50 Uses For Vinegar

One of my favourite cleaning agents is vinegar. It is cheap and cuts through anything; however, even I was amazed at the number of ways vinegar can be used.

1. Used as a hair rinse, vinegar neutralizes the alkali left by shampoos.

2. A quarter cup in a quart of water makes a good window cleaner. Dry with newspaper for sparkling windows.

3. Fabric softener and static cling reducer - use as you would liquid fabric softener.

4. Air freshener, used with baking soda - use 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon vinegar and 2 cups of water. After it stops foaming, mix well, and use in a (recycled) spray bottle into the air.

5. Chewing gum dissolver - saturate the area with vinegar. If the vinegar is heated, it will work faster.

6. Stain remover - for stains caused by grass, coffee, tea, fruits and berries. Soak clothing in full strength vinegar.

7. Corn and callus remover - soak a piece of stale bread (a cloth would probably do as well) in vinegar, and tape it over the callus or corn overnight.

8. Remedy for age spots - Mix equal parts of onion juice and vinegar and use it daily on age spots. This will take a few weeks to work, just like its expensive relative from the store.

9. Kill grass or weeds by pouring hot vinegar on it. This might take a couple of times to work completely. Use white vinegar straight from the bottle to pour on the weeds and grasses that come up through the pavement...Just pour on and let set a couple of days and the weeds will die back and won't reappear for several months.

10. Wash your windshield with vinegar in the winter to help keep ice and frost away.

11. If you have a septic tank, use vinegar instead of harsh chemicals to clean the toilet bowl. Let it set overnight if you can; it will help keep germs down.

12. Spray your hands with a mist of vinegar, or dip them in vinegar and dry after washing dishes or having them in soapy water to keep your hands soft.

13. It's an ongoing battle as to whether vinegar can help you lose weight, but the ones who say it will, say to drink a glass of water before each meal in which you've added a tablespoon of vinegar and a tablespoon of honey. Traditional wisdom says to use apple-cider vinegar for weight loss.

14. Use diluted 1:1 in water to take pet odors out of carpets. Find the spot, and saturate it with about 1 1/2 times the original volume. Let set for awhile then blot up. Repeat if your cloth is very dirty after blotting.

15. Splash vinegar on your varicose veins. The vinegar is supposed to reduce the veins and relieve the pain and swelling. Of course, you might smell like a tossed salad!

16. Use about a tablespoon of vinegar in the water when poaching eggs. It helps the eggs to keep their shape. No taste of vinegar either.

17. Use 1 tablespoon vinegar to an 8 ounce glass of warm water for a sore throat. Gargle every hour and swallow after gargling, with two mouthfuls.

18. It is also helpful when children get lice, if you take warm vinegar and put it on the hair also take your nit comb and dip it in the vinegar. As you run it through the hair it helps remove the nits. It is supposed to be able to help break down the glue the nits use to stay attached to the hair.

19. Set a container (shallow bowl) of vinegar throughout the house to absorb unpleasant odors. Works great on burned food odors.

20. Use vinegar and olive oil as a frugal dressing with a selection of herbs on your
salad.

21. Do you sometimes burn the fish or the toast? Vinegar in a towel, twirled about the head will quickly stop the smoke detectors from screaming. It also freshens the air, and captures the smoke smell before the whole house is caught.

22. Put vinegar on white bread around a house to get rid of smoke smell from a fire.

23. You can use vinegar to remove wall paper. First remove top layer of wallpaper. Then spray vinegar on and let set for a minute or two. Then pull backing away. Scrape excess glue off wall. Wipe remaining glue off with vinegar and rinse with water.

24. Keep it in mind when cleaning the walls after removing wallpaper: I use vinegar water (2-3 parts vinegar to 1 part water) to remove (new or old)wall paper paste. Add more vinegar as needed if the paste is really stubborn.

25. Vinegar can be used as an antiseptic for abrasions,to reduce itch from poison ivy or mosquito bites,and even to help rehydrate sunburned skin.

