when making model volcanos errupt) will make things wipe right off.

Also denture tablets are great. I seen this trick on 'How clean is your house' on Lifetime. Put 1-2 denture tablets in pot/pan that is caked on, fill the pot/pan with warm water (usually that does the trick for me, letting it soak for about an hour or...) put the pot on the stove on simmer for about 10 minutes. Most of the junk rinses right out and requires no scrubbing.

I also use straight rubbing alcohol for a lot of things.....sinks, toillets, countertops, etc....

And the Mr. Clean magic eraser is great.......no chemical smells. It also works on tubs and pots/pans.

[RedBedHead]

I use vinegar almost exclusively to clean. I usually add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil just to cut the smell a bit.
Jana, what do you use for dishwashing? That's about the only thing I haven't cut out yet.

[HeavenLeigh]

I use vinegar almost exclusively to clean. I usually add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil just to cut the smell a bit.



Does that help? I hate the smell of vinegar, and to me tea tree oil smells like cat pee. Tho I do use on various things from acne, dandruff, to razor burns and even put a few drops in with the dog's shampoo to help control fleas and dry skin *it also helped when she had ringworms*.

[Deana]

I love tea tree oil, and I am a very strange person, b/c I also love the scent.

Does vinegar work to reduce or eliminate can potty stains/smells in carpet?

[jana]

RBH - yeah, I do still buy dish soap but I buy the hippy concentrated stuff from Whole Foods/Central Market. I don't remember the brand, but it has almond oil in it & it smells SO yummy! We don't really use our dishwasher (although we might when the kid gets here; we should find out if it even works!), so I don't know about alternatives for that. Actually, I take that back. I know people use baking soda and/or washing soda in the dishwasher. I guess you could also use that for dishes. I also use Dr. Bronner's castile soap for cleaning, too, and I know some people use it for dishes.

Krysti - Yeah, TTO is amazing stuff! It's antifungal & it works on ringworm on humans, too. I don't love the scent when it's in products already (like soap), but I don't really mind it just by itself as the EO.

Deana - I'm not sure about carpets; I've never tried. I have used it on cat pee spots on tile/grout/concrete, though, and after it dried there was no hint of pee or vinegar odor (to my nose, at least - who knows if animals could still smell it).

[Sydneyp]

I used baking soda for the carpets - it soaks thing out well.

First, I'd get the biggest part of the potty stain off the carpet, then dump a small mountain of baking soda on the stain. I'd leave it for a few minutes, then scoop up the mostly damp mountain with a dustpan. When most of the liquid was out, I'd pour clean water on the stain (just enough to redampen the stain, which is surprisingly little.) More baking soda until I was satisfied with it's cleanliness. Once baking soda poured on the carpet no longer wicks out the moisture, I'd use a brush and brush the soda into the stain. Let it dry, vaccuum it up - this worked on everything up to and including diarreah on off-white carpets.

[meliz]

Ooo... just saw a book at the check out the other day... 1001 things to do with Vinegar or something along those lines... great stuff!

[Turtleheadfred]

Thanks Syd! That sounds like it's a better alternative than even the enzyme cleaners that I've used from the pet stores. Definitely a "must try" next time there's an "accident".
:beer: