I used to have an “under the sink” full of cleaners. They usually were whatever I had coupons for and they were only supposed to be used on one area of my house.
Kitchen cleaner, floor cleaner, bathroom cleaner, wipes, foam, spray, you name it, I had it!
Then I had babies.
As it turns out, babies put everything in their mouth, or their mouths on everything.
That’s when it became super important to me that every surface and object in our house was safe.
Most of the products I had stashed away under my sink were super toxic if ingested. Not only was that dangerous in case they were ever able to get through our baby locks, but also for them to be putting the areas it was used on their mouths.
At first, I started looking down the essential oils route. Well, it turns out that that route is super expensive!
I needed something that would clean well, not break the bank and keep my family healthy. So, when I really got to researching the product I kept seeing in every “homemade” cleaner was vinegar.
Now, vinegar just so happens to be the liquid that I had to drink a spoonful of whenever I said a bad word in the 3rd grade. We haven’t really had that great of a relationship since then. I hadn’t used it for much of anything since having my own home. So, I didn’t know where to start with it.
I made the $1.54 investment and bought a large bottle.
There were already a couple of empty spray bottles under my sink at home. So, I poured about half of a cup of vinegar into one of them, and filled it the rest of the way up with water.
I sprayed it and wiped down all over the high chair, table, counters and any other surfaces over the next few days to have a trial run. Needless to say, that has been 3 months, and I haven’t looked back!
It does such a great job of cleaning up grime and gunk. The vinegar really cuts through dirt that my previous “cleaners” weren’t cutting.
A few questions you may have about using vinegar to clean your home.
- Doesn’t it make your house stink?
Nope. The smell of vinegar is super strong, but after you spray and wipe down, the scent is gone within minutes.
- Can you use it on every surface?
Almost. Make sure your mixture is very diluted if you’re using it on metal (vinegar is super acidic and can eat away at the metal). Egg based messes you’re better off to use soap and water because vinegar solidifies the egg and makes a bigger mess!
It definitely can make granite and other stones lose their shine, so be careful if using it there–maybe use a rubbing alcohol based cleaner instead.
- Does vinegar disinfect?
Yes! Vinegar is a natural disinfectant that kills tons of viruses and bacteria.
- Will it really clean windows without streaks?
You bet. I even read on window manufacturer websites that it is their recommended cleaner since many of the conventional ones can actually attract dust and lint!
How to make your own vinegar cleaning solution:
- Add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to a spray bottle.
- Add 2 cups of very warm water to the bottle.
- Gently shake to combine.
- Spray! You’re ready to go!
What about the bathroom?
Does the vinegar spray really cut through the icky soap scum and grime in the bathroom? Yep.
I use our spray all over the counters, floor, tub, sink, and shower walls. Occasionally, there is a super scummy area that I want a little bit of extra cleaning power.
What do I do in that case?
I use my bathroom cleaning scrubber brush that has one extra ingredient. Dawn dish soap!
I keep a scrub brush with the soap loadable handle in our shower at all times. In the handle, I have mixed 2 parts water, 2 parts vinegar and 1 part dawn dish soap.
This way, the only thing going in my tub where my baby girls get every single night is a product so safe that we literally wash our plates with it!
It really cuts through all of the grime and by keeping it in the shower at all times, messes aren’t built up in the shower anymore!
Deep Cleaning With Vinegar
Of course I think that vinegar is a great daily cleaner, but what about those things that really need a deep clean?
It is perfect!
- Washing Machine: Run a hot cycle in your washing machine and add about a cup of vinegar to either the drum or the soap dispenser.
- Dishwasher: Fill the soap dispenser up with vinegar and run it on a hot setting.
- Garbage Disposal: Pour baking soda into the disposal and follow with vinegar. Let it bubble up and sit for about 10 minutes and then run the disposal. Repeat until you feel it is clean!
- Clogged Shower Head: Fill a ziploc bag with vinegar and rubber band it to your shower head so that all of the nozzles are submerged. Leave overnight, remove in the morning and run water through.
Basically, vinegar is a super hero when it comes to cleaning your house without chemicals!
Try it out and let me know what you think!