26. Use it diluted 50/50 as a skin cleanser as most soaps are alkaline as compared to skin ph.

27. On a different note, most meat marinades are most effective if acidic, so an extra few spoonfuls of vinegar can't hurt.

28. On heavily tarnished copper or copper-alloy to be cleaned up, use a paste made of salt and vinegar.

29. Use white (not apple cider) vinegar mixed with water to rinse off the dishes after washing them to take the soap off and leave them squeaky clean. This also takes the soap residue off of my hands at the same time.

30. Give acid-loving plants like azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas and gardenias a little help by watering them with a white distilled vinegar solution now and again. A cup of white distilled vinegar to a gallon of tap water is a good mixture.

31. Pour vinegar around the sides of your pool and it helps keeps flies away.

32. Add 1/2 cup vinegar to a gal. of water to keep your vinyl no wax floors clean and shining. It also kills dust mites.

33. Use as a meat tenderizer. Add a tablespoon to water when boiling ribs or meat for stews; and, even the toughest meat will be so tender you can cut with a fork.

34. One teaspoon to one tablespoon of vinegar gets rid of hiccups. Gargling with cider vinegar will stop the most horrible case of hiccups!

35. Vinegar is great for removing calcium deposit build up. Use full strength and allow to set. Time depends on condition.

36. Sunburn Remedies: At bedtime, cover sunburns with a towel soaked in water and vinegar and try to persuade the victim to sleep this way. During the day, put vinegar in a spray bottle and spray on sunburn. It soothes for quite a length of time. Just like store bought stuff. To relieve swelling and fluid from too much sun, mix a paste of baking soda and apple cider vinegar and apply. Tan enthusiasts swear that spraying with a mixture of half water, half red wine vinegar on their skin while tanning lessens the time needed and deepens the tan.

37. Use 2 cups of cider vinegar in the tub to soak sore muscles and add potassium to muscles.

38. Use for a throat soother. Take equal amounts of honey and cider vinegar, stir or shake until dissolved. Take a tablespoon at a time to cut mucous in the throat.

39. Heat vinegar to boiling point. Then pour over your fixtures that have deposits of lime. This will release or remove lime deposits.

40. Use a cup of vinegar in two gallons of water in the diaper pail to neutralize the urine in cloth diapers. It also helps keep them from staining.

41. Keep a spray bottle of 50% vinegar, 50% water near the laundry station. Spray it on stains before tossing the clothing into the washer (just as you would a commercial spray stain remover). As a carpet spot and stain remover - take a trigger spray bottle and fill with one part white vinegar to seven parts water. Take a second spray bottle and fill with one part white, non-sudsy ammonia and seven parts water. Saturate stain with vinegar solution. Let dwell for a few minutes and blot thoroughly with a clean, white cloth. Then go over the area with the ammonia solution, let dwell and blot again. Repeat until the stain is gone. Also works for pet stains to help remove the odors.

42. Preserve cut flowers and liven droopy ones by adding 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar to a quart of water in a vase.

43. Stop ants from congregating by pouring white distilled vinegar on the area.

44. When boiling or steaming cauliflower, beets or other vegetables, add a teaspoon or two of white distilled vinegar to the water to help them keep their color. This will also improve their taste, and reduce gassy elements. This also works when cooking beans and bean dishes.

45. Vinegar in drinking water is very effective in eliminating the low-grade fevers that are present in Chronic Fatigue sufferers. It also helps eliminate the 'thrush' coating in the mouth which is sometimes caused by antibiotic use. Mix four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to a gallon of drinking water. Drink up to one gallon each day.

46. Add a splash of vinegar, a tablespoon or so, to the water when you hardboil eggs. If one cracks, it will not boil out of the shell.

47. Add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to a quart of drinking water. Helps to deal with heat stress. Also helps to repel mosquitoes.

48. Add moistness and taste to any chocolate cake—homemade or from a box—with a spoonful of white distilled vinegar.

49. Give leather upholstery an extra shine by cleaning it with hot white distilled vinegar and rinsing with soapy water.

50. If you use cloth diapers for your baby, add 1 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle to neutralize the ph of the diapers and help prevent diaper rash.