Bicarbonate of soda and vinegar are must-have cleaning products. Sure they are natural, but they pack a serious cleaning punch.
Often natural cleaning products get a bad rap from people who can’t see past chemical cleaners.
However, today, we’re going to show your why bicarb and vinegar are some of the best cleaning products that someone can have in their cleaning arsenal.
As you know, most cleaning products on the market are made with artificial chemicals.
Certain chemicals in cleaning products can causes illnesses. Plus, they often smell bad and don’t really provide much extra cleaning power than natural alternatives.
In fact, bicarb and vinegar can provide all of the cleaning power you need. You can use them separately or combine their cleaning powers and complete most cleaning tasks around the home without the risk of illness and funky smells.
Don’t believe us? Just take a look at the many cleaning tasks that can be done with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda and see for yourself.
In the Kitchen
1. Cleaning pots and pans
You can use bicarb to clean pots and pans with baked-on residue. Just sprinkle some bicarb into the pan, let it soak for 15 minutes in hot water and washing liquid, and the baked-on stains will be gone.
2. Cleaning a dishwasher
You can also use bicarb to freshen up and clean your dishwasher. Just run a cycle with bicarb, and it will be fresh as a daisy. This also works with your coffee pot or teapot.
3. Shining silver
You can make your silver shine again with bicarb too. Make a paste of 3 parts bicarbonate of soda to 1 part water and rub your silver to remove tarnishes. Rinse it off, and it will shine once more.
4. Spray bottle for general cleaning
Use vinegar and bicarb in a spray bottle. This is an extremely versatile mixture. However, one task it is great for is cleaning the fridge. The vinegar will clean, and the bicarb will neutralise any odours. You use this as a general cleaner too.
5. Removing stains from cups
If you have tough stains in your coffee cups and teacups, you can use a mixture of equal parts bicarb and vinegar to remove them. This will also work on any other tough stains.
6. Cleaning the oven
You can also use bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to clean even the most burnt-on stains in your oven. We have an article all about this here. You can also use the same cleaning trick to clean your hob.
If you have any stubborn stains in your kitchen, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar is your best friend. However, it is just as versatile in the bathroom too.
In the Bathroom
7. Cleaning surfaces
You can use bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to make a thick paste that will clean any bathroom surface you can think of. Combine a quarter cup of bicarb with one to two tablespoons of vinegar, mix well, and get cleaning.
8. Cleaning toilets
You can also use bicarb to clean toilets. Just pour about half a cup of bicarb down your toilet and scrub. If your toilet has seen better days, use vinegar instead.
Leave the vinegar overnight if you can. And then scrub. Once finished, use bicarb to neutralise the smell of the vinegar, and the toilet, of course.
9. Removing mineral buildup from shower heads and taps
Vinegar is a great tool to have if you have a lot of mineral buildup on your shower head or taps. You can soak these in vinegar to remove it.
To do so, half fill a sandwich bag or something similar with vinegar and then wrap it around the showerhead or taps using elastic bands to hold it in place.
Leave for at least 15 minutes, but the longer, the better. The minerals will wipe away easily.
10. Removing limescale
Any of the pastes made from bicarbonate of soda and vinegar that we’ve spoken about in this article will also work great on limescale. You can use this paste on glass shower doors, taps and anything else.
Washing Clothes
11. Make whites whiter
Adding bicarbonate of soda into a wash at the beginning of a washing cycle will make whites whiter than ever.
12. Remove odours
You can also sprinkle bicarb into your washing pile, it helps with odours, remember!
13. Removing sweat stains
Sweat stains can be helped with vinegar. You can also boil gym wear in water with a cup of vinegar, and that will remove any stains.
14. Preventing static cling
If you get a lot of static cling in your washing, try adding vinegar to the wash cycle. Add half a cup and reduce static and lint.
15. Remove scuffs and restore shine
Finally, in the washing department, you can remove scuffs from shoes and restore the shine to purses and things by wiping them down with vinegar.
You can use bicarb to mop floors too. Just add half a cup to the bucket, give it a stir and get to mopping, your floors will never of looked so shiny.
18. Natural drain cleaner
You can use bicarb and vinegar to make an excellent and totally natural drain cleaner too. Mix equal parts and pour it down the drain.
You can even use the vinegar and bicarb mixes you’ve been cleaning with already to make the most out of this natural cleaning powerhouse.
Wait for 15 minutes and then pour boiling water down the drain too, but only if your pipes are metal!
19. Removing wax and crayon marks
You can use vinegar and water to remove candle wax and crayon marks from just about any surface in your home.
It works great on floors and hard furnishings and can work on walls too depending on the paint.
20. Removing sticky residue
If you have sticky residue from a sticker, you can remove this with a cloth soaked in vinegar. Allow the vinegar to soak into the sticky area for a few minutes and then wipe it away.
21. Removing carpet stains
Removing stains on carpets can be a real challenge for any cleaner. However, bicarb and vinegar can even get these out too.
Make a paste, rub it into the stubborn stain, leave it as long as you can (overnight is best), hoover away the paste and your carpet will be clean and fresh again.
22. Removing rusted screws
Finally, if you have rusted screws that you want to remove, you can soak the heads of them in vinegar.
Vinegar is excellent at breaking down rust. You can even use it to remove rust from gardening tools and things like that.
We hope this look at the many uses of bicarbonate of soda and vinegar around the home has been helpful. There are properly even more uses for this powerful cleaning crime-fighting team that we couldn’t think of.
So, go forth and explore the magic of bicarbonate of soda and vinegar and see why it could easily replace most of the cleaning products in your home.
