Before you get sucked into reading about the coolness of vinegar, I want to remind you of the giveaway that’s currently going on through Friday. Read this post for more information and to enter!
Vinegar is the mecca of all-natural cleaning solutions. I think it’s fairly well known that diluted vinegar makes a fantastic all-purpose cleaner (and if you didn’t know before, you do now!). Some of the lesser-known purposes of vinegar include:
- whitens clothes in the laundry (as effective as bleach)
- riding the smell of skunk (works better than tomato juice)
- keeping ants away (spray in their path to divert)
- removing the paint smell from a freshly painted room (place an open container in the room)
- loosens grime and grit on a grill (use just before cleaning)
- unclogs drains (when used with baking soda)
- unclogs soap-scum-filled shower heads (soak shower head in container of vinegar)
- removes stains and “burns” on stainless steel or aluminum cookware
The uses are endless really. It’s almost better to try vinegar as a solution to the problem first, and then try something else. In my research I found 1001 uses for vinegar here. If you’ve got some down time, read up and be enlightened! Who knew vinegar could help rid the stench of soured milk baby vomit in the car!
Not that I would know anything about that last one… ahem.
We’ve been going through a lot of citrus fruits lately…ever since we started drinking smoothies when I received this powerful hunk of machinery for my birthday.
Oh yes, that my loyal readers, is a Blendtec.
Muah-ha-ha!
Just kidding… kinda. It was a birthday present, so it’s technically mine, but we keep it in the kitchen (nope, not the bathroom) so it’s available for the family to use too. And the whole family does! Mr. Crumbs and I make smoothies like crazy and the Boy and Girl like to press “the button.” It’s a family love affair, really. 
My point though, is not how much we love our blender (although we really do), it’s about making your own citrus vinegar without “doing” anything. I love these type of projects!!
Remember when I said we were going through a lot of citrus fruits? Well when I read about various purposes for orange peels, I knew it would be a great idea for other citrus fruits too. Now I have a purpose for those peels!
I took one of my handy dandy empty glass jars and whenever we peeled a citrus for a smoothie, we put the peel in the jar. I filled the jar with white vinegar (bought in bulk at Costco for CHEAP) until the peel was covered and let it sit. Literally. It sits alone on a shelf in my garage. There is no work required by me in order to make this awesome vinegar. See?
We keep adding various citrus of all varieties (it’s held lemon, orange and lime at the same time) and top it off with vinegar. When it’s full (like it was last week), I can use it to mop the floor (1 cup of citrus vinegar to ½ sink of warm water) or dilute it into a spray bottle for an all-natural, all-purpose cleaner, or basically substitute it for any recipe or cleaning solution that calls for white vinegar.
Some of you may be asking – why bother with the citrus? Why not just use straight-up plain white vinegar?
Easy. Because my husband can’t stand the smell.
And I’m not a huge fan either. I can tolerate it fine in small doses, but our house can smell awfully vinegary if we’re doing a mega-cleaning session. This is usually right before company comes over (not that I only clean my house when company comes over) and I don’t really want a big fat whiff of vinegar to hit my company in the face when they walk in the door. I’d rather them smell the bread!
I tested out the solution by mopping the floor last week (as I mentioned above). While standing next to the sink, I could smell a faint hint of vinegar when I poured it in, but then it quickly dissipated. I smelled the same faint smell as I was mopping, but the citrus smell was there too. It wasn’t strong though – my bathroom and kitchen floors didn’t smell like straight-up lemon. Somehow the magical combination of the ingredients simply made the rooms smell “fresh and clean.”
Mr. Crumbs opinion? He couldn’t smell the vinegar at all when he came home.
Mission accomplished!
I’ve been using some mass-produced chemically-altered don’t-drink-it-or-you’ll-die off-the-shelf all-purpose cleaner (yuck) since Mr. Crumbs banned vinegar from the house (which is why I keep it in the garage), but I’m honestly looking forward to tossing that icky stuff and using this newly upgraded citrus vinegar instead. I love the fact that citrus vinegar requires no work from me (have I mentioned that yet?), but my house will smell “clean” instead of “cleaner.” AND I wouldn’t be worried if one of the kids drank the stuff. And when I say “one of the kids,” I really mean The Girl.
She’s a tricky one!
Do you clean with vinegar?
(Note: This post contains my referral link. Read my super-cool disclosure policy here.)
Here’s another way to make a vinegar cleaner: Put any amount of white vinegar in a plastic spray bottle. Heat in microwave till quite hot. Then add 1/2 the amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid. Shake till mixed. You do not need to heat the mixture every time you use it.
Thanks Leona!
Isn’t this stuff the bomb? I have found it to be a brightener also. Our highchair trays were a dingy white color. The stinky stuff (regular vinegar/water) would clean them, but they were always dingy. They brightened right up when I started using citrus vinegar.
*Another use- put a couple of drops of vinegar in the dog’s water bowl, their urine will be neutralized. No more yellow spots where Fido relieved himself!
The brightening affect would explain why it makes whites whiter in the laundry (haven’t tested it myself, nor put two and two together, lol). Wish I knew that dog trick back when we were training our first pup!
I’ve always meant to start cleaning with vineagar but I also can’t stand the smell. I’ll have to try your suggestion.
I just learned about this too! It is so cool. I don’t mind the smell of vinegar but I LOVE citrus! I’m assuming it increases the cleaning power too?
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SO jealous of the Blendtec!!! We’ve been using our blender so much that when it blows maybe we’ll invest in one of these
The citrus DOES help the cleaning power. Our counter tops are this strange laminate where the moment you spill anything colored, it MUST be wiped up or it’ll stain. I’ve been able to remove the daily stains with just the citrus vinegar and a scrubber!
We LOVE the Blendtec! I could give all sorts of recommendations on how to blow up your current machine, but I’m not sure if your family would approve!