Good to Know! I

Over 70 Uses for Vinegar - Health, Cleaning & More

Using Vinegar for BEAUTY, HAIR & BATH:

1. In your bathwater.Add ½ cup of vinegar or so to warm bath water when bathing and get double benefits – softer skin and a cleaner bathtub with less work!
2. Hair Conditioner: vinegar makes a simple, inexpensive conditioner for your hair and helps remove the sticky stuff shampoo can leave behind. About a tablespoon will do it.
3. Dandruff Treatment: Simply pour a few Tablespoons of vinegar on your hair and massage into your scalp. Wait a few minutes, then rinse and wash hair like normal. Try this for a few days until you see results.
4. Weight Loss: Vinegar naturally helps to remove fat from the body - apple cider vinegar is especially good for this. Drink some in a glass of water a few times a day, and add a little lemon or honey for a nicer flavor. This will also help reduce your appetite.
5. Cracked, dry skin: Smooth a little vinegar on dried skin to help it heal.
6. Clean dentures: Soak dentures overnight in Heinz White Vinegar, then brush away tartar with a toothbrush.
7. Facial spritzer: mix 1/2 apple cider vinegar and 1/2 water into a spray bottle. Refreshing!
8. Hair Cleanser: Take 1 cup of vinegar and warm water into a large glass and use to rinse your hair after you shampoo. Vinegar adds highlights to brunette hair, restores the acid mantel, and removes soap film and sebum oil.
9. Longer lasting pantyhose: Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the rinse water when washing and your pantyhose will last longer!
10. Toenail Fungus: Treatment: Another use for vinegar.......Soak your feet in a strong solution of vinegar and water at least daily to get rid of toenail fungus.

Using Vinegar for CLEANING

1. Cleans Glass: Mixed with water or simply sprayed full-strength on glass and mirrors, vinegar does a great job quickly and easily. Simply wipe windows dry with crumpled-up newspapers and watch your windows sparkle.
2. Clean your car: Use it full-strength to polish car chrome with a cloth and see it shine! Use it on your car’s windshield and windows, too.
3. Cleans drinking glasses: Soak cloudy drinking glasses in warmed white vinegar for a few hours to remove the film, simply wipe clean, rinse, and dry.
4. Clean your washing machine: Periodically run a gallon of distilled vinegar through your washing machine to clean it thoroughly, get rid of soap scum, and clear out the hoses. Run the machine through the warm water wash cycle empty and then add the vinegar during the rinse cycle.
5. Furniture Polish: Make your own furniture polish with one part vinegar and three parts lemon oil or olive oil.
6. Remove price tags or stickers: Paint them with several coats of vinegar and let it soak in. Depending what you are removing them off of is whether they'll slide off easily or require a little heavier rubbing.
7. Clean your IRON: Put vinegar in the water holder and let it steam itself clean. Remember to flush it with water when you are done.
8. Clean paintbrushes: Simmer paintbrushes in pure vinegar, then wash in hot soapy water.
9. Wash walls: Wipe down your walls with a vinegar-water mixture and it will help absorb odors and clean the surfaces.
10. Remove spots from glass: Use a vinegar-soaked cloth to remove spots from any glassware or crystal.
11. Unclog drains: Pour boiling white vinegar down clogged drains to remove the clog!
12. Clean jars: Remove odors and stains from jars by cleaning them out with vinegar.
13. Clean an old lunchbox: Soak a piece of bread in vinegar and let it sit in the lunchbox over night.
14. Clean and deodorize a garbage disposal: Make vinegar ice cubes and feed them down the disposal. After grinding, run cold water through
15. Teapot cleaning: Boil a mixture of water and vinegar in the teapot. Wipe away the grime.
16. Dishwasher cleaning: Run a cup of vinegar through the whole cycle once a month to reduce soap build up on the inner mechanisms and on glassware.
17. Microwaves: Boil a solution of 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of water in the microwave. Will loosen splattered on food and deodorize.
18. Remove smoke smells from clothing: Add a cup of vinegar to a bath tub of hot water. Hang clothes above the steam.
19. Clean eyeglasses: Wipe each lens with a drop of vinegar.
20. Remove stains from furniture and upholstery: Remove stubborn stains from furniture upholstery and clothes. Apply Heinz White Vinegar directly to the stain, then wash as directed by the manufacturer's instructions.
21. Natural air deodorizer: Heinz Vinegar is a natural air freshener when sprayed in a room.
22. Remove rust: Soak the rusted tool, bolt, or spigot in undiluted Heinz White Vinegar overnight.
23. Toilet bowl: Pour in one cup of Heinz White Vinegar, let it stand for five minutes, and flush.
24. Brighten fabrics: Add a 1/2 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle.
25. Natural cleaning wipes: A cloth soaked with vinegar for sanitizing kitchen counters, stove, and bathroom surfaces. This is just as effective as the anti-bacterial products and does not promote resistant strains like the commercial products can, this is also a cheaper and greener way to protect your loved ones.
26. Remove lint from laundry: Add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle.
27. Remove grease from suede: Dip a toothbrush in vinegar and gently brush over grease spot.
28. Remove perspiration stains from clothing: Apply one part vinegar to four parts water, then rinse.
29. Clean coffee or tea stains from china: A mixture of salt and vinegar will clean coffee and tea stains from chinaware.
30. Clean coffeepots and coffee makers: Vinegar can help to dissolve mineral deposits that collect in automatic drip coffee makers. Fill the reservoir with vinegar and run it through a brewing cycle. Rinse thoroughly with water when the cycle is finished.
31. Fabric Softener Replacement: Use vinegar in place of fabric softener in the laundry. Use the same amount as fabric softener plus twice the amount of water (so 2 parts water, 1 part vinegar) and put it in the fabric softener dispenser. Clothes come out soft and scent free. It also helps reduce static!
32. General Household Cleaner: Keep some vinegar diluted in a spray bottle. Use this for wiping down counter tops (at night only so smell goes away) and cleaning up carpet stains in combo with Oxygen Cleaner (generic OxyClean).
33. Removes smoke stains from walls: To remove nicotine from walls before painting, always use vinegar in hot water. Will remove stains and the nicotine will not bleed through the paint. It is especially good in bathrooms, where there is a lot of steam from showers. Be very careful to use rubber gloves because the nicotine will absorb into the skin and you will get the same effect as smoking.

