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Eco-Cleaning Essentials: 22 Surprising Uses of White Vinegar

Vinegar might be the most versatile household ingredient ever. Sure, we all know it’s great for salad dressings and pickling vegetables, but vinegar is also one of the world’s oldest and most time-tested cleaning products.

Researchers note that the earliest instances of vinegar being used as a cleaning agent date back to more than 2,000 years ago. Today, the substance is plentiful (and cheap!), and its powerful properties still can’t be understated. Thanks to its high (but not too high) acidity levels, vinegar is an all-star cleaning agent that can scour, disinfect, and deodorize. It’s also eco-friendly, made via a simple fermentation process that contains no harsh chemicals.

If you’re not already on the vinegar bandwagon, let me, a proud vinegar enthusiast, show you some of the many things you can do with it.

1. Soften Fabric

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Image Credit: All About Space/Shutterstock.

Vinegar is a great alternative to commercial fabric softeners. Just a small amount added to your laundry relaxes the fibers in your clothes, making them feel soft. It’s also great for preventing mildew and bad smells.

However, be careful not to use vinegar in your washing machine all the time or in large quantities. Frequent, intense vinegar use can damage seals and pipes, but it shouldn’t harm your machine if you’re frugal about how much you use.

2. Brighten Clothes

Piles of clothes on bed in bedroom
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Vinegar also has a brightening effect on lighter clothes. Unlike bleach, it won’t stain darker clothes or dry out fabrics. That makes it the perfect, eco-friendly laundry alternative to store-bought brighteners and whiteners.

3. Unclog Drains

Sink Drain and Stopper
Image Credit: WikiCommons.

With the help of vinegar and its trusty sidekick, baking soda, you can easily dissolve the gunk in your sink or shower, which causes it to drain slowly. I personally use this technique every few weeks to keep my sinks clear.

First, pour a few cups of hot water down the sink to warm up the pipes. Then, add equal parts baking soda and vinegar to the drain (it’s easier to add baking soda first). The mixture will bubble up like a DIY volcano before settling.

Let the vinegar and baking soda go to work for at least 10 minutes before rinsing with more hot water. Turn the water back on, and voila! Your sink should be draining faster now, but you can repeat the process a few more times if the water still goes down slowly.

4. Kill Mold

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Due to its high acidity, vinegar can kill many types of household mold (though not all of them). Spraying or scrubbing a moldy area with undiluted vinegar, then letting it soak for an hour or longer, can help remove spores and ensure they won’t grow back.

Just be sure not to use vinegar on surfaces that can be damaged by it, such as unfinished wood floors and stone countertops.

5. Disinfect a Humidifier

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Humidifiers are great for keeping your skin and airways from drying out in the winter. They’re also a paradise for bacteria and mold.

Frequently rinsing your humidifier with a 50/50 vinegar and water solution can help keep fungal and bacterial growth at bay. The EPA recommends cleaning out your humidifier every three days.

Vinegar can also effectively descale your humidifier, too, if you live in an area with hard water.

6. Descale a Kettle

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Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Speaking of descaling, you might also notice limescale buildup inside your kettle if you use one frequently. Pouring a mix of equal parts vinegar and water into the kettle and boiling it should remove the residue handily without the need for much scrubbing.

7. De-Gunk a Microwave

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If you regularly use a microwave, you know how nasty they can get. Bits of dried-up food often fling around while cooking and sticking to the sides, door, and rotating plate.

Instead of frustratingly scrubbing at old food stains, try microwaving a bowl of water with a few tablespoons of vinegar in it for a few minutes. Once the mixture begins to boil, turn off the microwave and let the bowl sit. You’ll see the microwave get nice and steamy inside. You can then take the bowl out and wipe down your microwave much more easily.

8. Scrape off Burnt Food

Burnt pan
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Just like the microwave, food stuck on pots and pans can be a pain to remove. By boiling a mixture of water and vinegar in your dirty pots and pans, you can easily soften food residue so that it’s easier to scrape off.

Some baking soda can help loosen up the gunk, too, once the water is boiling.

9. Remove Sticky Stuff

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Trying to remove a bumper sticker? Try brushing it with vinegar and then letting it sit for a few minutes. The sticker should peel right off much easier after that. Vinegar can also break down sticky seals in other places, like if you’re trying to remove old gum from the bottom of a desk.

