Tag Archives: nontoxic

Vinegar, what is it good for, just about everything!

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I do not like to clean. I do not like to use harmful or smelly chemicals in my home. I do not like to spend a lot of money on cleaning supplies. I do love a clean home though. After my son was born, these positions grew deeper. I needed to find non-toxic, easy and inexpensive ways to clean my home. I always used vinegar to clean glass but I started to explore it further. It was already in my kitchen, it’s used on food – thus non-toxic, and it was inexpensive. I started to use it in the bathroom, kitchen and then found it was an excellent cleanser for just about everything. Now I always have a spray bottle filled with a mixture of 1:1 white vinegar and water handy. I use it as some would use “Fantastic” or “409.”

Vinegar is an acid that neutralizes alkaline substances such as scale from hard water. It is also a disinfectant and antifungal.

Here’s what I use the 1:1 white vinegar and water solution in a spray bottle for:

  • Cutting the grease, soap scum, hard water deposits and dirt all over the house
    • Cleaning windows
    • Countertops and stovetops
    • Disinfecting cutting boards
    • All purpose floor cleaner
    • Bathrooms – for disinfecting and removing/killing mold and mildew
  • Removing hard water mineral build-up
    • Remove your showerhead and soak it in 1:1 solution of vinegar and water over night – like a miracle when you reattach the showerhead, water will flow through all the holes once again
    • Soak a cloth in 1:1 solution and lay it on objects with mineral buildup, leave over night, it should scrub off easily the next day – if not, leave it on for another day and try again. Patience is always important if you don’t like to scrub.
    • Clean out your electric drip coffee maker – run a 1:1 solution through a cycle and then run straight water through again
  • Removing mold from leather – spray on, wipe off and then let it sit out in the sun. You may want to rub some olive oil into the leather afterward to condition the leather, so it won’t dry out.
  • Carpet cleaner and deodorizing pet smells. Once a dog pees on the carpet they tend to go back to the same place, vinegar will destroy the scent so they won’t return to the scene of the crime.
  • Removing wallpaper, borders and labels that stick on. Spray anything you want the glue to release, let stand for at least 10 minutes or more then pull off. If some residue remains, spray again and if you’re patient, the glue will release with time and with very little effort. The vinegar breaks down the bond in the glue.

Uses for straight White Vinegar:

  • Use instead of a rinse aid for your dishwasher
  • Laundry – add a cup of vinegar during the rinse cycle and it will soften your clothes and prevent clinging.
  • WEED KILLER! I was very excited to learn yet another use for our old friend at the Northeast Organic Farmers Association in Saratoga Springs few years ago.

I loved the idea as I enjoy foraging our lawn for herbs to put into our salad, and using toxic chemicals is not an option to rid our lawn of uninvited plants. I typically enjoy watching and eating the weeds coming into our lawn but I simply cannot find affection for Bull Thistle. It hurts to walk on! I have tried digging the young seedlings up but their roots grow too deep, so I end up leaving craters everywhere. Now I pour a ½ cup of white vinegar into the base of the rosette, to saturate the root…and within one day, it is obvious that it has killed the plant. White vinegar does it again and now the bull thistle is eradicated without adding poison to our lawn.

 

Bye Bye Thistle!

What do you use white vinegar for? Please share and I will continue to share.

 

 

 

Not Just for Baking

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So who doesn’t have baking soda in their home? Anyone? Anyone? I didn’t think so. I bet most people even have an open box in their refrigerator. But, beyond baking and removing odors from the refrigerator, baking soda is another amazing household ingredient that is simply often ignored.

Baking soda, aka sodium bicarbonate, helps regulate pH.  When baking soda comes in contact with either an acidic or an alkaline substance, it neutralizes that pH. Beyond that, baking soda has the ability to retard further changes in the pH balance, known as buffering. This dual capability of neutralizing and buffering allows baking soda to do wonderful things like neutralize acidic odors (like in the refrigerator) as well as maintain neutral pH (like in your laundry water, which helps boost your detergent’s power). It’s a simple reaction, but one that has far-reaching effects for a number of cleaning and deodorizing tasks.

 Here’s what I use baking soda for:

  • It is a gentle non-abrasive cleanser, which is great for scrubbing kitchens, bathrooms, and fiberglass.
  • Cleaning sterling silver – add a little bit of water to some baking soda, make a paste, then rub it all over your jewelry or silverware, it gets into all the fine detailed areas that a polishing cloth seems to miss; after all the tarnish is removed, simply rinse off and dry.
  • To deodorize carpets – sprinkle on the carpet, let stand for 10 minutes and vacuum up.
  • To deodorize the refrigerator and freezer – put a cup of baking soda in an open container and leave in the back, replace every couple of months.
  • Add it to toothpaste for an added whitener.
  • Add a cup to the wash, it removes perspiration odors; neutralize some chemical smells along with brightening and softening the clothes. Your laundry will look brighter and smell fresher.
  • For skin irritations like poison ivy, measles or chicken pox – add a half cup of baking soda to a bathtub full of warm water and soak. The baking soda will help relieve the itching and irritation as well as help soften skin.
  • Add some baking soda and hot water to a pan with burnt-on food, let it soak and then clean it with a lot less effort.
  • Keep cut flowers fresh longer by adding a teaspoon to the water in the vase.
  • Sprinkle it inside stinky shoes, litter box, or the garbage can to soak up odors.

One of the most amazing things about baking soda is that it’s cheap. You can do all these things for a very small cost. Baking soda is truly a miracle product, whether it’s used for baking or not.

What do you use baking soda for? Please share and I will continue to share my journey with it.