Using Vinegar for FOOD & COOKING

1. Cheese Storage: Cheese will last longer if you store it in a vinegar-soaked cloth.
2. Whiter Cauliflower: Add a teaspoon or so of white vinegar to your cooking water while cooking cauliflower - it will retain a whiter color.
3. Ketchup: Only have a little ketchup left in the bottle? Add a bit of vinegar and give it a good shake and you'll have a bit more!
4. Boiling Eggs: Add a bit of white vinegar to the water you're boiling your eggs in, and the shells won't crack.
5. Cooking Cabbage: Add a bit of vinegar to the water you're cooking your cabbage in to remove that stinky cabbage smell.
6. Fluffier Meringues: Add 1 teaspoon vinegar for every three egg whites and you'll have fluffier meringues.
7. Tenderize Meat: Soak in vinegar over night.
8. Unsticky Rice: To cook rice without sticking add a spoon full of vinegar in it.
9. Remove onion odors from skin: Eliminate onion odor by rubbing vinegar on your fingers before and after slicing.
10. Disinfect/clean cutting boards: Clean and disinfect wood cutting boards by wiping with full strength vinegar.
11. Make buttermilk: Add a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand 5 minutes to thicken.
12. Potato Cooking Water: Add 1 teaspoon to the water when you are boiling potatoes to avoid them going black. Note this does not apply to potatoes that are freshly dug or new. This works on potatoes that have been in storage over the winter.

Using Vinegar for GARDENING & YARD

1. Clay Pot Cleaning: Remove white salt buildup on old clay pots by soaking them in full strength vinegar.
2. Kills grass: Undiluted vinegar will kill grass between bricks and sidewalk cracks.
3. Kills weeds: Spray full strength on weeds - be careful not to spray it on the surrounding grass as it will kill that too.
4. Deter Ants: Spray vinegar around doors, appliances, and along other areas where ants are known to gather.
5. Keep Cats Away: Sprinkle vinegar on areas you don't want the cat walking, sleeping, or scratching on.
6. Freshen Cut Flowers: Add 2 tablespoons vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar for each quart of water.

Using Vinegar for HEALTH

1. Suffering from a sore throat? Mix a teaspoon vinegar with a glass of water. Gargle with the mixture and then swallow.
2. Remove calluses: Try soaking your feet in a combination of white vinegar and warm water nightly and watch your feet soften noticeably.
3. Sunburned Skin: Soak a washcloth in vinegar and gently apply it to sunburned skin for cool relief. Reapply as needed as it evaporates. Besides sunburn, vinegar also soothes the itch and irritation of bee stings!
4. Arthritis Tonic: Two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water, several times a day.
5. Jellyfish Stings: Dot the irritation with vinegar and relieve itching.
6. Sinus Infections and Head Colds: Add 1/4 cup or more vinegar to the vaporizer.
7. Wart Removal: Mix one part Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar to one part glycerin into a lotion and apply daily to warts until they dissolve.
8. Soothe an upset stomach: Drink two teaspoons Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar in one cup water to soothe an upset stomach.
9. Mosquito bites: Use a cotton ball to dab mosquito and other bug bites with Heinz Vinegar straight from the bottle.

Using Vinegar for PETS & ANIMALS

1. Pet's drinking water: Add a teaspoon of vinegar to your pet's drinking water to encourage a shinier coat, and reduce odor.
2. Remove skunk odor: Use vinegar straight to remove skunk odor from your pet's fur.
3. Stop your cat's scratching furniture: Sprinkle or spray vinegar on areas you don't want the cat scratching on.
4. Fish bowl cleaner: Eliminate that ugly deposit in the gold fish tank by rubbing it with a cloth dipped in vinegar and rinsing well.
5. Remove pet stains from carpets: Blot up urine with a soft cloth, flush several times with lukewarm water, then apply a mixture of equal parts vinegar and cool water. Blot up, rinse, and let dry.
6. Clean pets cages: Use a mixture of 50% White Vinegar and 50% Water in a spray bottle to clean pet cages. It disinfects and deodorizes it and is much cheaper than the commercial products.
7. Stops dogs scratching: The cat scratch tip works for dogs as well.

From: http://www.kitchencraftsnmore.net/vinegar.html