Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Works-For-Me Wednesday!



I was originally going to continue on with last week's theme and talk about some more kitchen utensils that I use for many different things but then, as oftentimes happens, something else came up! :)

I'm SO excited about this, I could pee my pants. Or maybe that's just all that water I drank this morning. Well, either way, here's my Works-For-Me Wednesday trick for this week:

VINEGAR!!!

I have heard that many people use vinegar for lots of things around the house but I had never tried it myself. I mean, vinegar smells bad, right?

Well, we've been having a problem for quite a while with our laundry smelling kind of...well....sour. Mostly just the kitchen towels/rags and the kids clothes. I know, it's gross. You can say it. Anyway, after a prompting from my hubby this weekend, I looked online to see what other people had to say about this issue. Vinegar in the washing machine was one of the solutions I found. It was the least expensive solution proposed and I already had it on hand. I heard it worked as a fabric softener too so I thought I'd give it a try. I mean, what could it hurt?

My clothes came out smelling....like....FRESHNESS! I couldn't believe the difference! And they were soft! Softer than usual!

Our laundry will no longer smell bad! I will no longer be purchasing fabric softener but rather vinegar! BY THE CASE. I have yet to see what it will do for any other aspect of cleaning around the house, but I'm anxious to try it out!

What other uses have you found for vinegar??

13 comments:

Amy said...

Vinegar is a great glass cleaner. It also works well to clean the innards of the coffee maker (run plain water through a cycle or two after you run the vinegar).

Anonymous said...

Soaking clothes in water with vinegar added removes smoky smell. After my apartment burned, I tried this with clothes I had salvaged from the burned apartment. It worked great. This was one use I found when I searched online for uses for vinegar.

Anonymous said...

You might also check your washing machine for the source of the sour smell even though the vinegar is making the clothes smell good. My machine had a build up of fabric softener that was really sour!! We pulled up the top of the machine and cleaned all around the tub. Once the build up was gone, so was the smell. Barb Hansen

Meghann said...

I use vinegar to clean my fridge. It works well and I don't have to worry about it being close to my food like I would with bleach.

Tracy said...

Vinegar as a fabric softener, how interesting! I just might have to try it myself.

Rock, Paper, Scissors said...

I love using vinegar for cleaning the bathroom. I keep a spray bottle in the shower and spray it down after I get done showering. It completely keeps the hard water stains and soap scum away.

To lessen the sharp smell of vinegar sprinkle with some baking soda- a natural deodorizer. Both vinegar and baking soda work wonders, but together- really you don't need anything else.

daisygirl said...

Welcome to the world of Vinegar! I use it all over the place. I keep a spray bottle of half vinegar/half water and use it for the dry erase board, window/mirror cleaner, small carpet stains, wiping down the table, spraying it on dishes that may have sat for a day (it breaks it right up and makes cleaning a breeeze!), and I buy vinegar buy the gallon and go through a gallon about a week and a half. I use it in the wash - it's excellent for removing "accident" smells from little boy clothing/sheets and for general freshness. I also use it in the dishwasher as it helps to remove soap scum from the dishes.

Personally, it's a whole new mindset of cleaning. I'm always trying it on something new to see if it works. BTW, I've found it's cheapest at Wal-mart if you buy store brand.

Miney said...

Does it smell a lot while the washer is running? Greg is SO anti-vinegar that he would be pretty unhappy if he could smell it in the house.

Heidi Stone said...

Wow! This is a great response! Thanks for all your helpful suggestions, everyone!

MINEY:

First of all, LOVE your name. :) Secondly, no. I have never noticed any odor. Now, our washer and dryer are usually closed off behind the closet doors but even when they were open I have not noticed anything. You could always give it a try and see if he notices. If he does and he doesn't care for it, then just don't do it anymore. I wouldn't mention it and just see if he smells it when he walks in. I mean, he can't be mad for THAT long....right? ;)

Miney said...

Well, if I cook anything with vinegar in it or anything vinegar-ish (like steak sauce or worcestershire sauce), he makes a face when he first walks in and then asks what the smell is. If I'm evasive, then he'll start asking things like, "Is there something that's gone bad in the refrigerator?" And if he knows it's vinegar, he'll periodically make a disgusted face and look at me... :) But I might try it first thing in the morning after he leaves for work one day.

I was very sad when Jacob stopped calling me Miney.

Vickie said...

I use vinegar and really hot water in my carpet steamer. It makes your carpet squeaky clean and it removes stains.

I'm gonna try it in the wash and dishwasher.

daisygirl said...

It also works great in the spray bottle I mentioned to clean soap scum around faucetts. I also just used it this morning to get dry erase marker off the wall. Gotta love 2 year olds....

Anonymous said...

OK...I must admit that I've never used vinegar to clean, mainly because of the smell. But after reading all of the comments here, I am definitely going to try the spray bottle idea as well using it in the wash and dishwasher. I knew it was good for glass, but no the others. Thanks for this post and the suggestions here! Since I'm attempting to be more green this can help me.