15 Ways To Clean With Vinegar And Baking Soda

We use our dishwasher almost every day. As a result, it might be filthy with food scraps, soap scum, and rust stains over time. No one likes that, and let’s not forget how unhygienic that could be. Enter vinegar and baking soda! 

There is nothing this dynamic duo cannot fix, including your dirty dishwasher. First, run a hot cycle while a cup of white distilled vinegar is on the dishwasher rack. When that’s done, scatter the baking soda at the bottom of the dishwasher and run another cycle. In two cycles, the gunk and stains from the interior components and drain line will be gone. Your dishes will now be clean and sparkly.

After your dishwasher; the oven probably gets the most use in your kitchen. Along with that consistent use comes an enormous amount of food stains, grease, and odor residue. Cleaning from such a buildup is child's play with the use of some baking soda and vinegar.

In case your oven's interior requires some attention, place equal parts of white vinegar and warm water in a spray container, shake it, and spray the solution liberally after removing crumbs and food debris. Close the door and let the solution chemicalize for 10 minutes. Next, sprinkle some baking soda over particularly dirty areas and scrub with a microfiber cloth.

You might need to spray and sprinkle again over stubborn stains. This will leave your oven looking and smelling fresh.

Have you given up scrubbing the white, chalky substance on your shower screens, taps, and heads? Don’t! You are not doing it wrong unless you forgot to incorporate baking soda and vinegar. The white substance is known as limescale and results from hard water buildup. Regular cleaners don’t work on these stains as they need something potent.

A vinegar and baking soda paste is ineffective on limescale stains. You need to use them separately. So, spray the affected areas with vinegar first to let it work the stains a little. Then, make a baking soda and water paste. Dip your sponge in the paste and scrub until the stains are gone. Wipe with a dry towel. 

Using vinegar and baking soda to clean carpet stains is no secret. Many homeowners rely on this trick to save their expensive tapestry. But this is only possible if this cleaning solution is employed the moment the carpet is stained. If the stains have set in, you may need heavy-duty cleaning, one only possible when you seek professional cleaners.

So, instead of panicking, make a stain-removing blend with vinegar and soda if you accidentally spill wine or drop food on your rug. Combine equal parts of the two. If the paste is dry, add more vinegar or baking soda if it is too watery. Spread the paste over the stain and let it marinate for a few hours. Once it dries, vacuum up the remnants and repeat as necessary. 

Wondering why your kitchen and bathroom are not sparkling despite all the cleaning? Look at the tile grouts. They are not supposed to be black. The black lines indicate an accumulation of dirt and debris. There are many ways to clean the grout but here we will cover baking soda and vinegar.

Once you apply the two on the line, you will learn that the grout's original color is white. In a large bowl, combine the two cleaning ingredients. Once the bubbles dissipate, pour the solution into a squeezy bottle. Now, squeeze a generous amount of the solution on the grout lines.

The more liquid you use, the lesser the scrubbing. Sprinkle baking soda over the liquid for even less scrubbing. Let everything sit for a few minutes, and scrub the grout lines with a toothbrush. The grime and dirt should lift away without you breaking a sweat.

If need be, vinegar and baking soda can polish silverware. These effective chemical agents found in most homes remove rust and stains from metallic utensils with minimal effort. First, make a tarnish-removal paste combining three parts of baking powder and one part of vinegar.

Dip the cotton cloth in the paste and rub it over the silverware to get rid of the marks. Rinse the utensils and dry them with a piece of paper towel to prevent new water stains and make the silver shine.

If all the rubbing is too much effort and you want something hand-off, coat the silverware in baking soda and sea salt and immerse it in an aluminum foil-lined glass baking dish containing two cups of boiling water and half a cup of vinegar. The silverware should submerge in the solution for 5 minutes before drying it with a microfiber cloth.

Smelly drains are an embarrassment. They stink up your whole house and make you look like a lazy homeowner who never cleans. No one wants that. Luckily for you, cleaning with vinegar and baking soda gets rid of the foul stench in a heartbeat. Sprinkle baking soda down the sink with the help of a funnel. Next, pour distilled white vinegar in so that both can start frothing and bubbling up.

Cover the drain with a stopper to ensure the chemical reaction happens inside the drain pipes and not around the plughole. Let the fizzing reaction deodorize the stench for a few hours before rinsing. If this is ineffective, you may want to consider getting rid of smelly drains with other techniques.

Vinegar has an unappetizing smell, which you don’t want spreading in your food in the fridge. So, let vinegar sit this one out, and only use the baking soda. It can absorb and neutralize odor in your fridge and does not just mask it. For that, leave an open box of baking soda in the fridge.

