Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Cleaning Green with Vinegar

I have discovered what my grandmother knew all along. Vinegar is one of the most useful things in the pantry. For the longest I have spent so much money on cleaning products thinking my life would be better, easier, faster. I didn't realize the secret ingredient was in my pantry all along.

Vinegar is a natural degreaser. put 1/4 cup vinegar in your microwave and cook it for 2-3 minutes and then let it set for about 5-10 minutes then just wipe your microwave down with a damp cloth and you will be amazed at how easy all that hard cooked on stuff will come off. I have also tried this recently in my oven. It took a little more work and there was such a mess in the bottom I had to pour the vinegar directly on the floor and let it bake in for about 30 minutes but it cleaned up nicely after that. I did have to use a paint scrapper in some places (yes it was bad) but it was much better than using that expensive caustic oven cleaner that I dreaded using which is why it had gotten so bad. So now once a week I let vinegar steam the inside of my oven and just wipe It down to keep it from getting that bad again.

Hardwood and laminate floors can be ruined easily by some products but vinegar is actually recommenced for laminates. I will mix 1/2 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of water to clean all of your hard floors it is also great in the kitchen because of the degreasing properties. I have used it on hardwood, laminate, vinyl and ceramic tiles and it cleans beautifully.

We have very hard water here and vinegar in the rinse cycle of the wash with every load has cleaned up my washing machine. I also use it in the dishwasher and it has also helped clean it out and my clothes and dishes look much better. and no your house will not smell like vinegar.

for the laundry and dishes
1/2 cup vinegar in the rinse cycle

for the microwave and oven 1/2 cup in a dish let it heat up and sit in there and steam for 10 minutes

for the floors
1/2 cup to 1 gallon of water you can add a few drops of essential oil if you like

No comments:

Post a Comment