An Ode to Vinegar

Vinegar is one of the most amazing substances! It's usable for all kinds of purposes, and today I'll share some of my favorite ways to use vinegar around the home.

CleaningI used to be a little worried that if I used vinegar around the house for cleaning, our home would start smelling like vinegar. Not so. The vinegar scent goes away quickly, so it's never an issue. I've used vinegar for cleaning windows, mirrors, and even the floor. It's fantastic! Plus, you can also use vinegar to replace expensive dishwasher rinse aids. Just pour vinegar into that little dispenser instead of "Jet Dry" or whatever. For most cleaning applications, I use white vinegar.

Bug repellent/catcher

I actually read about this use for vinegar on Facebook. A friend was having problems with fruit flies and someone recommended it. Well, we'd had the occasional fruit fly, not a ton, but enough that it was annoying to me, so I set out a dish with cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap, and voila! No more fruit flies. I'm not actually sure if we were supposed to repel the flies or catch them, but since we only caught one and the problem pretty much went away, maybe it was...both. What's funny is that every time I'd walk by the dish, I'd catch a whiff of the vinegar and think, "Huh, that's weird, something smells like vinegar," and then I'd suddenly realize what it was.

Sunburns

My stepmother, Beth, told me about this use for vinegar, and I didn't really have much occasion to put it into use until this past spring, when I sustained a pretty substantial sunburn after forgetting to apply sunscreen before spending the day working on the lawn. All you have to do is dip a washcloth in vinegar, then press it to the sunburn. Instant relief. I was so excited when I realized it actually worked that I was using it several times a day...and fair warning: this isn't like when you use vinegar for cleaning - when you use vinegar for sunburns, the scent remains on your skin.

Salads

This one's a classic, but one I had never enjoyed before I married Leo. Leo dresses a salad simply and beautifully - a little olive oil, a little vinegar, a little salt. That's it. It's beautifully light and absolutely delicious.

I'm sure there are many other uses for vinegar, but these are the ways we use it most. If you've got other ideas, feel free to share them in the comments and I'll experiment with them and post the results.