To optimize results, deep clean the refrigerator. Clear the refrigerator and spray every shelf, rack, and area with a dish soap solution. For tough stains, sprinkle baking soda and scour all the stains you can see. Finally, use a paper towel to wipe off the residue, and remember to leave an open baking soda box inside to deodorize unwanted odors.

Your showerhead is one of the problems of hard water. Minerals from the hard water build up in the tiny channels of the showerhead and restrict water flow. This restriction lowers water pressure and makes showers less enjoyable. To enjoy showers again, soak a fresh cotton cloth in a 1:1 solution of warm water and white vinegar.

Wrap the shower head with the cloth and ensure it covers all the tiny holes before tying it in place. Give it around 30 minutes to sit. Using a paste prepared from a cup of baking soda and a few teaspoons of vinegar, remove the cloth and scrape the shower head. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

If you have pets, a vinegar and baking soda clean is a must-do in your home because pets cause quite the stench. For an odorless home, spray the acidic liquid on smelly areas and top that off with the cake ingredient. Leave the stained area alone for the next 20 minutes before vacuuming. Doing so every week will assist in controlling the odors.

But if you are dealing with pet urine stains on the carpet or any other upholstered furniture, you should use vinegar and soda separately while the stain is still fresh. By separately, we mean soaking the affected area with diluted vinegar for 10 minutes and vacuuming first before sprinkling baking soda in the same part, leaving it as is for 30 minutes, and vacuuming again.

Another baking soda and vinegar uses is for toilet cleaning. You can combine the two cleaning agents and use the result on both the toilet tank and bowl. Kickstart your cleaning task by turning off the water supply valve and flushing until the tank and bowl are waterless first. When the bowl is dry, sprinkle baking soda inside and leave it on for 15 minutes.

For the tank, remove the cover and spray everything with vinegar except the metal parts. Layer baking soda on a scrub pad and scrub everything. Let the baking soda and vinegar sit for some more in the tank and bowl before turning the water back on and flushing the residue. 

Are you hesitating to use vinegar and baking soda to eliminate the mildew smell on clothes and your home? Don’t overthink it. Let this be a green light, for it will work wonders. This fungus type appears out of nowhere in damp, forgotten clothes and sections of the house that are rarely if ever, cleaned.

It also has an awful stink, and if one stays near it for a long period, they risk various health complications. Therefore, to prevent this, the two cleaning agents are mixed in a ratio of 2:1 to form a paste. The blend is then allowed to foam and settle.

After that, it is applied to the affected regions. It is only applied on tough surfaces, as softer materials such as wallboard and finished wood will incur damage. After that, the paste is removed, and any remaining pieces are brushed away with a hard-bristled brush. Continue this cycle until all the mold is cleaned away.

Do you have food residue or stains on your pots and pans that you're having trouble removing? Utilize baking soda and vinegar to clean stainless steel kitchenware effectively! Apply baking soda to the stained areas, then clean with a cotton towel soaked in vinegar. Stains should lift off the pans with mild friction from the powder without any scratches.

If not, make a paste with one to two tablespoons of vinegar and half a cup of baking soda. Apply the paste on the stubborn stains and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before scrubbing it clean with a damp cloth and watching all the crustiness fall away. Avoid using the paste on aluminum pans as it may scratch the surface and lead to oxidization and browning.

The tannins or compounds in your hot beverages are what is discoloring your favorite coffee/tea mugs and cups in case you were wondering. Unfortunately, regular dish detergent does nothing, and no amount of scrubbing is going to help. It is during times like this you need vinegar and sodium bicarbonate. Coat the discolored spots with equal parts vinegar and baking soda solution.

Let the mixture fizzle out before wiping it with a moist cloth. Repeated treatments may be necessary for stubborn stains. Only the inside of the mugs should receive this treatment; do not apply it to the exterior patterns or decorations. Also, don't use it on plastic cups, for the abrasive baking soda may leave tiny scratches that could trap bacteria.

Whoever said cleaning the washing machine was laborious has never tried white vinegar and the bicarbonate of soda/ baking soda. The process requires adding twice as much detergent to baking soda and vinegar in the machine’s detergent drawer and running a wash cycle at the hottest temperature. 

This method helps to get rid of all the buildup residues that only increase with each load of laundry. After the cycle is completed, wipe the rubber sealant on your machine's door with a dry cloth to remove hidden pet hair, lint, and other debris. Do this monthly in order to prevent mold on clothes and mildew odor.