Vinegar adds taste to food and has some surprising health benefits, but are you aware of the fact that it is a great cleaning agent due to mild acetic nature?
If laundry witchcraft ever had a magic potion it would be the white vinegar. This easily available pocket-friendly type of vinegar works wonders for laundry. Adding some vinegar to your laundry cycle can make your clothes remarkably bright, light, soft and reduce odour. Distilled white vinegar contains acetic acid and alcohol, which both are excellent for fighting stains and germs and dissolving alkaline residues of soap in your clothes. While vinegar makes your whites brighter, it also helps to keep dark shades dark by preventing colour bleed.
Hack # 1: Whiten and brighten
Add half a cup of white vinegar in your final rinse load and see the magic. Your clothes will come out bright as new and your dingy graying whites will be whiter than they ever were. Adding two tablets of aspirin in your washing machine will help make your whites look even better.
Hack# 2: Deodorise the smelly laundry
Doesn’t matter if your clothes smell like cigarettes, or sweat or any other body fluid, half a cup in your washing cycle will get the smell out. Even if you smell like scoot or your wet towels have a mouldy odour, there is nothing that white vinegar can’t fix. It will also help if there is any mould growing inside your washing machine. Adding a few drops of lavender oil will make your clothes smell nice.
Hack # 3: Keep your Darks Dark
White vinegar in your laundry cycle will prevent the dark colours from bleeding, this way not only your dark clothes stay dark you are preventing your other less dark clothes from getting ruined by dark dye patches. Read some pro tips about machine washing your laundry here.
Hack # 4: Lint Remover
Some vinegar in your laundry will detach any pet hair sticking onto clothes and will softly get rid of any free fibres, thread and lint. So your garments come out clean and tidy.
Hack # 5: Fabric Softener
Throw the expensive fabric softener out of the window as distilled white vinegar will do the job as good only in less price. So your clothes look more elegant yet your pocket stays happy.
Hack # 6: Clean your washing machine
Extend the life of your washing machine by running an empty load with water and two cups of white vinegar and two spoons of dish detergent each month. This will prevent any smell or ould growth in the washing machine. Follow this empty load wash by wiping the drum and airing out the machine for half a put. Alternately you can take equal parts of vinegar and water, soak a sponge in the solution and scrub out the interior of the machine, biweekly or monthly. This way more effort will be required on your part but you will be wasting less water.
Hack # 7: Wah Your Shower Curtains
Keeping your shower curtains clean is also very important. Soak your dirty shower curtain in a tub of water with two spoons of washing powder and a spoon of vinegar. Vinegar is an excellent disinfectant so it will prevent any growth of bacterias or mould.
Hack # 8: DIY Cleaner and disinfectant
Add one spoon of the liquid dishwasher, and a half a cup of white vinegar in two cups of water and mix well. Pour the solution in a spray bottle and use it to clean and disinfect your living room curtains, mattress, shower curtains, wall hangings, upholstery and carpets. You can add a few drops of lavender oil to it so your room smells great afterwards.