Vinegar: one simple cleaning product for the maintenance of the whole house
Why would you unnecessarily complicate your life by buying thousands of different household products, if only one is amply sufficient to obtain exactly the same result?
The advertising would like to make us believe that we need a different cleaning product for every little household task. Just take a look under the sink of your kitchen, in the cupboard of your laundry room, or at the rack of your garage, and count the number of toxic products that not only are remarkably expensive but often also are completely inefficient, to understand how well-settled this dupery really is.
Eliminating undesirable odors, disinfecting, degreasing, cleaning surfaces... the world of maintenance had no secret for our grandmothers, as they had a powerful, non toxic and cheap weapon: vinegar.
Everyone knows that lime cannot resist to vinegar, but did you also know that vinegar is also remarkably effective against persistent soap residues and troublesome fungi in your bathroom? Or that only a few centilitres of vinegar are sufficient to soften your laundry? That vinegar easily solves stains and sticky residues? That vinegar is also extremely effective against the most persistent weeds? And this are only a few random examples..
Vinegar not only is a super powerful alternative Mr. Clean, it also is a truly inexhaustible cleaning product that disinfects, degreases, softens, cleans, expells, uncloges, whitens, conserves, deodorises, neutralises, and thorougly takes care of your wole house! In short, if you know how to use it, vinegar is a simply irreplaceable miracle solution.
But what is this underestimated cleaning super hero made of? And what is its story?
The English word "vinegar" is derived from the Old French "vinaigre", composed of "vin" (wine) and "aigre" (sour). However, vinegar is a solution of acetic acid in water. Historians say vinegar is known and used since some 5000 years. First it was used as a disinfectant, as a condiment or as a food preservative. Since Antiquity vinegar is also used as a drink (water with a bit of vinegar) as well as a chemical product to alter metals. The "industrial" use of vinegar dates back to the 19th century.
Vinegar originally is the product of bacteria that change the molecules of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) into acetic acid following this formula:
CH3CH2OH (ethanol) + O2 (oxygene) -> CH3COOH (acetic acid) + H2O (water).
The bacteria that are responsible for this transformation were first discovered by Louis Pasteur, and are very common: every light alcohol (wine, for example) that is for a long enough time exposed to the ambiant air at room temperature will turn into vinegar.
However, a distinction has to be made between "natural" vinegar alcohol, that is obtained through the acetic fermentation, as exposed above, and the synthetic vinegar that is industrially made through a chemical reaction. This last type of vinegar is made through the following simplified formula : CH3OH + CO -> CH3COOH.
Consequently, the "organic" vinegar is a natural vinegar that is necessarily made from an organic alcohol.
Severaltypes of natural vinegar can be differentiated: white vinegar (made from sugar beets or cereals), wine, cidre, beer, etc.., depending on the precise production process and on the ingredients that are used. By extension, the aromatised vinegars with different perfumes (raspberry vinegar, for example) are alcohol vinegars that have been completed with diverse essences through maceration or simple addition.
Vinegar is characterised by its degree of acidity. The exact degree of acidity represents the mass proportion of the acetic acid in the water. For the household (vinegar is also called "household vinegar" for marketing purposes, but in reality it is simple vinegar), there is vinegar at 7, 8, 10, 12 or 14 degrees. The higher the degree of acidity, the more effective the vinegar is. In other words, if you need 100ml of vinegar at 7°, you can simply use 50 ml of vinegar at 14° for the same result. It's up to you to decide what is more economical..
Today there also exists vinegar gel, which means that the vinegar is made more viscous by the addition of a thickener, like for example xanthan gum. As a gel, vinegar better adheres to the surfaces, thus increasing its working time and efficiency.
You can't wait to read more? Discover here how to efficiently use vinegar! Success guaranteed!
1 A multifunctional cleaning agent for daily maintenance
Fill a vaporizer with 75 ml vinegar and 500 ml water. You can also nicely perfume it, by letting some pine tree branches or peels of citrus fruits macerate in the vinegar for about 14 days.
- This cleaning mix can be used to clean all types of different surfaces - except for lime surfaces, because vinegar damages lime! In order to clean the surface, you simply have to humidify a cloth and rub the surface.
- It can also be used to neutralize the possibly undesirable odours of your upholstery (curtains, pillows, chairs..), to remove sticky dust from it, or to revive its colours. In order to do so, simply humidify a cloth with your self-made vinegar cleaning mix.
- Also very effective to clean your refrigerator or your sink: spray your cleaning mix, let it work for a while, and finally scrub the dirt away.
