Uses for Vinegar Around the House
Kitchen:
When boiling broccoli, cauliflower or other veggies, add a tablespoon of white distilled vinegar to the water to help retain color and remove some of the gassiness of the veggie, it does not have an affect on that taste.
When you burn a pot or food in the kitchen and can not get rid of the burnt smell, boil about 1.4 cup vinegar with a small amount of water and let the steam circulate through the room to get rid of the smell.
To keep eggs from cracking when boiling, add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to the water while cooking.
You can get rid of onion odors on your hands by rubbing them with vinegar.
Clean out your coffee pot, once a month fill the reservoir with vinegar and run through one cycle, then repeat with 2 cycles of water. This will freshen the entire machine and get rid of any hard water stains and lime deposits.
Cheese will last longer in your fridge if it you store it in a vinegar soaked cloth.
Marinating meat in vinegar will not only kill bacteria, but will also tenderize the meat. Marinate overnight and add various herbs and spices right into the vinegar for flavoring.
Cleaning:
To get rid of lime deposits on your fixtures, make a paste of 2 parts salt and one part vinegar and rub, for a shower head take a ziploc style bag and pour in some vinegar, place bag over shower head and secure with a rubber band, let sit overnight to get rid of hard water buildup and lime deposits.
To clean your toilet, pour in a least one cup of vinegar, switch around din bowl, let sit for a little while and then flush.
To clean the microwave, mix 1/2 cup vinegar with 1.2 cup water and cook on high for a few minutes or until the liquid just comes to a rolling boil. This will loosen up any food stuck on the inside of the microwave and make it easy to simply wipe away and ti will deodorize at the same time.
Removing stains from coffee cups is easy, mix equal parts of vinegar and baking soda or salt and use as a scrub on the mugs.
To clean paint brushes soak brush in simmering pot of vinegar.
For stained or smelly tupperware, wipe with a cloth soaked in vinegar, to remove the smell from a lunch box, soak a piece of bread in vinegar and let sit overnight in the closed lunch box.
Clean up pet accidents by blotting the area first with a towel, then blot with some vinegar until almost dry and finish with some baking soda, once dry vacuum as you normally would.
In the laundry, get rid of sweat or deodorant stains on shirts by spraying vinegar directly onto the stain before putting in the wash.
Clean out your washing machine hoses by pouring in a cup of vinegar into the machine and nothing else, no soap or clothes and run through one cycle.
As a natural anti-bacterial wipe, soak a paper towel in vinegar and wipe toys, knobs, counters, etc. as you normally would with a store bought pre-soaked wipe.
Gardening:
To get rid of weeds, pour vinegar on them and it will kill the weeds, just pull them from the ground once they brown. Be careful not to pour or splash though on the plants you do want!
Azaleas, hydrangeas and gardenias and other acid loving plants will benefit from a vinegar drink. A cup of vinegar mixed with a gallon of water works great.
If you want to increase acidity in your soil, add some vinegar to your water can and pour on the soil.
Get rid of ants and ant hills by pouring white vinegar directly on the spots.
Kill slugs by spraying with an equal mix of water and vinegar.
Keep cut flowers fresh longer by adding two parts vinegar and one part sugar to the water they are in.
Health:
To help with itchy bug bites, soak a cotton ball in vinegar and rub on the itch.
To soothe a sunburn, pour some vinegar into a spray bottle and spray on the burn, I like to keep the bottle in the fridge, the cold vinegar feels even better.
Homemade facial toner can be made by mixing equal parts vinegar with water and dabbed on face with a cotton ball.
As an antiseptic, pour some vinegar on cuts and scrapes.
Use as an aftershave if store bought commercial ones hurt your skin.
