10 Ways to Use Vinegar

Vinegar is a mild acid that is made from oxidizing ethanol such as wine, cider, beer, fermented fruit juices, or other liquids that contain alcohol. Vinegar is inexpensive and friendly to the environment.

My grandmother taught me that vinegar has many uses. Vinegar was one of her favorite things to use around the house. Here are 10 ways to use vinegar.

1. Drains - Pour a cup of baking soda down the drain followed by a cup of distilled white vinegar. When the fizzing stops, flush with hot water. Your drain will be clean and deodorized. This also helps to speed up a slow drain.

2. Cleaning - Bathrooms, kitchen counters, and stained plastic food containers can be cleaned and deodorized with full strength or diluted white vinegar. You can put vinegar in a spray bottle and use it like other spray cleaners. Vinegar is cheaper and less toxic than most cleaning solutions.

3. Rust - Loosen rusted metal on tools, toys, spigots, and bolts by soaking with full strength distilled white vinegar. My friend was having trouble taking apart the A-frame that she uses for her dog agility classes. I poured a little white vinegar on the rusted screws. The screws loosened right up.

4. Laundry - Add a cup of white vinegar to each load of laundry to decrease the build up of soap residue in the mechanical parts of your machine. The vinegar will also deodorize your laundry and help prevent lint from sticking to your clothes.

5. Cooking - Vinegar will remove both onion odor and fruit stains from your hands. Pour some vinegar over your hands. Then, you can wash your hands with soap and water.

6. Cats - Vinegar will remove the odor of cat urine. Cats do not like the way vinegar smells. They will avoid urinating in areas that are sprayed with vinegar. A newspaper or rag soaked with vinegar will help keep cats out of your flowerbeds.

7. Garden - Hot distilled white vinegar can be use to kill the grass and weeds that grow through the cracks in the cement.

8. Hair - After washing and conditioning your hair, rinse your hair with diluted vinegar. Mix half a cup of vinegar into a quart of water. White vinegar works well for blonds. Apple cider vinegar is recommended for brunettes. Pour the diluted vinegar over your hair. Rinse your hair with water to remove the vinegar smell. Your hair will shine and be easy to comb.

9. Nails - Soak your hands and feet in distilled white vinegar to kill fungus and undesirable microbes. The vinegar will clean your nails and make them less likely to break. Some people use full strength distilled white vinegar to soak their nails. If the smell bothers you, try diluting the vinegar with water.

10. Hot spots - If your dog tends to develop hot spots, try applying a little apple cider vinegar to the area with a cotton ball. The hot spots on my dogs respond well to apple cider vinegar. If the hot spot does not go away within a day, I would take my dog to see the animal doctor. So far, I have had good luck with the vinegar treatment. The hot spots disappear within a day of applying apple cider vinegar to the area.