Nine Ways to Use Vinegar for Laundry & Fabric Care

Vinegar is one of the most versatile of all condiments in the kitchen. But why restrict its use just to the kitchen? It can also be an excellent aid for laundry and clothing care. You’ll discover so many ways to use vinegar for fabric care that you’ll end up buying an extra bottle for the laundry room. Here are some of the ways that vinegar can be used for care of your clothes and laundry:

Use vinegar to remove lint.

Simply add about a half cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle of your washing machine to remove lint from your laundry.

Prevent your clothing from bleeding in the laundry.

To prevent your brightly colored clothing from bleeding during the wash cycle, soak them in full strength vinegar for 12 minutes before washing them.

Remove the smell of cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke.

To eliminate smoking odors from clothing, fill your bathtub with warm water. Add a full cup of vinegar to water and soak your clothing for ten minutes.

Make your sweaters smell better.

If you’ve had your sweaters in storage and they have that stale smell, wash them and then rinse them in a half vinegar, half water mixture. This should eliminate any lingering odors. This is a laundry care tip that might help you to prevent a cleaning bill.

Use vinegar to remove stubborn stains.

Apply vinegar to a damp washcloth. Use a rubbing motion on tough stains such as ketchup, coffee, or mustard. Launder as usual.

Use vinegar as a fabric softener.

Replace your regular fabric softener with a half cup of vinegar added to the rinse cycle of your washer. It works just as well as your fabric softener for laundry care and costs a lot less.

Prolong the life of your nylon hose.

Nylon hose can be expensive. Prolong their life by adding a teaspoon of vinegar to the rinse water after you hand wash them.

Use vinegar to clean leather.

Mix one part vinegar with two parts of linseed oil and use it to clean your leather items and keep them supple. Rub the mixture gently in to the leather and allow it to set for several hours. Follow up by buffing the leather.

Remove perspiration marks from clothing.

Mix a quarter cup of vinegar with one cup of water. Apply this solution to perspiration stained areas of your clothing. Rinse thoroughly. You can also remove stains left by deodorant rubbing the area superficially with vinegar and washing as usual.

In most cases, white vinegar will work best for laundry, clothing, and fabric care. Why not get a large bottle of white vinegar and have it available when you’re washing laundry? It’s an inexpensive way to keep your clothing and laundry in tip top condition.