Cleaning with natural ingredients - Part 1 Vinegar

Using natural ingredients to clean with is one of the things that seems to be a widely spoken about topic so here is some information that I have discovered and would like to share.

 

Vinegar is one of the favourite cleaning agents for a variety of reasons. It will kill both salmonella and E.coli, two bacteria you’ll want to avoid. Consequently, white vinegar can be used to clean loads of things around your home. Here are just a few suggestions for what you can clean with vinegar.

In the kitchen:

• Clean your coffeemachine: Run the machine with equal parts water and vinegar. Halfway through the cycle, turn it off and let it sit for 1 hour. Then complete the cycle.
• Unblock a drain: Squirt some grease-fighting washing up liquid into the drain followed by at least 1 cup of boiling water. Next, pour in 1 cup of bicarbonate of soda and then 1 cup of white vinegar. After the bicarbonate of soda/vinegar mixture stops fizzing, wait an additional 5 minutes. Flush the drain with 2 cups of boiling water. ( I have tried this and it did actually work!)

In the bathroom:

• Remove mineral deposits from a showerhead: Disconnect the showerhead. Using an old toothbrush, scrub it with vinegar to loosen debris. Use a toothpick to poke out stubborn deposits. Then soak the showerhead in a bowl of white vinegar overnight. In the morning, rinse the showerhead and reconnect it.
• Prevent mould in the shower: Spray vinegar on shower walls and curtains whenever they get wet.

Throughout the home:

• Clean windows: Mix 1 cup vinegar with 1 cup water. Spray solution on windows and wipe dry. If windows are very grimy, use full-strength, warm white vinegar. Spray it on windows and let it soak for a couple of minutes before rinsing and drying.
• Remove mould from walls: Spray vinegar on walls, let sit for 15 minutes, rinse and let dry.
• Washing machine maintenance: add some white vinegar and some Bicarbonate of soda to each wash.

Miscellaneous:

• Remove sticker residue: Soak a rag in vinegar and lay it across the sticky area. Let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe off the loosened residue. ( This one looks interesting, I will give it a go, I am always having trouble getting labels off glass jars!)

I like the feeling I get when using natural products to clean with of knowing that I am not putting nasty chemicals into the water system along with the added bonus of saving money too!  A bottle of vinegar is under a euro to buy, the only downside is the plastic bottle but they can be recycled! So a win win situation!!

The blog song of today is "Don´t stop me now" by Queen ( I love it)

TTFN