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The Many Uses of Vinegar: Cleaning

I love vinegar. Granted, its smell is borderline offensive. But you can do so much with it, from cleaning and cooking to preparing home-made medicines. Here, I'll speak to the cleaning power of this wonder-liquid.

Windows
Mix 1c white vinegar and 1c water in a spray bottle. Spray down those windows - inside and out. Use a wad of newspaper to wipe it dry. Not sure how it works, but newspaper will make your windows sparkle...

Coffee Pot
Is yours sluggish? Hard water deposits are likely to blame - but it's nothing a bit o' vinegar won't fix. Fill the water reservoir approximately halfway with equal parts water and white vinegar, then run it for one cycle. Then run it a second time with water only ('cause you don't want your coffee tasting of vinegar...)

Vinyl Floors
That no-wax vinyl floor is an ideal destination for a bit of vinegar. (It smells better than ammonia, and it's a helluva lot safer to keep around.) Mix together 1/2c with a gallon of water. Hot water is best, really, because it helps loosen dirt and grime for easy mop-action removal. Try a test patch first, though. Vinegar can strip lower-quality vinyl tiles of its color.

Miscellany
Add a bit to the rise cycle of your dishwasher for sparkling glassware.

It's great for cutting through grease.

Cleans the garden-lime stains from plant pots. Just let it sit in the solution; no scrubbing needed.

Cleans rust from tools, bolts and screws. Soak overnight in undiluted vinegar.

Add a bit of fluff to blankets made of wool or cotton. Add 1.5 cups of distilled vinegar to the rinse cycle of your washer.

Wipe down stainless steel appliances and chrome finishes with a vinegar-dampened cloth.

Mix equal parts distilled vinegar and olive oil to remove water stains/wet-glass rings on wood furniture.

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