10 Ways to Use White Vinegar

As you may know, our house has a) a terrible iron bacteria problem in the water and b) a septic system.  When the iron started making our white clothes brown and making our coffee maker into a nothing maker, I knew we had to do something, and I knew it couldn't involve bleach.

See, bleach is no bueno for septic systems.  Most people, though, can use a normal amount of bleach and never run into problems.  But knowing how our house was built and the behavior of the family the built it, I'm not taking any chances.  


Yes, we use single-ply toilet paper (not because it's cheaper, but because it breaks down faster in the septic tank) and no, we do not wash or flush ANYTHING that was not intended to be washed or flushed.  I'm going to win the lame-o award this year for SURE!

So what's a girl to do when stuff needs cleaning but cleaning one thing might break another?  Enter a cheapo gallon of white vinegar (which I had never bought in my life until we moved here.  True story).

Oh yes, regular white vinegar is the liquid of the gods, sent to rescue budget-minded folk from the dangers of chemical cleaners and the perils of overpriced spray bottles full of insert-carcinogen-here.

Without further ado, let's get to it: Top 10 Ways to Use Vinegar in Your House (in no particular order)

10. Toilet bowl cleaner

Pour a few cups of vinegar into your toilet bowl.  Swish it around and then let it sit while you clean the rest of the bathroom.  Then, sprinkle your toilet brush with baking soda right before you scrub, give it a good scrubbing and then flush.  If your toilet bowl is particularly stained, you might let it sit overnight before giving it the scrub down.  Easy peasy.

9. Wallpaper removal

Score your wallpaper with one of them handy scoring tools.  Then spray a 50/50 solution of HOT water and vinegar onto a small section your wall.  Let it soak for 15-20 minutes.  Peel off.  Some paper will be easier to remove than others.  Be patient.  Or make your kids do it.  Because after all...your solution is non-toxic! 

8. Glass cleaner

Everyone has their own recipe for this, some people using straight vinegar, some diluting it with water, some doing other things.  This is what I do and it works on mirrors and windows.  Even the outside of windows (can you say grime-tastic?):

1/8 cup ammonia

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 tsp dishwashing liquid

1 quart water

Mix and then clean as normal, using crumpled newspaper instead of paper towels to wipe the glass.  It works!

7. Coffee Maker cleaning

This house loves its coffee.  L.O.V.E.S.  When our super hard water broke our machine, we didn't know how we were going to survive.  We didn't even know our super hard water was the one to blame!  But now we know that hard water deposits build up in the little water tubes and eventually the water can't get through anymore.  Bad.  And wrong.  Badong.

To keep your coffee tasting good and brewing properly clean your machine once every 2 weeks - month (depending on your water quality) using white vinegar.  

1) Fill the water reservoir with vinegar instead of water.

2) Start the brew cycle and the stop it after 20 seconds, so that the vinegar is in all of the tubes.

3) Let sit for 20 minutes (adjust as needed for your water quality)

4) Restart the brew cycle so that all the vinegar runs out of the reservoir into the coffee pot.

5) Run a full brewing cycle with plain water to clean out any leftover vinegar

6) Brew as usual!

6. Dishwasher cleaning

Here I'm talking about your actual machine.  Our iron infested water was turning the inside of ours orange and the inside of the little holes that the water was supposed to come out of...well, there was so much scale that water was barely coming out.  White vinegar to the rescue!  You can literally pour the vinegar onto the spinny arms that the water comes out of and into the bottom of the main basin of your machine and run it.  Voila!  Problem solved.  We have to use it in every load, but you might not need to.

5. Rinse aid for dishes

This is super handy, isn't it?  It's good for your machine AND it's good for the dishes?  You betcha!  Instead of using electrasol rinse aids or other similar high priced whatever, get rid of film and spots on your dishes by using white vinegar instead.  If there is a rinse aid receptacle in your machine, you can use that, or just pour it into the bottom of your dishwasher before you start your load.  Works like a charm.

4. Washing machine cleaning

Just like the coffee maker and the dishwasher, that evil hard water can do a number on your washing machine.  Plus, a build up in your machine of film left by detergents can start making your clothes come out not as sparkly.  Cleaning your machine using white vinegar is good for the washer AND good for your clothes.  You can put white vinegar into all the slots for laundry soap, fabric softener, and bleach  if you have a machine that dispenses everything automatically, or you can pour it right into the tub and run a cycle.  Or you can use it as....

3. Fabric softener and whitener

Yes!  Kill two birds with one stone again!  Use white vinegar in every load of laundry instead of liquid fabric softener and bleach and you'll keep your machine and your clothes in great shape.  Nothing comes out smelling like vinegar (it's a magical mystery, I tell ya what!) but clothes are cleaner and brighter and SOFTER, especially for those of us who don't use a dryer.

2. Insect repellent

Got an ant problem?  Clean your counters and then wipe them down with undiluted white vinegar.  Ants apparently don't like it because they have no taste and/or are not pregnant.  A 50/50 water/vinegar solution sprayed on outdoor surfaces in the summer also helps to repel mosquitos, but having lots of frogs and birds around to eat them tends to be a better solution.

1. Making Yummy Stuff, like this...
Remember when I mentioned the salt 'n' vinegar potatoes and carrots promised to share the recipe?  And then never did?  Well never is today, because it's time for something you can actually eat!  I got the basic idea from this blog (you might like her recipe better), and then made some modifications.

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What you'll need:
Approx 4 cups (or more) white vinegar
4-5 medium potatoes, sliced very thin
1.5 tsp salt (or more, if you're like me and likes 'em salty)
pepper to taste
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 carrots (or however many you want), peeled and chopped

What you'll do:
1) Put potatoes and carrots into a pot and cover them with white vinegar.  Yes, enough white vinegar to cover your veggies.
2) Bring your pot of vinegar and goodies to a boil.
3) Once it comes to a boil, turn off the heat, put on the lid, and let it sit for 30 minutes.
4) Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
5) Drain your veggies, saving the vinegar for washing your dishes or dipping some fried fish or whatever
6) Douse your potatoes and carrots in the olive oil, salt, and pepper and mix 'em up real good
7) Lay them flat on a greased baking sheet (or 3.  Or 4.  I think it took me 4)
8) Bake until your potatoes start to look a little brown.  No more than 30 minutes, but probably way less.  Mine baked for 14 minutes
9) Pull out your sheet, flip potatoes and carrots over and bake an additional 10 minutes or so on the other side.
10) If anything starts looking too brown or burnt, take them out sooner!
11) We ate these with fried fish (perfect for Fridays in Lent!) for a fun fish 'n' chips dinner, but if you're pregnant like me, I bet you could find a way to have these for breakfast.  Or a midnight snack.

I dipped mine in even more vinegar when I ate them.  So yum!  Like homemade potato chips, but better.

So there you go.  10 things to do with a cheap gallon of white vinegar.

If you have any questions or ideas, please share them in the comments.  I love finding new ways to use my favorite condiment!