30+ Ways to Use White Vinegar PLUS Recipes for Herbal Infused Vinegars

30+ Ways to Use White Vinegar

White vinegar is an amazing, non-toxic tool that should be in every natural homemaker’s arsenal. It’s natural, frugal and even edible!
Check out these 30+ ways to use white vinegar:
1. as a fabric softener
2. as a stain remover
3. as an odor neutralizer: I will run 1/4-1/2 cup to a rinse cycle if my wet clothes have sat in the washing machine for too long!
4. to make a multi-purpose cleaner
5. to remove wallpaper
6. as a dishwasher rinse aid
7. to clean burnt pot and pans
8. to make homemade disinfecting wipes
9. as a no-streak glass cleaner
10. as a homemade bug repellent
11. to clean crystal
12. as a hair rinse
13. as a facial toner
14. to kill weeds
15. to make homemade produce cleaner
16. to make homemade liquid dish soap
17. to clean the microwave
18. for non-toxic cleaning
19. to make homemade liquid laundry detergent
20. to keep your windshield from frosting in the winter
21. to make a homemade, non-toxic oven cleaner
22. to dye eggs
23. to soothe a bee sting
24. as a shower cleaner
25. as a homemade dusting spray
26. to clean your coffee pot
27. to make homemade furniture polish
28. to clean your crock pot
29. as a safe bathroom cleaner
30. to make homemade “Fauxbreeze“(a natural spin on Febreeze) or
Don’t like the smell of white vinegar

Check out this DIY citrus-infused vinegar and lavender-infused vinegar. (You can even use them as a body splash!)

All-Purpose Citrus Vinegar Cleaner:
• Fill container of your choice with cut up lemon, lime or orange peels.
• Add vinegar to cover the peels. Seal with tight-fitting lid.
• Put it away and forget about it for two weeks.
• After two weeks, strain the citrus peels from the vinegar then add water. I used on a 50/50 mix of water and lemon vinegar.

Herbal Infused Vinegar For Cleaning
This is something you’ll want to do over a couple of weeks, and consists of two easy steps.
Infusing the vinegar.
Mixing the infusion with more vinegar and essential oil.
The second part is even optional, if you don’t have essential oil. Here’s the first part.
1. Infuse Your Vinegar for Two Weeks

First step - infuse the vinegar with herbs for two weeks(write down the date you make it)
All you need for this part is:
Distilled white vinegar
Disinfecting herbs of your choosing (rosemary, peppermint, thyme, lemon balm, pine needles, lavender, orange or grapefruit or lemon peels)
I used peppermint and rosemary for this one.
Measure out 1/2 c. dried herbs into a clean jar. Cover with approximately 1-1/2 c. white vinegar.
Put the lid on it. Shake it. And store it for two weeks (shaking it about when you remember, every day or every couple of days).
The story of mine goes like this: I started infusing these herbs on July 9, 2011. And then I forgot I was doing it, so my infusion is SUPER strong (and darker than yours will be). Two weeks is plenty.
Once your two weeks are up, here’s what you do:
2. Mix Your Infused Vinegar

Everything you need to make your own homemade all purpose cleaner. Get to it.

First, strain all the herbs out of your vinegar using a fine-mesh sieve or a coffee filter. Then, gather all your ingredients:
Ingredients for Vinegar-Infused All Purpose Cleaner
Infused vinegar from step 1
More distilled white vinegar
Essential oils of your choosing (one, two, three …. or none at all – it’s up to you)
An empty spray bottle
Pour all of your infused vinegar into the spray bottle and add 1 c. regular white vinegar (this is just to add “new” and potent vinegar to your cleaning).
Put in some essential oil drop by drop:

Lemon is especially good at cutting grease. And smelling like sunshine.
Good “Cleaning” Essential Oils: Lemon, orange, pink grapefruit, rosemary, tea tree, eucalyptus, peppermint, lavender.
So you drop in about 30-50 drops of essential oil (I used 15 each of lemon, rosemary, and tea tree).
Shake up your homemade all purpose cleaner. Use it whenever something needs to be wiped off a counter, out of a sink, or even in your bathtub.
That’s it! Done!
This will keep for months and months, and it’s disinfecting, antimicrobial, and all around GREAT on grease, stuck-on foodstuffs, and other icky messes.

Vinegar is the mecca of all-natural cleaning solutions.  I think it’s fairly well known that diluted vinegar makes a fantastic all-purpose cleaner (and if you didn’t know before, you do now!).  Some of the lesser-known purposes of vinegar include:

whitens clothes in the laundry (as effective as bleach)
riding the smell of skunk (works better than tomato juice)
keeping ants away (spray in their path to divert)
removing the paint smell from a freshly painted room (place an open container in the room)
loosens grime and grit on a grill (use just before cleaning)
unclogs drains (when used with baking soda)
unclogs soap-scum-filled shower heads (soak shower head in container of vinegar)
removes stains and “burns” on stainless steel or aluminum cookware