Heinz Distilled White Vinegar

I am never without at least two gallons of distilled, white vinegar in the house. It is completely nontoxic, quite inexpensive, and it has endless practical uses other than the obvious ones of using it for cooking and for salad dressing. Here are a few of my favorites:

Removing hard water scale: You can easily avoid more expensive preparations to remove scale from a coffee pot or water distiller by soaking them overnight in a solution of half vinegar and half water. Use the same solution to remove the water line in a flower vase and remove stains and white mineral crusts in clay, glazed and plastic pots.

Disinfectant: I keep a spray bottle of vinegar in both the kitchen and bathroom, and I carry a small, travel-size spray bottle of it in my purse. It works great as a disinfectant, and it is much, much cheaper than hand sanitizers like Purell. For added oomph in disinfecting in my kitchen and bathrooms, I keep a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide in them as well (you can often find an 8-ounce dark-brown spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide sold in drugstores or Walmart next to the regular 16or 32-ounce dark-brown bottles of hydrogen peroxide). Microbiologists at Virginia Tech discovered that when you spray a surface with vinegar and then with hydrogen peroxide, one after the other, together they kill 99% of household germs, such as staph and e.Coli. These natural disinfectants are ideal for use around children and pets because breathing their fumes is not harmful, unlike the fumes from harsh chemicals in commercial disinfectants such as Lysol, ammonia, or bleach. However, do note that hydrogen peroxide can fade out colors in fabrics if it splashes on them, and children should be protected from accidentally ingesting hydrogen peroxide (vinegar is not poisonous, and the child will spit it out because it is sour).

Dishwashing: Rather than using soap, which leaves scum, when you hand wash dishes use a mixture of 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup baking soda in a dish pan of hot water.

Laundry: Add 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse to remove soap scum from your clothing. It also works great to eliminate mold and mildew from damp clothing left too long in the hamper, and it acts as a non-toxic fabric softener and static cling reducer. It also removes manufacturing chemicals from new clothes, especially underwear and sleepwear, either in the washer or by hand washing them in a sink of water with a cup of vinegar added to it. It's also a good idea to prewash new sheets and towels this way.

Itchy skin: If you have a tendency to have itchy skin after bathing with soap, you can restore the acid/alkaline balance on your skin by keeping a spray bottle of diluted vinegar in your shower (about 1/2 cup to a quart of water). Turn off the shower after rinsing off all the soap, then spray the vinegar/water mixture over your whole body, stroking it along your skin to get it on you everywhere, including on your scalp--it makes a good hair rinse. Then turn on the shower to a cool temperature and rinse it off. Don't worry, the vinegar smell does not cling to you. Note: If you have itching in intimate areas of your body, rather than using the vinegar rinse, see my review of Florasone Cream (http://www.amazon.com/review/R2YR7GN7ZQGPZD/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00016QU3O&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful).

Pesticide and herbicide: Drive away ants from your home by spraying vinegar and wiping up ants along their ant trail, and spraying it around the door or window where they got in. Eliminate anthills by pouring vinegar on the hill. Pour vinegar in the cracks of sidewalks to kill weeds, which is much safer than chemical herbicides. (Be sure you don't put vinegar on your grass or anywhere else that you don't want to kill the plant life.) You can kill slugs by spraying them with a mixture of 1 part water and 1 part vinegar. Catch moths by creating a mixture of 2 parts vinegar and 1 part molasses, placing the mixture in a tin can, and hanging it in a tree or placing it on a table or porch rail near where the moths are bothering you.

Discourage cats from getting into a child's sandbox by pouring vinegar on the sand.

Bathroom deodorizing spray: Vinegar works as well as natural citrus deodorizers, and it won't poison you with harsh chemicals the way Glade type products will.