10. Erase Sweat Smells and Stains

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Vinegar is a natural deodorizer. If you notice sweat stains on your workout gear or have clothes that are just plain smelly, try soaking them in a diluted vinegar bath. Then, you can throw them in the laundry with your other clothes to make them smell fresh again.

11. Unclog a Steamer

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Sometimes, the hand-me-downs we get aren’t always in the best shape. When I was in college, I was gifted a very old steam iron that was clogged up with limescale. So I put a 50/50 water and vinegar mix in the water reservoir and let the iron heat up.

Once it was ready, I steamed a piece of scrap fabric until the limescale started to soften up. Then, I scraped the rest of it out with a Q-tip (after turning the iron off).

12. Clean a Bird Feeder

Humming birds at a bird feeder
Image Credit: WikiCommons.

When feathered friends visit your backyard feeder, they bring lots of germs along with them. Too much can create an environment where birds can get sick, which is why organizations like the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources recommend that you thoroughly clean your feeder every month.

A vinegar soak can help remove a lot of these germs, including bacteria and mold growth. But remember — vinegar doesn’t kill everything, which is why sometimes it’s a better option to clean with a stronger solution such as bleach.

13. Deodorize a Fridge

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When it’s time to clean your fridge, try spraying it down with a 50/50 vinegar and water mix. This gentle cleaner not only removes food stains and residue but also strips away odors, thanks to vinegar’s smell-killing properties.

14. Shine Jewelry

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The acid in vinegar can remove the tarnish on silver jewelry, restoring its natural shine. You can submerge your pieces in undiluted vinegar and let them soak for a few hours. This process shouldn’t damage jewelry since vinegar is gentle enough on gemstones.

15. Clean a Wound

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Vinegar has been used for thousands of years as an antiseptic. It has enough acid in it to kill bacteria that might infect you after getting a cut or scrape. You can apply undiluted vinegar to disinfect a wound, but some dermatologists recommend diluting it first with water if you have sensitive skin.

16. Freshen up Smelly Shoes

woman holding smelly shoes
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Foot sweat is no joke, especially in hot weather. If your shoes start to stink, try mixing equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle and gently spritzing your shoes after each wear. Nike even recommends this as a way to keep your athletic shoes smelling better for longer.

17. Wipe Down Electronics

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You might be (understandably) hesitant to put an acidic solution on your screens or keyboards. Some electronics can safely be wiped down with a diluted solution of 50% water and 50% vinegar. Samsung recommends this as a way to remove stuck-on food stains from monitors.

18. Clean a Toilet Tank

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If your toilet bowl gets dirty quickly, it could signify that your toilet tank needs to be cleaned. You can pour some vinegar into the tank and let it sit overnight before flushing, or let it soak for a few hours before scrubbing it with a sponge or brush.

19. Wash Floors

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Many floors can be safely cleaned with vinegar, water, and a mop. Just mix a gallon of water with a half cup of vinegar to clean food residue and dirt off of tile and sealed hardwood. Be careful to stay away from unfinished wood and stone with your vinegar solution.

20. Scour Brick

Brick wall
Image Credit: Pawel Wozniak/WikiCommons.

Vinegar can help remove dirt and stains from indoor and outdoor brickwork. The Home Depot recommends putting half and half vinegar and water in a spray bottle and spritzing the brick. Then, let it sit for just a few minutes before spritzing again and scrubbing. You can then rinse the brick with a baking soda solution to neutralize acids in the vinegar, and then wash the brick with warm water.

21. Wash out Pet Bowls

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Vinegar is a safe way to get your dog or cat’s food bowls squeaky clean while killing bacteria. It’s especially great for stainless steel bowls, which can easily withstand the acidity of vinegar.

Try pouring warm water into each stainless steel bowl and adding a few tablespoons of vinegar. Then, let the solution soak for up to an hour. You can then rinse and wash with dish soap if you prefer an extra clean bowl.

22. Clean (Almost) Everything

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You can make an all-purpose solution for almost any surface in your house with just vinegar and water. Get a spray bottle and fill it with equal parts water and vinegar. You can also add essential oils to neutralize the vinegar’s potent smell. Voila! You have an eco-friendly DIY cleaner that you can grab whenever you need it.

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