What do you do when you encounter a stubborn mess at home that won’t come loose with a quick wipe? Wy, you go to Google, of course!
And out of all the results you’ll find, you might notice many espousing the power of vinegar as a household cleaner.
As professional house cleaners in Sydney and Melbourne, we often get asked about our favourite cleaning tips and tricks – in particular, whether the internet can really be trusted and if vinegar is actually all it’s cracked up to be as a cleaning agent.
The answer: it’s true, all of it!
Why is vinegar good for cleaning?
Many homeowners dismiss the idea of cleaning with vinegar, saying that it can’t possibly be that effective. Instead, they leave the idea to the same mental rubbish bin as all the other things they were told in childhood, like how their faces would freeze when the wind changed.
The thing is, vinegar is surprisingly effective as a cleaning agent. It might not sound like it, but this is a trick that we love, and still recommend trying out first before breaking out the chemicals and detergents.
This is because vinegar is inherently acidic, which can help it cut through, loosen or dissolve certain buildups.
While it may not be the best cleaner for all types of household messes, it works well enough to do the job in a pinch.
Before you begin: are you using the CORRECT vinegar?
There are many different kinds of vinegar available on your supermarket shelves. You can get apple vinegar, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, wine vinegar and white vinegar.
Not only does each one taste ever so slightly different, but they also have different properties – needless to say, this could affect the quality of your cleaning efforts!
Natural vinegars, such as rice, balsamic, wine and apple, all come from a kind of plant.
The process of making vinegar involves fermenting the sugar in a plant based product, past the point of creating wine, so that the mixture becomes acidic.
White vinegar on the other hand, is not made from natural plant products. It is made from acetic acid and water – this makes it the most acidic vinegar on the supermarket shelf.
It’s these qualities that make white vinegar a tad too strong for cooking – however, these same qualities also mean that it can be even better for cleaning, as it will cut through dirt and bacteria even quicker.
However, may cleaning tasks don’t require that much acidity and can potentially cause damage if your working with softer materials or surfaces.
For this reason we suggest you start with natural vinegar for cleaning purposes before moving onto the white stuff. In particular, our house cleaners in Sydney recommend apple vinegar, as it leaves a trace fruity smell behind (though it still smells like vinegar primarily!)
What can vinegar be used to clean?
When Syneysiders call our house cleaners, we often hear many complaints saying they tried to use vinegar and that they didn’t get the results they were advertised.
This isn’t because vinegar is ineffective – as we just said, it works surprisingly well when brought to bear on many household messes – rather, it’s because more often than not, they’re either:
- Using vinegar wrong
- Trying to clean something vinegar doesn’t work on
To ensure your house stays spotless, we’ve put together a list of vinegar cleaning mixtures and techniques, as well as what they work on to help you maximise the cleaning power of vinegar.
Windows
One of the most common and well-known uses for vinegar is to remove streaks from windows and glass.
In our experience, a mixture of 50% water and 50% water will give you streak free windows and mirrors almost every time.
Apply the mixture using a spray bottle – while a bottle may do the trick, it also leaves more liquid on your window, resulting in a longer clean and a higher risk of streaks. Using a microfibre cloth or soft sponge, apply the mixture to your window and let it dry.
Click here to learn more about how you can make your windows spotless.
Drain blockages
Drains tend to give people a lot of trouble when it comes time to clean them. Afterall, you can’t get a good look inside them so how can you know that you’ve cleaned it properly?
Vinegar comes in very handy in this situation.
All you need to do is pour some vinegar into the drain and sprinkle some baking soda after it.
This creates a chemical reaction – think back to that papier mache volcano you made in primary school – which can loosen, dislodge or dissolve drain blockages like food scraps and grease.
Afterwards, use a scrubbing brush to work the vinegar and baking soda into the sides of the drain. This will help to further remove any nasties hiding in your drain.
Just be sure you know when to call it quits – certain blockages may require intervention from a plumber!
Toilet
As house cleaners in Sydney, we often get asked about whether or not we do toilet cleaning.
We know all too well that people do not like cleaning their toilet – no wonder it’s one of our most-requested services.
Thankfully, we have a tip to make toilet cleaning an easy and quick task. Before you go to bed, pour half a cup of vinegar into the toilet and let it sit overnight.
When you get up in the morning, sprinkle a little bit of baking soda into the bowl. Give the bowl a hard, quick scrub and then flush.
Your toilet will be sparkling clean!
Laundry
You may have heard of using vinegar to clean hard to remove stains on bench tops and hard to reach places.
However, you probably haven’t heard of using vinegar to clean your laundry.
Have you ever run out of fabric softener and pulled on your clothes after the washing is done to find them not quite as nice as before?
We have the perfect solution: vinegar!
Create a mixture of vinegar and lavender oil. We use two cups of vinegar and eight to ten drops of lavender oil
When you put on your washing, use one or two teaspoons of the mixture for a cost effective fabric softener.
Additionally, vinegar is also a surprisingly effective spot cleaner. Say you’ve accidentally splashed some wine on your favourite jacket – what you’ll want to do is break out the vinegar and dab the affected areas with vinegar.
Hire the best house cleaners Sydney has to offer
We call ourselves Master Cleaners for a very good reason – we’re just that good at what we do!
We know every trick and tip there is for getting the best cleaning results. With 17 years of experience providing high-quality cleaning services to the people of Melbourne and Sydney, it’s a title we’ve earned.
Our specialty? Making messes that are too big, too stubborn or too challenging to handle on your own simply disappear.
Our experience isn’t limited to domestic cleaning, either – when we say we can Master any stubborn messes, we mean it!
In addition to house cleaning in Sydney, we also offer a range of cleaning services including;
If you are interested in hiring our team of professionals to take care of your cleaning needs, you can get in contact with us by calling 1800 11 22 34, or send us a message at this link.
