Vinegar and baking soda: the best products for house cleaning

Nature can provide us with all the ingredients we need to do anything, even the house-cleaning. You can clean the house without resorting to any chemical cleaners, harmful to both humans and the environment alike. There are two substances, in particular, that are excellent allies in the home: white vinegar and baking soda.

White vinegar is a great disinfectant: it can be used against lime scale, has good disinfecting and degreasing properties and is excellent at neutralizing odours.
Using white vinegar against lime scale and mould. Warm up the vinegar and, using a soft cloth, apply it to steel sinks and faucets to remove annoying lime scale.

Vinegar and baking soda cleaning

When used together with baking soda, vinegar is excellent at unblocking the kitchen sink. Simply pour a cup of vinegar down the sink and rinse with boiling water. This will be effective so long as your sink is not too clogged up. Lastly, by combining baking soda and water to make a paste, you can remove mould from the shower and the ‘black’ build up between the joints of tiles.

Using white vinegar to remove scale

White vinegar is a great ally in the kitchen. It can be used to remove caked dirt from pots (boil a bit of vinegar with water in dirty pots for a few minutes and scrub to eliminate residues) and also as a degreaser for dishes (add a few drops of vinegar to dishes as a natural washing up liquid).

FOCUS: How to deal with limescale naturally and effectively

Using white vinegar to clean furniture, floors and windows

A bit of vinegar diluted with water is an excellent cleaner for furniture: simply moisten a cloth with a solution of vinegar and warm water and wipe the surface.

White vinegar is also useful for cleaning glass and mirrors. Prepare a mixture of vinegar, warm distilled water and a handful of soap flakes and put the mixture in a spray container. Spray on glass and wipe clean with newspaper. Even the floors of the house will shine if you wash them with a solution of vinegar diluted in water with the addition of a few drops of lemon.

That’s not all. You can even use white vinegar to do the laundry. Vinegar is great for removing stains from clothes and as a natural substitute for fabric softener. The vinegar needs to be diluted with water at a ratio of 1: 3 – 1 part vinegar and 3 parts water.

White vinegar can also be used to remove lime scale from the pipes of the washing machine and the reservoir of the iron! To clean the washing machine simply run an empty wash at 90 ° C with a cup of vinegar. For the iron, add a cup of vinegar, together with water, in the reservoir. Set the temperature of the iron to maximum and the heat will produce steam that will free up the lime scale.

Another natural ally of housecleaning is bicarbonate soda. It is a great sanitizing and antibacterial agent.

Using bicarbonate soda to clean furniture, floors, and the bathroom

Simply dilute bicarbonate soda in water to clean these items. It can also be used to neutralize odours in the fridge, the dustbins or even on hands after cooking with garlic or onion.

Using baking soda for sofas and clothes

Baking soda can also be used to clean mattresses and clothes before putting them away for the summer and is great at removing the smell of sweat from sports clothes and sneakers. To sanitize the sofa cover simply dust with baking soda and leave for 20 minutes and then remove using a vacuum cleaner. To remove more stubborn stains, cover with a layer of baking soda, leave for an hour and then rinse with water and vinegar.

Using baking soda to kill insects

Baking soda is also a perfect repellent for ants, centipedes and cockroaches. You can also use is as a moth repellent in your wardrobe by keeping  bowlful in the closet. Lemongrass can be substituted with baking soda as a mosquito repellent. Either placed in a bowl on the table during summer evenings outdoors, or rubbed on your arms, this substance is very effective at keeping the mosquitoes at bay.

Using baking soda in the garden

You can use baking soda to keep flowers fresher for longer. It can also be used to clean plant leaves, allowing them to “breathe better”. If mixed with water (2 tablespoons of baking powder for one litre of water) it can be used to remove weeds from your driveway or patio or to clean terracotta plant pots. Even the fungi that threaten your vegetable garden or balcony plants can be eliminated with a  by spraying a compound made from 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a cup of water, on the plants for 20 days.

Say goodbye to all the bottles of cleaning products and detergents that marketing experts have made us believe necessary. All we need are two natural and low cost products to do all the household cleaning. What’s more, the chemical ingredients in commercial cleaning products are often expensive and almost always toxic.

Vinegar and baking soda, on the contrary, are cheap and eco-friendly: two good reasons to make use of them!