Vinegar Fridays

TGIVF!

What a week! The elections were exciting to watch...at least in Pennsylvania where neck-in-neck results were coming in; 50/50 ties keeping us on the edge of our seats waiting for someone to pull ahead.

On the blog, we have dealt with some pretty heavy topics. I hope you liked the tips from Rosemary yesterday...tips on perfect gifts from child caregivers to working moms. Now before you SAHMs jump on me...I know all moms are working moms, but you know what I mean. If you are a stay-at-home mom, you don't need gifts from child caregivers, do you? So "working outside of the home" was implied here.

I thought I would end the week with some good ol' vinegar tips. I, myself, am loving so many of things I have learned about vinegar. How about you? Today, let's stick to distilled white vinegar in the kitchen.

• Can opener. I hope none of you reading this is actually still using electricity to open a can, which I find totally unnecessary, unless you have a condition, such as arthritis, which makes it difficult to open cans otherwise. I, personally, have a wall mounted can opener, just like my mother's, that works wonderfully! But it does get goopy, just like the handheld openers do. All you need to do to clean the goop off the wheel of your can opener, simply wet an old toothbrush with vinegar and scrub away. You will find your opener operating smoothly in no time.
• Lunch box. Have you ever opened a lunch box, only to be assaulted by some nasty odors? It happens to the best of us. Food is left behind in the box over the weekend and it is stinky when opened! Super Vinegar to the rescue! This is so cool, your kids might start leaving leftovers in their lunch boxes on purpose! Simply soak a piece of bread in DSV, put it in the box and let it do its magic overnight. This is a good thing to do with some stale bread you are not going to eat anyway.
• Aluminum pot. Do you cook in aluminum pots? I know there was an Alzheimer's scare awhile back that linked this insidious disease with aluminum, so people started tossing out their aluminum cookware. But the claims were later refuted. So, if you still use aluminum, you know how the pots can eventually end up with dark stains in them. Just put a cup of water and a cup of vinegar in the pot and boil for a few minutes. This should take care of the stains.
• Microwave. Cleaning the inside of the microwave couldn't be easier! Even if you have baked on, splattered food inside, all you have to do is put a microwave-safe bowl in the center of the oven with 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Cook on high for :90 and then let sit for a few minutes. Do not remove right away! The liquid will be scalding hot! After it has cooled down a bit, just remove the bowl and wipe down the microwave with a damp cloth. Here's a tip for what to do with the hot liquid -- you can deodorize your drain by pouring in a cup of baking soda and washing it down with the hot liquid. Waste not, want not!
• Refrigerator. Have you ever had company and they open the refrigerator to retrieve a drink or place a dessert they brought on one of the shelves and suddenly, as if seeing it for the first time, you realize how dirty the inside is? Avoid the embarrassment by regularly wiping down the shelves with a 50/50 solution of distilled white vinegar and water. This will not only keep your fridge sparkling, but it will disinfect it as well. Sure beats spraying the shelves with a commercial chemically-laden cleaner full of toxins!! And then there is that sticky grime problem on the top of the refrigerator. Ick. This will require some full-strength DWV! Dilution is certainly not the answer for this one! Pour some on and scrub away. Do not expect the grime to just dissolve away, however. This one requires some old-fashioned elbow grease.
• Oven door. Again, we are talking full-strength here. Open the door and pour undiluted distilled white vinegar on the glass. Let it set for 15 minutes or so and then wipe with a sponge. If you haven't cleaned your oven door in awhile, you will be amazed that you can actually see inside of it when you flip on the light...I was!
• Counter tops. This is easy. Just wipe them down with a rag saturated with undiluted vinegar. They will be clean and disinfected!
• Sink. If your sink needs a good scouring, do not reach for the Comet! Simply add a little bit of DWV to a mixture of 1/4 cup baking soda and a tablespoon of liquid dish soap and scrub away!
• Chrome. Make your fixtures shiny with a homemade paste made by adding 2 tablespoons of salt to 1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar. Cheap, simple...and non-toxic!!
• Cloudy glassware. Don't you hate drinking from cloudy glasses? Yuck. You can make them sparkle again by simply wrapping them (inside and out) with a cloth saturated in undiluted vinegar. Let them sit overnight and rinse them with hot water in the morning.
• Plastic containers. If your plastic containers (BPA-free, I hope) are stained, just wipe them out with some distilled white vinegar on a dishcloth. It should take care of the problem. This also works at getting any bad smells out of the containers.

Well, that's it for this week. I hope you will find some of these tips helpful as you tackle your weekend cleaning chores. Have a good one!

Keeping it green with vinegar,

Hana