Vinegar: The Do-It-All Liquid
Are you sick of buying a new product or chemical for everything your home throws at you?
Well, we?re excited to tell you that there is a solution -- a do-it-all product that?s cheap, easily found, and can tackle pretty much any job around your home and office. We?re talking about the wonderful liquid known as vinegar. ?And contrary to what most people think, it has plenty of effective uses outside of just cleaning.?
So hop in your car, pick up some vinegar and see what items you can cross off your to-do list in a couple hours!
Photo by cjmartin via Flickr
?
Window Defroster
If you live in an area that drops below freezing, you?ve encountered the annoying event of frosty automobile windows. Typically, this requires you to vigorously scrape each window to remove the frost. But by using vinegar, you can effortlessly remove the frost from your car windows in a matter of seconds.
Photo by Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr
Here?s how:
Supplies:
Photo by bagsgroove via Flickr
Soak rags, paper towels, or newspaper in white vinegar for a couple of hours. Then cut them up into small pieces and hang them on and around the area you?re trying to protect. They solution usually lasts about 7 days, so reapply frequently to ensure its effectiveness as an animal deterrent.
Remove Carpet Stains
One of the best uses for vinegar is as a stain remover. Whether or not you?re already using this method, it?s too useful for us to leave off of the list.
Photo by Stephani Spitzer via Flickr
There are plenty of variations of this cleaning method around, but we?ve found that simply dabbing and lightly scrubbing the stained area of carpet with white vinegar works sufficiently. If you?ve found a stain that?s a little more stubborn, try adding a little baking soda or Dawn dish soap to the mixture. ?
Clean a Clogged Shower Head
If you have hard water or have owned a shower head long enough, it?s bound to become clogged with calcium and other minerals. You don?t have to continue to live with low or uneven pressure.
Photo by John Loo via Flickr
Detach your shower head and place it in a bowl or bag filled with white vinegar. Make sure it?s completely submerged and let it soak for about 24 hours. Once it?s done soaking, rinse it in warm water to remove any excess vinegar and reinstall it back in your shower-- it should work like new!
?
Clean Lawn Mower Blades
Here?s one of the many reasons you should keep a bottle of white vinegar stocked in your shop: It can be used to clean and maintain your lawn mower blades.
Photo by miggslives via Flickr
After you finish mowing your lawn and your engine has cooled down, take minute to wipe off the grass and bugs from your blades with a vinegar-soaked rag. Doing this prolongs the life of your edge, the blades and prevents rust from forming. Plus, it?s always nice to have the cleanest lawnmower on the block.
Remove Rust
Photo by 19secondslow via Flickr
There is hope for the tools you?ve allowed to rust over by leaving them in the elements for too long. The acidity of vinegar eats away rust from metals, so bathing them in white vinegar for a couple days will restore their original finish.
?
Degrease and Clean HVAC Systems
It?s no secret that your furnace and air conditioner need proper upkeep to perform at their best. But did you know that many of the maintenance steps can be completed with the use of a little vinegar?
Photo by wanye's eye view via Flickr
A dirty HVAC filter doesn?t always have to be replaced immediately. A simple cleaning may prolong the filters life for a couple more months:
Photo by cjmartin via Flickr
?
Window Defroster
If you live in an area that drops below freezing, you?ve encountered the annoying event of frosty automobile windows. Typically, this requires you to vigorously scrape each window to remove the frost. But by using vinegar, you can effortlessly remove the frost from your car windows in a matter of seconds.
Photo by Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr
Here?s how:
Supplies:
- Spray Bottle
- White Vinegar
- Water
Photo by bagsgroove via Flickr
Soak rags, paper towels, or newspaper in white vinegar for a couple of hours. Then cut them up into small pieces and hang them on and around the area you?re trying to protect. They solution usually lasts about 7 days, so reapply frequently to ensure its effectiveness as an animal deterrent.
Remove Carpet Stains
One of the best uses for vinegar is as a stain remover. Whether or not you?re already using this method, it?s too useful for us to leave off of the list.
Photo by Stephani Spitzer via Flickr
There are plenty of variations of this cleaning method around, but we?ve found that simply dabbing and lightly scrubbing the stained area of carpet with white vinegar works sufficiently. If you?ve found a stain that?s a little more stubborn, try adding a little baking soda or Dawn dish soap to the mixture. ?
Clean a Clogged Shower Head
If you have hard water or have owned a shower head long enough, it?s bound to become clogged with calcium and other minerals. You don?t have to continue to live with low or uneven pressure.
Photo by John Loo via Flickr
Detach your shower head and place it in a bowl or bag filled with white vinegar. Make sure it?s completely submerged and let it soak for about 24 hours. Once it?s done soaking, rinse it in warm water to remove any excess vinegar and reinstall it back in your shower-- it should work like new!
?
Clean Lawn Mower Blades
Here?s one of the many reasons you should keep a bottle of white vinegar stocked in your shop: It can be used to clean and maintain your lawn mower blades.
Photo by miggslives via Flickr
After you finish mowing your lawn and your engine has cooled down, take minute to wipe off the grass and bugs from your blades with a vinegar-soaked rag. Doing this prolongs the life of your edge, the blades and prevents rust from forming. Plus, it?s always nice to have the cleanest lawnmower on the block.
Remove Rust
Photo by 19secondslow via Flickr
There is hope for the tools you?ve allowed to rust over by leaving them in the elements for too long. The acidity of vinegar eats away rust from metals, so bathing them in white vinegar for a couple days will restore their original finish.
?
Degrease and Clean HVAC Systems
It?s no secret that your furnace and air conditioner need proper upkeep to perform at their best. But did you know that many of the maintenance steps can be completed with the use of a little vinegar?
Photo by wanye's eye view via Flickr
A dirty HVAC filter doesn?t always have to be replaced immediately. A simple cleaning may prolong the filters life for a couple more months:
- Soak your filters in white vinegar for about 1-2 hours to remove imbedded dirt and grime.
- Hang on a clothes line to allow them to completely dry.
- Once dry, reinstall them back into your HVAC system.
WRITTEN BY
EREPLACE CONTENT TEAM
Comprised of creative, experienced video producers, writers, and graphic designers, the eReplacementParts.com Content Team is focused on using their diverse knowledge base to create high-quality informative content to achieve our simple mission: Help the world fix things. Whether it be through tips, guides, or hacks, we ensure that every piece of content includes only expert knowledge, to guarantee that you can do the job right the first time!
PUBLISHED ON
July 08, 2013