Remove Water Stains
We love tea in the morning; we love another pot at night. What we don’t love is how our hot pot was starting to look after a couple dozen uses. Mineral deposits were piling up. Looking through our pot was like waking up to a foggy day.
Call me lazy, but I wasn’t about to start scrubbing another victim of mineral deposits. So as you know, we’re loving the green cleaners we’ve been using. Why not try the same approach with our hot pot? I filled the pot a quarter full with 3/4 water and 1/4 white vinegar, turned on the pot, and walked away. A few minutes later, I came back to a perfectly clean pot.
You gotta love a quick clean, so I figured it was worth passing along to all of you if hard water is the bane of your cleaning, too.
We think vinegar/water solutions are also brilliant (and cheap!) for:
The motto now is going to have to be: when in doubt with cleaning, turn to vinegar! It’s fabulous. Just don’t use it on your tile grout. The two get along like pickles and honey. Eww.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Hi there! I am a long time lurker, love your blog. I HAVE to ask about this whole vinegar thing. I am honestly trying to embrace cleaning with greener products so have tried using vinegar in my cleaning. HOWEVER, my house smells of it for DAYS after. Is there some secret trick I am missing? I used it to clean the windows with newspaper (just diluted the vinegar with water). I tried it straight on the taps in the bathroom and then rinsed it off with lots of water, but my hubby complained for days that it smelled terrible. Do you have any idea what I am doing wrong? I am definitely going to try cleaning out our kettle RIGHT NOW though!
June 17th, 2009 at 4:29 am
Did you know you can use apple cider vinegar & water as a hair rinse as well?
http://fimby.tougas.net/homemade-shampoo-and-conditioner
I’ve been enjoying your blog by the way even though I haven’t commented too often.
June 17th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Hi from Bucharest :)
And also vinegar/water solutions are perfect for your hair if you want to have a shiny and strong hair. Just give a last rinse after you washed it and you will be amazed :) This is an old and natural technique that my mom taught me :)
June 17th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Pickles and honey does sound ewww…..and yeah for vinegar!
How’s the flying coming along this week? We’ve had a break in the rain, but it’s back in the forecast for the next few days. Wah!
June 17th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Thank you!!! I have been having the same problem and putting it off. I’m so glad to get it cleaned today!
June 17th, 2009 at 6:27 am
I never thought about soaking the shower head in vinegar, I’m going to have to try that. The shower is getting a little spars.
Thanks for sharing.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Good question, Liesl. To get rid of the vinegar smell, some people like to add a little extract. We just rinse with water and open the windows, and it does the trick for us. Hope one of those can help. The way I look at it is I’d rather smell vinegar than any conventional cleaning product when you get down to it.
Katie
June 17th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I love this idea! Another thing I do that is similar to this is use ice cubes and coarse salt to clean my coffee pot of those brown stains. Just put both in the pot and swirl, be careful not to do it too hard or you may crack your pot though!
June 17th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I love this trick! My mom taught it to me when I was a kid and it has never failed me. What happens when you try to clean grout, though? Never tried that before with vinegar, so I’m now very curious about the results.
June 17th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I love tea and I love vinegar. (But not together. lol)
June 18th, 2009 at 5:15 am
I’m definitely going to try this tip! My hot water pot is looking pretty bad from the mineral build-up and this is a great natural way to get it clean. Thanks!
June 18th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Good to know about tile grout and vinegar-I think I tried using it already in the shower, but now I won’t do that again! I never thought to soak my biteguard in that solution. I soak it in denture cleaner, but I think I might try doing a weekly deep cleanse in vinegar/water. Thanks for the tip!
June 18th, 2009 at 8:51 am
great tips!
June 18th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I love this post, and may I say, when all else failed, some vinegar and water got (as much as possible) an atrocious semi permanent red hair dye out of my hair.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
We use that exact cleaner regularly to run through our coffee maker. It removes deposits and keeps it brewing quicker….
June 18th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I do this too. I drink tea every morning and the mineral build up in my electric kettle is awful. Just a little vinegar mixed in with water zaps it right out. To combat the smell, I crack the kitchen window (you know, lean it back) and hold the pot up to the window for a minute. No smell. I also use it instead of a rinsing agent in my dishwasher.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I’ve heard of vinegar for the coffee maker, but not as fabric softener. Now that is news to me! I’m going to have to try that one. :) Hope you’re enjoying your vacation!
June 19th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Vinegar also works great for getting residue off of fruits & veggies, 1/2 cup in a sink full of water for 30 minutes:-)
November 5th, 2010 at 7:00 am
Vinager is also fabulous for getting cat urine out of clothing. Just add the Vinager to your wash and let it soak a bit longer. It nutralizes the amonia particales, and works great.
Becca