2 Unclog water pipes
- Pour 4 tbsp. of baking soda and 1 little glass of vinegar in the opening of the clogged pipe. Immediately after having done so, you have to cover the opening as long as foam comes out of it.
- Next rince it with hot water.
- Repeat the treatment, and use a plumber's snake or a plunger before pouring the baking soda and the vinegar into the water pipe, if needed. Just be patient, because it works, and it is harmless and completely non-toxic.
3 Stain remover for cloths and walls
- Pour or apply some pure vinegar on persistent pencil, mustard or ink stains.
- Rub the stain with a toothbrush
- Wash the cloth as usually or rinse the wall
4 Stain remover for nicotine stains on walls
- Wash the wall with pure vinegar
- Don't forget to ventilate the room while doing so
5 Effective solvent to remove glue and chewing gum
- Warm a bit of vinegar in a cup
- Humidify the sticker or the glue trace it left with the warm vinegar, wait a few seconds and rub
- If you rather have to remove chewing gum, that got stuck in your hair or on your clothes, for example: first put an ice cube on it and next pour the warm vinegar on it. Success guaranteed!
6 Fabric softener and colour amplifier
- Pour a little glass of vinegar in the softener compartment of your washing machine
The vinegar not only helps you to avoid the discolouration of your laundry, it also fights soap stains, softens your laundry, amplifies its colours, and reduces the static electricity.
Tip: let a piece of coloured laundry soak in a mix of water and vinegar (with a lot of vinegar) during one night: this will naturally amplify its colours
7 Antirust solution
Let the rusty object soak in pure vinegar for a few hours, next rub it with a toothbrush, and finally rinse it.
Use an iron sponge for the most persistent rust stains
8 A natural preservative for cut flowers
Simply put one tbsp. of vinegar and a piece of sugar in the bottom of the flower vase before filling it with water.
Tip: you can also use pure vinegar to remove the lime stains at the inside of the vase.
9 Cleaning solution for jewels and metals*
Refurbish your bronze, brass or copper that has become dull through the years:
- Mix 4 tbsp. of vinegar with 1 tbsp. of salt
- Apply the mix on the metal
- Rinse it with warm water
- Rub it with a cloth
Silver:
- Let the silver object soak in 4 tbsp. vinegar and 1 tbsp. baking soda
- Rinse it with water
- Rub it with a soft cloth
Gold:
- Cover the gold object with vinegar for approx. 1 hour, and rinse it
*Pay attention! Don't use vinegar on pearls!
10 Cleaning solution for windows
Vinegar, a microfiber cloth and water should be enough.
11 Herbicide
Simply sprinkle pure vinegar on the weed. Preferably in sunny weather, as the sunlight accelerates the process.
12 Insect repellent
- add 1 tsp. of vinegar per liter of water to the dog bowl (approx. 20 kg) in order to repell fleas and ticks
- vaporize vinegar on your doorsteps and on your window-sills in order to repell ants
13 Cleaning solution and disinfectant for the kitchen
Simply put some pure vinegar on your chopping boards, in your garbage cans, ... etc.
In order to clean your microwave: let a bit of vinegar boil in a cup, and use it to disinfect the inside of the microwave, or to remove hard food scraps.
For the classic oven: sprinkle vinegar and baking soda in it, let it work for a night, finally scrap it with a wooden ustensil and clean it.
If you want to clean your coffee maker or your iron: put 4 tbsp. in its reservoir and fill it with water. Let it work, empty it, and rinse it.
You can also let your stained coffeecups soak in vinegar during one night. For the persistent stains, baking soda is a soft and effective agent that will perfectly complete the working of the vinegar.
14 Disinfectant for bathroom and toilets
With the multifunctional solution mentionned above (1) you can easily dissolve persistent soap stains.
Decalcify with pure vinegar, and use a toothbrush to treat stains that are very peristent or hard to reach.
Sprinkle vinegar in the toilets and next clean it by rubbing. Dissolve the most persistent stains with vinegar combined with baking soda, let it work, and rub.
15 Deodorizer
Place a bowl with vinegar in a room in order to remove undesirable odours (paint, vomit, smoke...) and ventilate it.
16 Repellent for domestic animals
Sprinkle a bit of vinegar on the places where your pet shouldn't scratch, urinate or gnaw on.
Now it's your turn. Sort your toxic and useless cleaning products, give them to others, thus helping them to avoid buying new ones, and replace them with natural, simple and economical alternatives.