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Friday, March 11, 2011

Cleaning with Herbal Vinegar

Vinegar is awesome stuff. Apple cider vinegar is good for the hair as a rinse (future blog post!), but I want to address a brilliant and eco-friendly usage of vinegar:  It can be used to clean innumerable things! My dear Irish grandmother used it, for instance, with a bit of baking soda to clean the pipes in her house.
Instead of using harsh (and toxic) chemicals to clean your floors, countertops, or bathrooms, as well as discovering an even cheaper way to rather clean than buying the costly alternatives, there's herbal vinegar. Used solely, white distilled vinegar itself is a great cleaner, but the herbs make it better. It's a natural way to clean... and for hippies like me, it even makes the monotonous chore of cleaning f-u-n!

(A few words of caution, however: Don't add vinegar directly to materials containing ammonia, as it can create harmful vapors.)

To make herbal vingear, chop up about a handful of fresh herbs of your choice (lavender, lemon balm, peppermint, or basil, for instance) and steep in vingear (white distilled is the norm) for about five days, out of direct sunlight. Strain the infused vingear into a bottle, and voilĂ ! You now have a natural, eco-friendly cleaner.

For more information, check out this website, and this one, too.


Sweet mint.