Vinegar Is Your New All-Purpose Home Cleaner

Love vinegar on salad? Well, maybe save a little bit on the side for some other ingenious (inedible) uses.

While it doesn’t always have the most pleasing scent, vinegar definitely has scores of smart uses in and around the house. Additional uses for vinegar can be broken up into three categories – cleaning, beautifying, and refreshing.

First off is cleaning. White vinegar is a strong all-purpose cleaner. Either use pure vinegar or to save some money, a solution of vinegar mixed with water. This mix can be be used to make wood floors sparkle and shine, to kill germs in the bathroom (don’t pretend the toilet is always squeaky clean), to neutralize odors and stains in the fridge, and just to eliminate overall odors pretty much anywhere. It doesn’t take a lot of vinegar, just a couple of tablespoons or perhaps a cupful, depending on the size of the job.  And don’t worry, that vinegar smell doesn’t stick around for long.

Using vinegar as part of a beauty routine might seem intimidating, but it’s surprisingly simple (and not too smelly) to do. A vinegar/water mix makes the perfect clarifying rinse for hair. Just rinse hair with vinegar, leave in for a few minutes and wash out. For super shiny hair, leave the rinse in hair overnight. Add half a cup of vinegar to a warm bath to create an at-home spa. This mixture will naturally exfoliate skin, getting rid of dead cells on the surface. Additionally, soaking feet in a warm vinegar bath helps to keep them smooth and soft all year long.

Finally, vinegar is amazing for refreshing and restoring things around the house. Soak a shower head in vinegar to clean out buildup and grime and restore water pressure. Add a vinegar and water mix to a spray bottle and use it to neutralize odors on fabrics (curtains, carpets, etc.) throughout the house. Finally, use vinegar to remove stains and surface scratches. This is especially useful for those with pets who tend to leave their business around the house. Vinegar removes the stain and neutralizes the odor.

Vinegar might seem most at-home on a salad or that order of French fries, but it’s really about-the-home that vinegar makes the biggest splash.