Vinegar Is Not Just For Dying Easter Eggs

That bottle of distilled white vinegar you have in your pantry can be used all year long, not just on Easter to dye those eggs. It has many uses as a green cleaner, and will save you lots of money in purchasing those high priced over the counter green cleaners:

 Appliance Cleaning With Vinegar:

1.)      Microwave: Tired of those awful stains in your microwave? You can clean them off with vinegar. Put a half cup of water and half a cup of white distilled vinegar in a microwave safe container like a Pyrex® measuring cup. Boil it in the microwave. Be cautious as the mixture is hot, so wear gloves, and then wipe the surfaces clean with a natural sponge or micro fiber cloth. Also removes odor.

2.)      Get rid of Mineral Deposits in Coffee Makers
Fill the water reservoir with 1 cup or more of white distilled vinegar and run it through a whole cycle. Run it once or twice more with plain water to rinse clean. (Check the owners’ manual first.) Another quick tip to clean the coffee pot when it is not in use is to put an inch high layer of ice cubes and pour the vinegar into the pot until is covers all the ice.  Swirl the mixture around the pot and it will loosen the coffee stains from the sides.  Sponge clean and rinse.

3.)      Cleaning Your Computer:  Vacuum, that’s right, vacuum your computer screen and keyboard with the bristle nozzle attachment (make sure your computer is off).  When you are finished take a damp COTTON cloth (to avoid static) and give it a light spritz of a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water from your spray bottle onto the damp cloth.  Wipe down your screen, keyboard, mouse, cables and desktop too.

 What Vinegar Can Do In Your Car:

1. Clean the car’s interior with a mix of vinegar and water, equal parts.
2. Polish the chrome with a cotton cloth on the outside.
3. Put a bowl of vinegar in your car overnight to remove odor.
4. In the winter, coat your automobile’s windows with vinegar. It will prevent frost.
5. It also works as a windshield cleaner.
6. Spray a mix of equal parts water and vinegar on any road salt stains on the carpet. Blot with towel.

Kill The Mold:
Straight vinegar reportedly kills 82 percent of mold. Pour some white distilled vinegar straight into a spray bottle, spray on the moldy area, and let set without rinsing if you can put up with the smell. It will dissipate in a few hours.

Laundry Tips

Cleaning Towels:

Get rid of mildew in towels: Detergent traps mildew within the fibers of your towels.  To help eliminate this mildew, wash the towels in the hotest water possible and substitute the detergent with vinegar.  Repeat once.

Blood on Clothes:

Pour hydrogen peroxide on blood and rinse with cold water. If some blood remains, repeat.

Glitter on Clothing:

That new sparkly shirt shedding glitter all over the place? Spray with aerosol hair spray to make it stay put. Wash separately from other clothes, or at least wash it inside out if you must wash with other articles of clothing. 

Gum on Clothing:

Use egg whites to remove gum on clothing. Brush egg white onto gum with a toothbrush. Let sit for 15 minutes and then launder on the items normally. 

 Grease Stains:

Sprinkle a generous amount of cornstarch or baby powder over the grease stain when it occurs, allow it to sit for a couple of minutes, then brush the powder off. The powder absorbs the grease and it brushes off with the powder.

Lipstick:

Use petroleum jelly for removing lipstick stains. Another possibility is to rub in a little vegetable shortening and then launder as normal. 

 Dryer Tip:

Include a few tennis balls (new) in each dryer cycle. The tennis balls not only cut drying time by 25% – 50%, but also fluff the clothes to a delicate softness, and towels with be especially fluffy.

Wash your underwear seperately from all other clothes, and wash these in hot water, again using vinegar as a disenfectant.  Not to be gross here, but by doing this you eliminate the chance of transferring bacteria to your skin by keeping these items seperate.