Vinegar is one of the most beneficial ingredients you can have in your pantry.
If you don’t want to utilize vinegar in food for some reason, you can safely dispose of it by making it useful around the house.
Here are some safe ways to dispose of vinegar.
Disposing of in the Garden
You can get rid of vinegar while enhancing your garden. Vinegar can be used in a variety of ways in your backyard or kitchen garden.
You can use it to effectively clean the pots without emptying them.
Cleaning the pots with plants in them can be challenging as one either has to remove the plants temporarily, overwater the plants, or use cleaning agents that might be toxic to plants.
But you can skip all three and soak a sponge in vinegar and dab it over the plant pots to clean them.
Vinegar is also an insect repellant and can help you get rid of pests and bugs naturally. You can mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle.
Shake and spray this mixture directly on the insects in your garden or the weeds growing in it.
Avoid directly spraying the vinegar-water spray on the plants as it may be harmful to them.
However, you can spray it in the soil at an appropriate distance from the roots of the plants.
If the plants’ pots or beds in your garden are large or if the plants are planted in the ground, you can also spray the mixture on all sides of the plants.
Spraying it all around the roots will keep them safe from ants, fruit flies, and other bugs and pests. It will also help the soil smelling fresh and clean.
Disposing of by Keeping Flowers Alive
Vinegar’s uses in a garden aren’t limited to cleaning and killing pests.
It can also help various plants grow by kick-starting the seed’s growth.
Adding a mixture of equal parts vinegar and sugar can help seeds sprout up faster.
The mixture also helps flowers stay fresh in a vase inside the home. Add the mixture to distilled water in the vase with flowers.
Fresh flowers placed in a vase with the vinegar-sugar mixture will stay fresh for up to two weeks.
Moreover, vinegar diluted with four parts water can also help bloom closed buds of flowering plants.
Gardenias and rose plants can especially benefit from this technique.
Disposing of as an Odor Neutralizer
While you’re getting rid of vinegar, you may as well get rid of all the foul odor in your home too.
The two goals can be achieved together by using vinegar to get rid of the foul odor wherever needed.
You can use vinegar as an odor neutralizer for laundry items by adding a cup of it in each laundry cycle.
If the laundry smells damp after staying in the washer for too long, you can run a laundry cycle with water and vinegar only.
For carpets, curtains, and heavy bedding that cannot be placed in the washing machine, mix one part vinegar with three parts water in a spray bottle and spritz it without making any fabric too damp.
You can also spray this mixture in medicine cabinets, trash bins, kitchen shelves, kitchen counters, or other surfaces to keep them smelling fresh.
Disposing of as a Sanitizer
Spraying the vinegar-water mixture onto surfaces not only gets rid of their foul smell but also keeps them sanitized.
However, to use vinegar as a sanitizer, you will need to spray the vinegar-water mixture generously and allow it to stay damp for at least half an hour.
While letting the mixture sit on surfaces and in cabinets can get rid of bacteria and foul smell, it can also leave behind the faint acidic smell of vinegar.
If you don’t want your house to smell vinegar, you can add a little lemon juice to the mix or a few drops of essential oil.
You can use this mixture to spray on grocery item packaging too.
Disposing of as a Natural Disinfectant
On the other hand, you can also utilize vinegar to disinfect fresh produce and chicken. Fill your clean kitchen sink with water and pour half a cup of distilled vinegar in it.
Place the fresh produce in this water and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Rinse with fresh cold water and strain before storing the produce.
A similar method can be used to disinfect chicken from Salmonella.
Take a bowl of water and add two tablespoons of vinegar to it. Place raw chicken pieces in this water for 10-15 minutes.
Rinse the pieces thoroughly with cold water before freezing or cooking the chicken.
Disposing of as a Cleaning Agent
You can dispose of vinegar as an effective cleaning agent around the house while also saving money on expensive special cleaners that are used rarely.
Begin utilizing vinegar’s cleaning properties from the kitchen. Pour some vinegar at the bottom of the empty dishwasher and run a cycle.
It will get rid of any remaining or deposited dish soap in the dishwasher.
It will also eliminate any foul smell that may have been present and any bacteria or greasy food that remained stuck in your dishwasher.
Vinegar can also help you clean any rusty kitchen utensils, such as can openers or foil cutters.
Prepare a strong vinegar bath by adding one cup of vinegar to four parts warm water. Soak all the rusty utensils in it.
Follow with a warm water rinse and scrub until the rust comes off.
You can also clean your kitchen counters and cabinets with vinegar to make them squeaky clean.
You can add vinegar to a store-bought cleaner to increase efficiency or make your own by mixing vinegar and water in equal amounts.
Generously spray your kitchen counters and cabinets with the vinegar-water mixture and let it sit for a while before scrubbing it off and wiping it with a clean cloth dipped in water.
Always ensure to empty the kitchen cabinets before cleaning them.
You can clean bathroom cabinets and counters with this mixture too. Moreover, you can also use this spray to clean tiles in your bathroom and kitchen.
Add borax or ammonia to the mixture for enhanced effect.
Spray and scrub to eliminate all the grout build-up between tiles, yellow stains on the tiles, and any remaining odor. Rinse thoroughly before letting the tiles dry.
In the kitchen, you can use undiluted vinegar to clean wooden utensils like cutting boards, platters, wooden spoons, bread boxes, and more.
Wipe any wooden surface with a clean cloth dipped in undiluted vinegar.
Let it sit for about five minutes before wiping off thoroughly with a clean cloth dipped in cold water.
You can also clean various kitchen electronics the same way as dishwashers to remove build-up and possible foul odor from them.
Add a tablespoon of water to a cup of distilled water. Pour it in blenders, choppers, juicers, and coffee makers to thoroughly clean them.
You can also double the mixture and pour it into any cooking pot to run and clean hand-held mixers and beaters.
Remember to rinse thoroughly after running a vinegar cycle in kitchen electronics and letting them dry before use.
Cleaning the microwave can also become easier by utilizing vinegar. Pop a microwave-safe bowl of equal parts water and vinegar into the microwave.
Heat this bowl until the water boils. It might take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. Grab a sponge and wipe off the microwave.
You can clean the outside of the microwave with vinegar too. Most microwaves and refrigerators have an exterior of stainless steel, which is prone to fingerprints but can be easily cleaned with vinegar.
Spray the vinegar-water mixture on the stainless steel and wipe it off with a clean cotton cloth.
Let air dry before dipping a corner of the clean cloth in mineral oil and wiping with it. The mineral oil will act as a coat on stainless steel and protect it from unwanted scratches.
Besides laundry, vinegar can help remove foul smells from washers and dryers too. Add vinegar to them and let them run a warm water cycle.
Once the cycle is complete, open the lids and let them air dry before using them again.
Vinegar is too useful to be discarded. If you don’t want to utilize it to clean your home, you can give it away to someone to benefit from it.
However, if you cannot be bothered to give it away to someone, pour it down the drain rather than throwing it in the bin.
Disposing of vinegar by pouring it down the drain is also beneficial. Pour one to two cups of vinegar at a time and avoid using the sink for at least half an hour to let the vinegar work its magic.
It will unclog the pipes and clean any blockage stuck on the sides of the pipes. When you run water after half an hour, any possible blockage in the pipe will wash away.
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