A month or so ago I was doing a rapid fire cleaning of my apartment because someone was coming over. I had vacuumed and noticed that there was a gray-ish stain right in the middle of our carpet. I was out of resolve and there wasn't enough time to run to the store. It was about the size of the palm of my hand and couldn't be ignored. I went to the internet to see if I could find an at home solution for a quick fix. One post read "Mix one tablespoon of vinegar with 10 tablespoons of water, wet the stained area, rub with a rag." I had vinegar on hand and got to it. Let's just say that my hopes were low but it was better than nothing. It worked! And it worked really well. You couldn't even tell that the stain had been there. I was shocked.
When I started potty training Grace I decided to use my vinegar mixture, instead of buying resolve, for her accidents. I doubled the recipe and put it in a spray bottle I had on hand. It worked beautifully. On one unfortunate occasion, Grace was sitting at the table and had an accident. Our chairs are microfiber and despite my best cleaning efforts, there were many other stains on them. I thought to myself "I'll do my best to clean up the mess and then I should really re-cover these chair seats." With vinegar water I scrubbed the whole seat. As it dried I noticed that the mixture not only cleaned Grace's mess, but it cleared up all the other stains on the seat. I was floored.
I decided to put it to the ultimate test. I would clean my entire apartment, top to bottom with the mixture. Spray bottle and rag in hand.
It cleaned:
-Carpet
-Tile floor
-Countertops
-Sinks
-Metal fixtures
-Mirrors
-Toilets
-Bathrooms
-Stove top (cuts through grease really well)
Not only did it clean everything in my apartment, but it did a better job cleaning than any other product I have ever used. Why did I never know about this before? Why didn't anyone tell me that I could buy a bottle of vinegar and a $1 Spray bottle from Target and clean my house for an entire year?
Who knew that 1Tbsp of Vinegar and 10 Tbsp of water could work such magic. I'm converted.
11 comments:
Neat! Do you still use pledge for furniture/leather? I'm assuming vinegar isn't the best for those. I will definitely have to give it a try.
Man, I really let you down as a mother, didn't I?
Ooooh, I need to try that on our couches! I'm becoming a convert of the natural cleaning products, especially professional grade bleach. You can clean/sanitize/disinfect everything with that stuff. And it's only $3.00 for 96oz.
I am totally with you on the vinegar, besides bathrooms, but I'm sure it could work in there too, right? Anyway, I love the stuff, it worked wonders on the carpets for the babies spit up. Only drawback, the smell, but I don't even care about that when it's natural and SUPER cheap! I love your mom's comment, haha, my mom feels the same way as I am discovering things that she has done her whole life and never let me in on
Thank you for this post, i am down to just windex at the moment (which in a pinch does work well on counter tops i've learned!) and had various cleaners on my grocery list. Even my vacuum is broken at the moment, luckily Gabe's grandparents who live next door let me borrow theirs . I hate cleaning the stove top because i feel like i never can get it clean, now i need to try this! Now do i stop the laundry roll i am on to try vinegar cleaning? ah tough life.
This just cracks me up!
My parents use water and vinegar on their boat to clean all the lake junk off the outside of the boat (every stinkin' time, at that...).
I also love putting straight up rubbing alcohol in a squirt bottle to clean stuff. It works wonders on mirrors, with NO streaks on mirrors. That's what we use at the salon... Plus, it smells "cleaner" than vinegar.
I too sing the praises of vinegar. I tried it in the dishwasher and boy what a difference!
I had a similar experience recently. I was helping my sister in law to clean her bathroom and this mixture didn't quiet to the trick to cut the soap scum. We added a little bit of ammonia and it worked wonders. Also, the best thing for getting any hard water off of shower doors is fabric softener.
Well, considering that none of us ever used the one main ingredient in the Hinckley Hall closet (ahem, Vinegar) I think you've re-discovered something that just might save some stubborn stains on my carpet. :)
I feel like i just stepped into some alternate universe of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" where instead of Windex people are spraying vinegar on everything
I'm so trying this tomorrow! We have a microfiber couch and 3 kids, not a pretty site! Did your apartment smell like vinegar when you were done? Just wondering ;0) Thanks for the lesson!
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