6 Ways to Use Vinegar Around the House to Clean

Don't scoff - white vinegar is an amazing all-purpose cleaner! I've posted countless ways here and on the site that you can use vinegar as a cleaner. Here are some of my all-time favorite vinegar tips, hints, recipes & all around good vinegar advice for Happy Slob Housecleaners.

1. Vinegar as an All-Purpose Cleaning Spray - The Very Vinegar Spray is the one I rely on every day! Don't let the vinegar scare you...this is the best cleaning secret you can find, and it costs about 10 cents a bottle to make. Try it! Very Vinegar Spray Recipe
2. Freshen the dishwasher - Just a cup or so in an empty dishwasher will freshen and deodorize your dishwasher naturally. And the acidity will help scrub that dishwasher clean - from the inside out!
3. Remove pet odors and pet urine smells from carpet
4. Freshen up bread boxes Bread Box Refresher
5. A few extra vinegar cleaning tips from a reader: Vinegar Cleaning Tips from Roberta

And remember - to make a fun, natural foaming cleaner, just use some baking soda and vinegar mixed together in a bowl. Kids love cleaning with this foamy cleaner, and it's a lot milder than harsh chemical foam cleaners. Especially good for the toilet...which brings me to tip #6:

6. Clean the Toilet with Vinegar: Pour about a cup in the toilet, give it a good swish around with the toilet brush and close the lid and let sit. Sprinkle with baking soda and then scrub with the toilet brush, and flush the mess away. You should be left with a clean, sparkling toilet bowl!

Removing Cat Urine Odors from Carpets - Organic Cleaning Tips

Looky, looky! I just received this fantastic testimonial on using plain old water and vinegar to get out cat urine smells. And I own two cats, both of whom have had occasional 'oopsies'...so I know very well that particular TANG of cat urine. Ick.


Here's the original post on using water & vinegar to clean carpets: http://www.happyslob.com/carpetsolution.html
Here's the email:

Hi Christina,

I actually used the Steam Cleaning Tip of Hot Water and Vinegar and unbelievably it cleaned out a cat urine smell. (my cat was ill and had an accident).

I had tried the commercial solution and it smelled like flowery cat pee LOL. I used the vinegar and water solution in my machine for 3 days straight and even though the vinegar smelled a little ripe, the end result when it dried was no odor, and the carpet was much brighter overall.

Thanks for the tip!

Lynnette