Actually, I'm not really thanking God another Vinegar Friday has rolled around so quickly. You see, I started working a temporary fulltime voice over job this week, which means, in addition to my ongoing work with my regular clients and my work on this blog, I'll be putting in 40 hours a week behind a microphone. Guess what that means? Little time for anything else. I'm already behind schedule for this week, which means I'll be spending tonight and all day tomorrow in my office working. Not that I'm complaining! I'm thrilled I landed this gig. It just means I don't have as much time for posts like this. So I'm going to have to make it short. I have a magazine article due today on composting and I still need to work on that. Plus get in my 8 hours of recording time. Whew.
Not that I got all of that rambling out of the way, I wanted to focus on something those of us in the snowy parts of the world know too well -- the problem of road salt residue. Don't you hate it?? I mean, I'm glad it's there to keep my car from sliding into a tree or something, but I do not like it when I brush up against the side of the car and my coat ends up streaked with a dusty white. Yuck. Of course, you know where this is going -- vinegar! Distilled white vinegar to the rescue! And it's the same solution you've read about week after week. A 50/50 mix of water and vinegar.
Use it to remove salt stains from your leather boots by simply wiping them down with a soft cloth moistened with the vinegar water.
Clean the salt residue off the floor mats in your car by spraying them with the solution and then blotting with a towel.
What about salt stains on your suede boots? Uggs and other such boots can be cleaned by lightly brushing the dirt off with an old toothbrush and then wiping them with a cloth dampened in undiluted distilled white vinegar. Test for colorfastness in an inconspicuous area first. If the color transfers to the cloth, do not use the vinegar on the suede!! Do not saturate the boot! Let the vinegar dry and then brush again with the toothbrush. This will work on suede jackets as well.
And then there are the floors! Once the snowy footprints dry, there is often salt residue on your floors as well. If you don't have a steam mop (which is my first choice for cleaning floors), then mix up an eco-friendly floor cleaning solution in a spray bottle.
- 1/3 part water
- 1/3 part rubbing alcohol
- 1/3 part distilled white vinegar
- 1 tsp. of dishwashing liquid
And, of course, there's the problem of salt stains on your carpet. To take care of this, simply make a paste of baking soda (1/4 cup) and vinegar (2 TBSPs). Rub it into the carpet and let dry overnight. In the morning, vacuum up the paste and the stains. Of course, you want to test for colorfastness on your carpet as well. Remember, if the color transfers to the rag, you want to skip the vinegar!
Those are my tips for this snowy Vinegar Friday. I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend!
Keeping it clean with vinegar,
Hana
P.S. The winner of the Happy Mama Spray is....Leann! Congratulations!
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