Vinegar is a great all-natural (not to mention cheap) cleaner that you can use throughout your apartment. The best part is: you probably already have some at home. If you’re not sure where to start with the clear liquid, here are easy tips you can follow to make your home shine. Happy cleaning!
Dishwasher
If you’re looking for a way to clean and sanitize your dishwasher, pour out one cup of vinegar and put that in a glass. Stick the glass in your dishwasher facing up so the liquid disperses and turn on the regular cycle. The vinegar will leave your dishwasher sanitized and clean.
Refrigerator
If you’d rather not clean your fridge with harsh chemicals, try making a mixture of half vinegar, half water and using that to clean the surfaces of your fridge.
“It works great on surfaces and for spills,” says Jones.
She advises keeping a bottle filled with the solution in your refrigerator for easy access.
Washing Machine
Yes, the machine that washes your clothes needs to be sanitized too. To clean it with vinegar, fill your machine with water on the largest load setting. Once the drum is full of hot water, pour three cups of white vinegar into the drum. Let it agitate for a minute or two. Next, add one cup of baking soda and let the mix sit for about one hour. Now, let the machine run the full cycle until the drum is empty. Wipe down any remaining residue with a wet cloth.
Gum
“Vinegar can help you remove sticky gum from carpets or upholstery,” says Harriet Jones, a former housekeeper and a U.K.-based cleaning supervisor for
Go Cleaners London.
Here is her recipe for gum remover:
Place a small bowl of vinegar in the microwave to warm it up. Then, treat the area where the gum is with the warm vinegar. Soon, the gum will come off.
Pet Stains
“If you have a pet, then vinegar must be your second-best friend,” says Jones. She tells us that vinegar can successfully remove stains and smells from pet urine. Jones advises that you mix ¼ cup of vinegar with 1 liter of water and blot the solution onto the affected area using a washcloth. Gently scrub until the stain and odor disappears.
Microwave
Before you start scraping the sides of grime off your microwave, consider using vinegar to loosen up the gunk. Eaton suggests:
“Pour vinegar and water into a bowl, and heat it in the microwave for a few minutes. The steam will help loosen any grime for easy clean up,” he says.
Shower Cleaner
If you’re looking for a daily shower cleaner, try mixing vinegar with Dawn dish soap, suggests Mike Eaton, CEO and founder of cleaning product line Hero Clean https://hero-clean.com.
Fill a dish wand with half vinegar and half blue Dawn dish soap. Keep the wand in your shower. Before taking a shower, scrub the walls with the wand then rinse off the Dawn and vinegar.
[tweetthis]From pet stains to microwaves, #vinegar is a super inexpensive and efficient way to clean![/tweetthis]
Garbage Disposal
If your sink is starting to reek, it might be because food is trapped in the garbage disposal. To help dislodge it, Eaton recommends the following:
“Fill your ice cube trays with vinegar then put a lemon slice into each one. Freeze those cubes and then drop a couple cubes in your garbage disposal with some water and turn on the disposal to clean it,” he says.
Finally, be sure to never mix vinegar with bleach and hydrogen peroxide as that can be dangerous. For other cleaning tips,
be sure to check out these cleaning hacks!
