Who are the Joneses?: Product of the day: Vinegar

Even when I was newly married at 19, I was always buying big jugs of white vinegar for my home. I bet a bunch of people walking past my cart always wondered why this young chick bought vinegar. Well little did a lot of them know, vinegar is one of the best and cheapest things on the market that is so versatile! You can use it for cleaning the household, use in cooking, etc. I decided today that I would highlight some of the wonderful things vinegar can do you for your home.

Here are some things that I use vinegar for around my home:

Cleaning microwave. Put a small amount in a microwave safe container, hit the timer for a few minutes and then the grease and grime will be able to be scraped off the microwave walls a lot easier. Vinegar is also a natural disinfectant so it cleans it as well, just don't inhale the fumes! If you need to, dilute with small amount of water

Cleaning cat box. After dumping all litter in the trash, hose out the cat box and dump out excess water. Put 1 1/2 inches of vinegar and a generous amount of baking soda in the bottom. The two will mix together and make a foamy mixture. Let sit for an hour, come back and scrub the box, dump out the mixture, and hose it out. Let air dry. No more stinky box!

Cleaning coffee pot. This is essential if you use tap water, the vinegar will get rid of the excess limescale build up. I use 4 cups of straight vinegar and run through as a regular cycle. Once done and cooled, run through coffee cycle again with just water, otherwise your first pot of coffee with have a funky flavor.

Excess odors. Place a small glass bowl filled with vinegar wherever there are odors; try the refrigerator, by a cat box, in a stinky cupboard, wherever! The vinegar will absorb the odors.

Home-made household cleaner. Mix 1part vinegar with 1part water. You can add baking soda for a good abrasive. Cheap and cheerful (As Kim and Aggie always say!).

Get rid of nasty lime on shower head. In England we had the hardest water imaginable and so this left our shower head and taps looking not so nice. Take a small sandwich baggie, fill it with straight vinegar and attach so that the head/taps are completely soaking in the vinegar. Finish with a rubber band. If you can leave overnight, great, but otherwise leave it on for four hours. Remove and they're now lime free!