Homemade Window & All Purpose Cleaner

Vinegar has no scent when it dries and most importantly for me, it breaks up dog drool like windex would never do.
The Babylonians discovered that vinegar stops the production of bacteria that spoils food and used it as a preservative, cleaning agent, in baths and as a drink.

Sure corporations do a great job of creating combinations of affordable yet effective chemicals to "clean" your house with catchy names, filled with “fresh” scented liquids enticing us to use them with their grand claims of a more serious clean. After a 2 month trial ditching the oxy, bleach, "powerful action" bandwagon I am very happy to announce that
I chose vinegar!
For years, I bought hundreds of dollars of horrible and strong smelling liquid danger and sprayed, spritzed, sprinkled and accidentally inhaled every brand on the market! No more!

And since I changed my cleaning habits, I breathe easier. I have no thick vapor of toxic crap in my chest making me feel nearly suffocated with burning eyes and dry skin. Now that I use vinegar, rubbing alcohol and baking soda for all my cleaning needs... I clean with a conscious awareness that I'm being safe!

Plus, you can buy a gallon bottle of white vinegar for under $2 and since you're only using a few cups for a bottle that lasts for months (depending upon how often you clean) you're making this stuff last! You do the math!

All purpose cleaner::
2 cups of tap water
2 cups white vinegar
1 tbsp of rubbing alcohol
10 drops of eucalyptus oil (optional)
Pour into an empty and cleaned out cleaning spray bottle.
I used an old "shower spray" clear bottle. I took the label off of it and removed the sticky label glue with peanut butter-- more on that later!

• White vinegar cuts grease and dirt on pots, pans, granite counter tops, stove tops, plastic and clothing!!! Yes, it removes clothing stains!!
• It leaves mirrors and windows (even with a ton of dog drool on them)
streak free!!
• It removes lime stains and mold marks from the toilet.
• It cuts grim in the shower.
(but does need to be wiped off. It has no built in bubbles with faces.)

It is my one bottle wonder for cleaning my bathroom. I spray my all-purpose-vinegar-blend in and on the toilet, tub, shower, sinks and mirrors and use a few rags to wipe everything clean. It’s an easy, cheap, healthy way to work magic in the bathroom. I sprinkle baking soda on some stuff first, but I'll get into that further later.

Nevertheless, my mirrors and granite counter shine, there are no cruddy marks left behind. The shower tiles and grout are impeccable. Don’t get me wrong, I do keep a bottle of Lysol wipes next to the toilet for those disgusting stray hairs (or weird pee stains that a husband may leave behind that I do NOT want on a rag that will go in my bathroom dirty rag bin) but I limit that to 1 or 2 wipes a cleaning session instead of the 25 wipes I used to use to clean an apartment that was 3,550 square feet smaller than the house I am in now. I am no longer a slave to the Lysol wipe and I have my friend’s vinegar and rags to thank for it.

I never knew before reading further on this long term food preservative but… Vinegar is magic for the microwave. The acetic acid in it make removing sauce and other stains as simple as the pie that might have left its mark in your microwave. Putting half vinegar and half water in a microwave safe bowl for about 4 minutes, carefully remove the bowl with a pot holder (it will be hot!) and just wipe down the inside of it with a rag… magically clean! I wish I would have known that in college when I shared a microwave with 17 busy girls!


For a list of other tips, check out::
http://www.vinegartips.com/scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7

Special thanks for tips to Jillie @
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/