Vinegar Don'ts

Before we start cleaning with vinegar, let's discuss how we should not use it. Vinegar is an acid and can strip wax from wood furniture and the finish off your wood floors. It can also damage stone surfaces. So, avoid cleaning wood and stone with vinegar. Never clean out your iron with vinegar as it will damage the iron. And don't use vinegar in your dishwasher as it will damage the rubber parts of your unit.

NEVER mix vinegar and bleach, because this mixture creates a toxic chlorine gas. Although, many  recommend putting vinegar, alone, in with laundry, beware that it can damage the rubber parts of your washing machine as it does in the dishwasher. The last "never" about vinegar today is mixing it with baking soda and using it inside your drains. I've actually heard that can damage your pipes. So, my recommendation is to NOT use this combination in your household drains/pipes.

So, use vinegar and baking soda on non-scratch surfaces only. And always test inconspicuous areas before using this mixture on any surface just to be sure it isn't too abrasive or acidic for the item you're cleaning. There are proper ways to mix these 2 together, and I'll test them on items around the house to see if they work as they are rumored to.

Something else I've heard about vinegar - to reduce that gross smell - is to add essential oils to the vinegar. I'm not so convinced anything will help reduce that vinegar smell. Plus, the oils are, well, oily. That might defeat your purpose and simply cover an area with oil as well as vinegar. I'm currently trying to think of a reason to try the essential oils in vinegar, though, that won't cause an oily mess. If I do think of anything, I'll let you know if it did reduce that foul smell of the vinegar. In my experience so far, just rinsing thoroughly with water does a pretty good job at reducing that pungent odor.

I can't test everything I come across, but I will test what I can and give you a report on how well vinegar and mixtures with vinegar actually work - not just something you read in a book or on the internet. After a few vinegar tests, we'll move on to other natural cleaners. 

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Have a blessed day,

Patricia