We Tested It: Cleaning With Vinegar

By Noah Garfinkel, Networx

The secret to cleaning with vinegar is to not be an overconfident jerk about it. But we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s start at the beginning.

I had always thought of vinegar in relation to cleaning the same way I think of tofu in relation to food. It’s fine if that’s what you’re into, and I understand it can be good, but it’s really none of my business. I’d just as soon eat/use something else. Nonetheless, I spent the morning testing out vinegar as a way to clean a few things, and it turns out, it’s… awesome? No, that’s a bit much. I take back “awesome.” Let’s go with “a thing that works.”

It’s really easy to find different uses for vinegar online. In fact, if you just type in “uses for” in your Google search bar, the very first thing that comes up is “uses for vinegar.” That is, paradoxically, the most interesting and most boring Google fact I have ever stumbled across. And, on just about every uses-for-vinegar list, you’ll see a suggestion that you use it to take care of the burnt smell in the kitchen after you burn something. You just put some vinegar on a rag and then flap it around. It really does help. I burned some bacon the other night, and the smell permeated the entire apartment. After the vinegar rag flapping, however, it smelled like I had just barely singed the bacon and then made some moderately strong buffalo sauce.

I also tried a half vinegar/half water mixture to clean my laptop. It worked really well. This is probably the cleanest this filthy computer has been in a couple of years (we’ve reached a low point for electrical devices in my NYC apartment). My fingers aren’t even sticking to the keys as I type right now. And the vinegar left no streaks on the screen the way a plain damp rag always seems to do.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Frances D.

3:04AM PDT on May 16, 2013

I meant...sorry about the couch...

May 16
send a green star

3:03AM PDT on May 16, 2013

Yes vinegar is great stuff.....sotty about the couch.

Jose P.

4:30PM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

next time i burn the toast! fingers crossed

April 18
send a green star

Kelly L.

8:33AM PDT on Apr 6, 2013

thanks i will keep that in mind

April 6
send a green star

Betty C.

2:06PM PDT on Mar 30, 2013

Thanks for the info and the humour.

March 30
send a green star

Tammy B.

6:29AM PDT on Mar 28, 2013

thanks and sorry about your couch!

March 28
send a green star

Dale O.

8:22AM PDT on Jul 31, 2012

Vinegar and I are old friends but there obviously are limitations to its charm and power in various cases. Have to wonder why the shower curtain always gets so mildewed, have had the same one for years and it has never had mildew on it, is the washroom extremely humid?
Glad that your fingers no longer stick to the keyboard!
Just love vinegar along with baking soda as well. Vinegar is great for foods with so many varieties and it certainly cleans many things!