Vinegar as a household cleaning product

It can feel overwhelming, maybe even a little preachy, when someone starts waxing lyrical about their zero waste tips and tricks. If it’s not something you’ve ever tried, or if it’s something you might be intrigued about but don’t know where to start, there’s no easier first step to take than a slight tweak to your household cleaning products.
 
Conscious consumers, in an attempt to avoid household cleaning products that may contain unwanted ingredients, sometimes find they struggle to source an effective natural alternative. Often, the available alternatives might leave you feeling like you just haven’t given the house the thorough scrub that it needs.  Many of us have made a return to the days when a household cleaner was as basic as a bottle of vinegar. White vinegar boasts many benefits as a household cleaner, chief among them being its ability to remove dirt while also providing an odour-eliminating effect. Vinegar is also ideal to mix with baking soda for harder to remove grubby areas.
 
Of course you could go really old-school, donning the rubber gloves and wielding the vinegar undiluted, but there are ways to spice things up a bit while still staying true to the tried and tested favourite.
 
Add a few drops of your favourite essential oils to a spray bottle of vinegar. Essential oils do more than just permeate your home with your favourite scent - many of them are ideal as cleaners due to their antibacterial properties. Lemon, grapefruit, lavender, tea tree and eucalyptus oils are all ideal in that, depending on which one you choose, they contain antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. If you choose the one that you most associate with a clean, sparkling home (or combine all of them, and let us know the result - you might end up creating your own signature scent!), you might even start to look forward to tackling the cleaning!
 
PS: Did you know that you can replace the vinegar in homemade cleaning products with vodka?! It  has the same effect as vinegar in cleaning, so can be a good alternative for those who might find the vinegar scent unappealing. I’m sure we can all think of better uses for a bottle of vodka, though, so maybe we’ll stick with the vinegar for now…

Kelly Girardi

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