Eco-Friendly Friday Tips Volume Forty Three
April 17th’s Tip
Distilled White Vinegar: We all know cleaning products and more can be made using products as simple as baking soda, so today, I’ve got some ideas for using white vinegar around the house.
- Fabric softener: Add 1/4-1/2 cup to your laundry as a fabric softener. This will also bring out bright colors of your clothes, as well as remove manufacturing chemicals from new clothes.
- Cans: Remove any potential germs from cans before opening with distilled WV, than rinse with water.
- Cats: Spray the leaves of your plants with equal parts water and distilled WV to keep your cat from eating them. Stop cats from marking territory outside your house by spraying the area with distilled WV and washing away.
- Ants: Find where the ants are coming in, and spray distilled WV (undiluted) in the areas.
- Cooking smells: Boil a small amount of water with 1/4 cup distilled WV to remove cooking smells. You can also leave distilled WV in a bowl on the counter for a few days.
- Produce: Wash produce in a mixture of water and distilled WV, 3:1, to remove pesticide residue. This also kills 98% of bacteria.
More Ideas
For more ideas (A LOT of them!), visit VinegarTips.com. I can almost guarantee you will find an idea there that you will be able to use!
Contribute
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Thanks for the great tips. I have a cat at home and I’m getting tired of him always marking the bushes outside so I’ll be sure to try out this white vinegar trick.
This is really a useful tip. I usually use vinegars to soften the stain on my natural rugs and found it really effective. By the way, thanks for the list.
In my house at many places there are ants coming and i will use this distilled WV and see the results, anyway thanks for the nice post!
Good ideas! But as far as using vinegar as a fabric softener goes, have you ever tried this? I’d be afraid that the vinegar would leave a smell.
thanks forthe wonderful tips of cooking smells. i will definitely use distilled WV.
Since it’s vacation now for my kids, I have so much free to time to do some cleaning around the house.
And vinegar is cheaper than any other cleanser.
Great post, thanks for sharing!
Anna
[quote comment="10200"]Good ideas! But as far as using vinegar as a fabric softener goes, have you ever tried this? I’d be afraid that the vinegar would leave a smell.[/quote]
I was just thinking the same thing. Has anyone tried this?
Thanks for the great tips..i will definitely use distilled WV.
Home made is a great option, but for those who choose to buy, there’s a lot of doubt surrounding which methods/products are truly sustainable and which are just green washing. Check out our myth-busting video “What’s Your Big Green Lie?!” which gives a taste of the widespread ignorance of green issues including cloth VS disposable diapers and indoor air pollutants at http://www.biggreenlies.com
I must say that vinegar is a favorite cleaner of mine. It can clean just about anything is can be used just about anywhere as you suggest.