The many uses for white vinegar

Armed with a humble bottle of distilled white vinegar, you’ve got the solution to so many jobs around the home, from cleaning to laundry, appliance maintenance to pest control. It’s anti-bacterial, slightly acidic, and neutralises odours, making it the perfect ally in your war against housework!

If you want to simplify your cleaning routine, find effective ways to tackle life’s toughest stains, or simply looking for a clever way to save the pennies, white vinegar is here to help. Here are our favourite ways to use white vinegar in your home to get you started.

Fabric softener

Vinegar is a cheap, cheerful, but ultimately effective way of softening your laundry. Simply pour 25-50ml of vinegar into the fabric softener compartment and run the cycle as normal.

This is safe for all fabrics, and has a number of bonus advantages: it naturally whitens your whites, makes colours pop, and cleans the internal workings of the machine while it’s doing it.

Check out our guide to laundry for even more brilliant hacks like this one.

Cleaning the dishwasher

It’s an appliance that people often forget to clean. Over time, grease and limescale can build up in your dishwasher which can lead to dirty dishes, suspicious smells, and could even damage the machine if left too long.

Don’t worry though – it’s easy and cheap to clean with the help of good old vinegar! Pop 250ml of vinegar into a bowl or jug and place it on the top shelf of the dishwasher before running it empty on the longest and hottest cycle it has. The vinegar will leave your dishwasher clean, shiny, and odour-free.

Read the full guide on how to clean your dishwasher for the full rundown.

Mould control

Mould can be difficult to avoid sometimes, especially in humid environments like bathrooms and kitchens. Your first instinct may be to reach for the bleach – however, small patches of mould can easily be treated by distilled white vinegar, which doesn’t smell half as bad as bleach does and won’t cause skin irritation.

You can either spray a watered-down vinegar solution onto the mould patch, or apply some to a rag and wipe the mould off. As vinegar is acidic, it’ll effectively remove the surfaces spores as well as kill the bits you can’t see – it may take a couple of passes.

Keeping on top of damp control can seem like an impossible task, but there are things you can do to stop it coming back – you can read all about it in our blog on avoiding moisture in your home.

Cleaning the washing machine

Bacteria can easily build up in your washing machine, so you should aim to clean yours once a month or so. Grab your vinegar and pour 250ml into the drum. If your washing machine doesn’t have a cleaning program, run a 90° wash to fully disinfect and clean your machine.

The full guide to cleaning your washing machine can be found here.

Top tip: some wash cycles will drain the machine first before starting, so you may want to wait until the machine starts filling with water and then pour your vinegar into the detergent drawer.

Multi-purpose cleaner

If you’ve run out of wilko wipes and can’t make it to one of 200+ collection points nationwide for Click & Collect, you can whip up your very own multi-purpose cleaner at home with store cupboard ingredients!

Mix equal quantities of vinegar and water with a tiny splash of washing up liquid, and voila: a multi-purpose cleaner that you can use for surfaces, tiles, windowsills… you name it.

Descaling shower heads

If your morning shower is being thwarted by water coming out in every direction due to a clogged showerhead, it’s an easy fix.

For smaller showerheads, you can half fill a food storage bag (make sure it doesn’t have any leaks!) with vinegar, submerge the showerhead, and use an elastic band to seal it shut. Leave to soak for an hour or two before rinsing and reattaching.

For those larger waterfall showerheads, unscrew it from the fixture and submerge it in a roasting tray filled with vinegar. Leave it to soak for a couple of hours before rinsing and reattaching.

Cleaning your bathroom is a pretty big job, but don’t worry; there’s a blog for that.

Descaling kettles and coffee machines

Kitchen descaling tablets and powders are pretty potent – and not to mention hazardous. They’re very effective, but you can also use gool old white vinegar for your general descaling needs – no gloves required.

Half fill your kettle with equal parts of water and distilled white vinegar. Bring to the boil and leave it to work for 5 minutes before tipping out the vinegar. Rinse the kettle, fill it with fresh water, and bring to the boil. Discard this water and repeat the rinsing process once more to make sure your next cuppa doesn’t taste like vinegar.

Make the same 1-to-1 vinegar and water solution to descale your coffee machine. Pop the solution into the water tank and run the coffee machine as normal, which will clean the pipes within the machine. Once it’s all used up, run a couple of cycles with clean water to rinse. Done!

Glass cleaner

If you’re sick of seeing watermarks on your windows or glass shower screens, vinegar can help! Mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle and apply to the glass. Leave it for a good few minutes before wiping clean with a microfibre cloth.

If some water marks remain, the most effective way of getting rid of them is by using very fine wire wool. Don’t believe us? Our blog on how to clean windows and glass can explain!

Deodorising rooms

You may think that the only downside to vinegar is its harsh smell – but it can even be used to remove unpleasant odours from the air in your home!

Simply be popping a small bowl of vinegar out, it’ll go a long way to absorbing and neutralising suspicious smells from any room in your home. Leave it out for the day, or overnight, and enjoy fresher-smelling rooms. It’s ideal for pet owners.

Looking for a blog on keeping your home clean when you have pets? It’s right here.

Remove water stains from glasses

Pesky water marks on your wine glasses ruined one too many dinner parties? Vinegar to the rescue! The acid in the vinegar can help to break down those stubborn water marks, so pre-treat any dirty glasses with vinegar first before washing as normal. Sparkly!

Floor cleaner

Just like your work surfaces, vinegar is also very effective at cleaning your floors. A slightly weaker solution of one part vinegar to 3 or 4 parts water makes a very good floor cleaner which you can use with your mop.

Remember that water-based cleaners aren’t good for wooden flooring, so stick with your purpose-made cleaners for that.

Eliminate fruit flies

These tiny little blighters are a real pain in summer. They appear from nowhere and love nothing more than floating around your kitchen looking for food to swarm on.

It’s time to make some traps. Unlike most of the other tips, you can use any kind of vinegar for this, whether it’s apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or something else. Pour some into a small bowl or container, cover with cling film, and poke some small holes in the top. This will make sure the flies can’t get out as easily when they wander in.

Pop some in the problem areas of your home and let the power of vinegar do all the hard work!