12 Vinegar Cleaning Hacks

From helping tackle fruit flies to killing ants, distilled vinegar can make your home cleaner and healthier. These 12 vinegar cleaning hacks make it easy to clean your home without harsh chemical fumes.

Love these cleaning tips? Here are a few more cleaning posts – Printable Cleaning Checklist, Cleaning Kit for Kids, and Daily Cleaning Schedule

Growing up, my mom did most of her cleaning using either vinegar, baking soda, or a combination of the two. As a kid, I always thought she was a little weird. Now as a mom, I totally get it! With kids and pets in the house, I hate using harsh chemicals when cleaning.

Vinegar is a natural cleanser that’s gentle on the environment and provides a powerful clean without harsh fumes or potentially dangerous chemicals.

It’s also extremely versatile! Getting a fresh clean without any harsh chemicals is simple with these easy vinegar cleaning hacks.

You’ll be amazed at what a little vinegar can do!

Vinegar Tips and Tricks

All items in quotations are referenced from Vinegar: 1001 Practical Household Uses, a book I received from my mom at Christmas. These hacks use white vinegar – not apple cider vinegar.

1. Vinegar can help prevent color fading.

To brighten the color of your clothes and to prevent them from fading, forget the expensive anti-fade products and add 1 cup of white vinegar to your wash cycle.

2. Vinegar can help remove odors from clothes.

My daughter recently got food poisoning and she threw up all over everything! Unfortunately, the smell of vomit will stick to anything it touches, and it can often linger on linens even after they are washed. Fortunately, adding 1 cup of white vinegar to a load of laundry will get rid of a number of offensive smells, including vomit! (It helped get stains out of clothing too!)

3. Vinegar can keep cloth rags and sponges smelling fresh.

If you use a sponge to wash your dishes, you’ve probably noticed that after a few days it starts smelling pretty awful. One way to combat the bacteria that causes this odor is to soak your sponge overnight in a mixture of white vinegar and water. In the morning when you pull your sponge out, not only will your sponge smell fresh again but it will also be disinfected.

4. Vinegar is a natural insect repellent.

There aren’t a whole lot of things that are worse than having your home being invaded by ants! To prevent future invasions, pour full-strength white vinegar around your door crossings, window sills, and all your baseboards! (This is one of my favorite vinegar cleaning hacks!)

5. Vinegar can get rid of hard water spots and soap scum.

“To remove hard water spots from sinks, showers, and baths, wipe using a cloth soaked in full-strength vinegar. Allow to stand for about 5 minutes and then rinse with water.”

To stay on top of water spots, keep a spray bottle of white vinegar in the bathroom. Just before brushing your teeth, going to the bathroom, etc. spray the bathroom fixtures down with vinegar. When you are finished, rinse the fixtures with cold water and then dry with a hand towel.

6. Vinegar can remove paint from glass.

This past summer I restored a couple of old windows and I used a paint stripper to get the paint off the glass. I sure wish I had known this vinegar cleaning hack because it would have been nice to use a product that isn’t so toxic! To remove paint from glass all you need is hot vinegar. “Heat up the white vinegar [in the microwave] and then use a cloth to wipe away [the] paint.” Way less headache {literally} than using paint stripper!

7. Vinegar can get rid of rust.

To get rid of rust on your outdoor tools, bolts, or other metal items, simply “soak them in full-strength white vinegar.” How rusty they are will determine the length of time they need to be soaked. (If they are super rusty let them soak for a couple of days!)  After removing them from the white vinegar, rinse them with water and then dry them off with an old rag. (You don’t want any leftover rust to get on your nice towels!)

8. Vinegar can keep animals out of your yard.

I wish I had known this trick when we built our first house! We lived out in the country and I couldn’t keep the pesky deer from eating our plants! Deer, as well as other animals, “including cats, dogs, rabbits, foxes, and raccoons, [don’t like] the scent of vinegar even after it has dried. [To keep these pesky] visitors out of your garden, [soak] several rags in full-strength white vinegar and then place them on stakes around [the] garden, particularly around areas such as vegetables and flower beds. Re-soak the rags every 7-10 days.”

9. Vinegar can clean your microwave faster and easier.

Using vinegar will soften up all the gross splatters and leave it smelling fresh and clean.

Add 3/4 cup of vinegar to a small microwave-safe bowl and heat it on high for about 2 minutes, or until it boils. Stop the microwave and let it sit for a few minutes. Then, use a damp cloth to wipe out the inside. No scrubbing needed, and no using your fingernails to scrape out the gunk! Just a quick wipe and it’ll be nice and clean!

10. Vinegar can clean fruits and vegetables

Vinegar is safe to use for washing fruits and vegetables! It’s gentle on foods and doesn’t leave a vinegary residue. I’ve been using it to wash fresh berries, and I have been really impressed by how much longer they stay fresh using the vinegar wash.

11. Vinegar can remove mineral deposits from faucets and shower heads.

If you have hard water, mineral buildup can be a real problem. Our shower head had gotten so bad that the water was spraying out unevenly, and it looked disgusting!

Here’s a quick fix: Pour about 1/2 cup of vinegar into a plastic baggie, then attach it around the showerhead with a rubber band so the head is soaking in the vinegar. Let it soak and work its magic. Depending on the level of buildup, you may want to let it soak as long as 3-4 hours to dissolve everything. You’ll immediately notice how much cleaner it looks and how it is spraying much more evenly!

12. Cleaning Oven Doors and Baked On Grime

Cleaning the oven with vinegar makes tons of sense. It’s food-safe, so there are no worries about harmful chemicals getting into your food next time you bake. Spray your oven door down with vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes, then sprinkle it with baking soda. Using the rough side of a sponge, I gently but firmly scrubbed all the grime off. It took a little elbow grease, but it worked really well.

Here are a few more cleaning hacks using vinegar:

• Deodorize: Pour several tablespoons of white vinegar inside your dishwasher or down your sink drain to get your garbage disposal and dishwasher smelling fresh again.
• Disenfect: Use 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water and a rag to wipe down countertops and the inside of your fridge to disenfect and clean the surfaces. (Your refrigerator will be the cleanest it’s ever been!)
• Weed Killer: Pour vinegar directly on top of weeds to kill them at the root.
• Stain Remover: Pour vinegar into your coffee pot and let it soak to get rid of the stains.
• Sticker Remover: Vinegar can be used to removed bumper stickers, too!
• Bathroom Cleaner: Pour vinegar into your toilets and let it soak for several minutes before scrubbing your toilet bowl. You can also use a spray bottle with equal parts vinegar and water to spray on your shower curtains to freshen up any musty smells.
• Wood Furniture + Hardwood Floors: Use equal parts vinegar and olive oil. Apply a small amount of the mixture to a dry cloth and buff the wood to a shine. (Test a small area first!)

Do you have any tricks that you use vinegar for?

Leave me a comment in the section below – I’d love to hear about all your favorite vinegar cleaning hacks!

About the Author: Anna is the creative blogger from Ask Anna. She loves to answer your household questions about cleaning, organizing, decorating, and more! Anna was a monthly contributor on Somewhat Simple from 2011- 2012.