The Single Best Tip You Need to Know If You Ever Clean with Vinegar
I am a big fan of using vinegar to clean. I regularly soak my shower head in a vinegar-filled plastic bag. I use the stuff to clean my microwave. I use it to clean hard water stains from my wine glasses. I also spritz it a lot: on my windows, inside my oven, on my counters, etc. All that spritzing got me thinking. First of all, that would be a good country song. (Take note, Miranda Lambert!) Second: What if there was an easier way? What if, instead of mixing up my DIY cleaning solution or diluted water-and-vinegar concoction in a special spray bottle, I could just do it all right there in the vinegar bottle? You know, the one I’m already holding. Turns out, I can! And I did.
Read more: 31 Things You Didn’t Know You Could (Easily!) Clean with Vinegar
Armed with a half-empty 32-ounce bottle of vinegar, I slid an extra spray nozzle into place — just to see if it fit. As you can see, it does! The threading on the bottle neck perfectly matched up with a standard spray nozzle! So that’s my tip: Use an extra spray nozzle right on the bottle of vinegar you already have! (You may have to experiment with nozzles, if you have a different-size bottle, but I’ve found that standard spray nozzles also fit onto 18- and 8- ounce bottles. In fact, I had a few extra nozzles on hand from a few used cleaning sprays, and they’ve all worked!)
Instead of taking the vinegar from one bottle and putting it into another, I was able to just add water to the half-empty bottle, and I was good to go! (No more funnels! No more careful pouring!) You don’t even have to add the water, if you’re, say, cleaning the oven or shining up stainless steel. But, if you do add water, the mixture can absolutely be stored right in that bottle until you need to pull it out again.
I also love that the sheer presence of the spray nozzle makes it clear that this is my cleaning vinegar. While you should definitely label any DIY cleaning products, and you should never store cleaning products with food, mistakes happen. I like that the spray nozzle is an instant signal that this should be used for cleaning and stored with the cleaning supplies.
Do you use vinegar to clean? What are your favorite ways to use it?