Vinegar - Cleaning tips and areas of use

Cleaning with vinegar is a proven housewife trick that works really well for several different things. You can wash with vinegar, clean windows, get rid of ingrained limescale deposits and make your own detergent. Here you can read about how you can clean with vinegar in the best way and what materials you should avoid having vinegar on.

What is vinegar?

Vinegar is a mixture of acetic acid and water. Acetic acid is produced when alcohol is allowed to oxidize. The difference between vinegar and vinegar is in the concentration. If it is 24%, it is usually called vinegar, while the alternative with 12% is called vinegar spirit.

Wash with vinegar

It is a myth that vinegar destroys your washing machine. When you pour vinegar into the washing machine, it will be mixed with water, which means that it will not be so strong. In addition to cleaning your washing machine, vinegar can also be used as a fabric softener and to get rid of bad odors.

Vinegar as a rinse aid

Vinegar is very suitable as a fabric softener as it naturally makes your garments soft and comfortable. It also helps to remove hair and lint from your clothes. Instead of fabric softener, pour a deciliter of vinegar into the washing machine's softener compartment and wash as usual. If you want, you can add a few drops of essential oil to get a wonderful scent.

Get rid of bad smell with vinegar

If you have forgotten to unpack the children's gym bag or if the towels have been damp for a while, you can use vinegar to get rid of the musty smell.

Do this:

• Put the clothes that smell bad in the washing machine and fill the detergent container with vinegar. You should not put anything in the softener compartment. Run the washing program that best suits the garments.
• When the washing is finished, start the machine again, this time with your usual detergent.

Remove stains with vinegar

Vinegar also works well as a stain remover. Take a bowl of water and pour in a splash of vinegar. Then dip a cloth in the bowl and rub gently on the stain. Then wait a few minutes and wash the garment as usual. If you have several clothes with stains, you can wash them together as long as the washing instructions state the same degrees.

Clean the washing machine with vinegar

Even the inside of your washing machine needs to be cleaned from time to time. By pouring vinegar into the detergent compartment and letting the machine run empty at 90 degrees, you will get a shiny clean washing machine.

Vinegar for cleaning

You can easily make your own cleanser with just three ingredients. Mix two parts vinegar with three parts water and a few drops of detergent in a spray bottle. The cleaner works great for cleaning windows, mirrors, shower walls and furniture. With us at Freska, you can book window cleaning together with your home cleaning.

Cleaning with vinegar

If you have a stain on the carpet, mattress or on a piece of furniture, you can use your own cleaning spray and bicarbonate. Sprinkle bicarbonate over the stain and then spray with the cleaning spray. It will rust a little when the vinegar is mixed with the bicarbonate. Let the mixture sit on the stain for at least ten minutes, preferably more.

Then take a clean cloth and dip in a bowl of water. Rub gently with the cloth on the stain until all the bicarbonate has disappeared. If you want it to dry quickly, you can use a hair dryer.

Vinegar cleaning bathroom

Sometimes it starts to smell bad from the drain and even then the vinegar can help you. Pour a deciliter of vinegar into the toilet seat and let it work overnight, then flush the toilet in the morning. If it smells musty from the sink, do the following:

• Make sure that no hair and soap residue has accumulated in the water trap. Start by unscrewing it and removing any dirt. Then unscrew the water trap before continuing.
• Then pour half a deciliter of vinegar into the drain and immediately afterwards pour in two tablespoons of bicarbonate. Let it work for a few minutes and then rinse thoroughly with warm water.

Both our home cleaning, deep cleaning and moving cleaning include a proper cleaning of your bathroom.

Remove lime with vinegar

Vinegar is also very effective in removing limescale deposits from several different materials. Vinegar in a coffee maker, for example, works very well, just like in the kettle and in the bathroom.

Descaling coffee maker with vinegar

Your coffee maker also needs to be descaled from time to time. Mix equal parts with 12% vinegar and water and pour the mixture into the coffee maker's water container. Insert a regular coffee filter, just like when you make coffee, and turn on the coffee maker. When half of the mixture has been brewed, turn off the coffee maker and wait 30 minutes.

Then start the coffee maker again and let the remaining liquid flow through. Then change the filter and brew again, this time with water only. Repeat this a few times until all the lime is gone and the vinegar smell has disappeared.

Descaling the kettle

Fill your kettle in the evening with a mixture of half water and half vinegar. Let it stand overnight. In the morning, pour out the mixture and rinse the kettle thoroughly. You can then boil clean water once which you pour out before using the kettle again.

Descaling in bathrooms

In the bathroom, it is common for lime to settle around taps, on shower walls and on the shower nozzle. To remove lime from the shower walls, you can spray them with your own cleaning agent that we mentioned earlier and then rub with a damp cloth. If you have a lot of lime, you can sprinkle bicarbonate on the cloth before you rub.

Then rinse with water and dry with a dry cloth. As for the shower nozzle and taps, you can wrap them with a clean cloth or kitchen paper and then spray on vinegar so that it becomes moist. Leave on for about 20 minutes and then remove the cloth. Finally, wipe the tap with a clean, dry cloth.

Remove rust with vinegar

Vinegar is not only a good tool for cleaning or removing limescale deposits, it also works great for removing rust stains. Depending on the size of the item, you can do so in different ways.

Smaller items

Put your item in a bowl or bucket and then pour on vinegar so that all the rust is covered. If there is not much rust, one hour may be enough, otherwise you leave your object for 24 hours. Then rub off any remaining rust with a dish sponge or toothbrush and rinse thoroughly with warm water. Then let dry.

Larger objects

If you need to remove rust stains from an object that does not fit in your bucket, pour on the vinegar alcohol and let the object stand for the time needed. To simplify the process, you can use a spray bottle. Then rub off the rust with a brush and rinse thoroughly. If you do it outdoors, you can use a water hose to rinse off the vinegar.

Where not to use vinegar

Although vinegar is a miracle remedy that works for various different cleaning areas, there are some materials that do not tolerate the strong acid in vinegar.

- Natural stone

Whether it is marble, granite or unglazed tiles, do not use vinegar.

- Iron

It's easy to think that you can whitewash an iron just like a coffee maker or kettle. Do not do this as vinegar can damage the inside of the iron.

- Waxed and shiny surfaces

You should also not use vinegar for lacquered or waxed surfaces and furniture. Vinegar can make the surface dull and get uneven spots.