Vinegar is one of the most eco- and budget-friendly cleaners around. While it packs a potent smell, you can put together your own mix of 1:1 vinegar and water, and add a few drops of your favourite essential oils to produce a customized cleaner with a boost of fresh fragrance.
Also, while the smell is quite pungent, it is far less irritating than bleach, thus providing a great germ and dirt-fighting cleaning bleach alternative. Often dubbed the miracle cleaner by dirt and germ-haters, here we offer ten places around your home that you can clean with vinegar, and eight places to avoid doing so.
10 Things You Can Clean With Vinegar
First, let’s look at ten places you can clean with vinegar:
1. Kitchen sink
Vinegar is great for cleaning your kitchen sink, as it is food-safe. Once the cleaning is finished, you can rinse the smell down the drain.
2. Stovetop
Vinegar is very acidic, so it can cut through greasy messes on stovetops. For extra buildup, spray the vinegar onto the surface and then let it sit for about fifteen minutes before wiping it away.
3. Sheet pans
Sheet pans start to look discoloured as they get older. You can use a half cup of baking soda with a half cup of white vinegar on your sheet pans for thirty minutes to create a bubbly cleaner that makes short work of greasy stains. Rinse it away with hot water. Then, scrub any remaining stains with a scouring pad.
4. Pots and pans
If you have messes stuck onto your stainless steel or enamel pots and pans, boil vinegar and water in them for about five minutes. This will dissolve the stains, and then you can toss them in the dishwasher or sink to finish washing them.
5. Microwave
Pour equal parts vinegar and water into a microwave-safe bowl, and then run it in the microwave for about five minutes. This creates a potent steam that loosens the remains of microwave accidents. Wipe away the residue with a clean sponge.
6. Coffee makers and tea kettles
Get rid of mineral buildup in your coffee maker and kettle with equal parts vinegar and water mixture. Just fill the reservoir, and run it like you would when making coffee or boiling water for tea to descale the reservoir. Dump the vinegar mixture in the sink, and repeat with fresh water to rinse away the residue.
7. Blender/food processor
Give your half-and-half water/vinegar mixture a whiz in your food processor or blender before cleaning and rinsing the parts.
8. Cloudy wine glasses
The instant evaporation of vinegar rids you of watermarks on wine glasses caused by minerals. Use undiluted white vinegar to remove those tell-tale marks, and then rinse with hot water.
9. Plastic cutting board
Plastic cutting boards are a breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Water and white vinegar will kill the germs, as this mixture is a powerful natural disinfectant that is food-safe.
10. Spice grinder
Stainless steel spice grinders leave behind oils that can ruin the purity of your spices. Strongly fragrant seeds like cumin or spicy ingredients like dried hot peppers are particularly potent. You can wipe your spice grinder down with white vinegar and then let it dry to thoroughly remove the fragrant oils.
8 Things to Avoid Cleaning With Vinegar
No matter what you read about the safety of using vinegar as a natural cleaner, there are still several things that are not very vinegar friendly. Here are eight things you should never clean with vinegar:
1. Knives
The term “please take your knives and go” shows you how vital knives are to cooking. To care for your knives, only use dish soap and warm water to clean them. Anything else, especially vinegar, can corrode them and make them dull.
2. Marble and granite countertops
It’s not uncommon to assume that because vinegar is natural, it will be safer to use on your marble or granite countertops than countertop cleaners. However, the acid in vinegar is very harmful to natural stone.
3. Ceramic tiles
Do not use vinegar on your ceramic tiles. Instead, use gentle dish soap. When you are concerned about germs, vinegar is not the answer. Your antibacterial dish soap is the safest bet to kill germs and bacteria and avoid damaging ceramic surfaces.
4. Eggs
If you slosh eggs while cooking, never wipe them up with vinegar. It actually causes a reaction that hardens the eggs, thus making it much harder to get up the slime.
5. Wood
Earlier, we mentioned using vinegar to clean plastic cutting boards, but you should never use it on wood. Also, always avoid using pure vinegar if you want to clean greasy messes on delicate wood furniture. Instead, make a half-and-half mix of oil and vinegar to create a natural wood-safe polish.
6. Dishwasher
This one is controversial because many people swear by vinegar as the ultimate dishwasher cleaner. However, they can’t see the corrosive effect the vinegar is having on the rubber parts of the dishwasher. Vinegar is very harmful to rubber, causing it to crack and shrink. This messes up the integrity of the dishwasher, causing issues from malfunctions to leaks.
7. Device screens
Your computer monitor and device screens have a protective coating that vinegar will damage. It’s safer to use isopropyl alcohol if you are worried about germs. However, because these devices are so expensive, stick to what the manufacturer recommends for cleaning and care.
8. Washing machine
Never add a dash of vinegar to your laundry in the hopes of killing germs and reducing odours. Doing so is very harmful to your washing machine. Only use products made for laundry to remove stains and odours from clothes.
These tips will help you to maintain the things that are vinegar-safe, and clean and protect everything else from damage.
Maid4Condo’s house cleaning services offer expert cleaning for every surface in your home. For more information, you can call us at 647-822-0601 or contact us online.
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