Tip for Earth Day

I use vinegar a lot in my cleaning but the smell is sometimes not so pleasant. IT is a great deodorizer, germ cleaner and so many other things are great about it! My mom gave me the tip a while back about setting out a bowl of vinegar when you are or after cooking to remove the smells from your home. It does work! I get emails from tip nut but do not always read them. I often wonder what I am missing, lol. This one sounded perfect for today in celebration of Earth Day. Hope you all get to try it and see how it works for you.

Homemade Citrus Vinegar Cleaner

Found this great recipe in a file download from West Michigan Environmental Action Council. I tried it and loved it–here’s what I did:

Homemade Citrus Household Cleaner

• Fill a large, wide mouth jar with citrus peels (such as lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruits). Cover the peels with white household vinegar. Let brew for four weeks, shaking the jar occasionally (just to mix it up a bit). Strain (I did this twice).
• Use as a laundry booster (I just tossed it in with the whites), window cleaner, floor cleaner, counter tops, appliances (Dilute in water–1/2 cup per gallon of water works well). For a stovetop grease buster I just sprayed it on undiluted. Test surfaces first before using.

Tips:

• Before filling the jar, I made sure the citrus peels were scrubbed well in baking soda and water to remove any chemicals or pesticides. It’s a lot easier if you do this before peeling the fruit!
• To collect the peels, throughout the week store all the citrus peels in a baggy or airtight container and refrigerate. If your household doesn’t go through a lot of citrus fruit in a week, just chop up what peels you have and fill a small glass jar (or even spray bottle) with peels and cover with vinegar. To make a big jar like above, you need a lot of peels. You could try freezing the peels and then thawing the bunch when you have enough, I haven’t tested that though.

You may also like to try the Lavender Vinegar Recipes, some can be used in cleaning too.

Collect your citrus peels, there are so many great uses for them! Here are more ideas from past Tipnut articles: Quick Tip: Lemon & Orange Peels For Firestarters, Uses for Citrus Peels Plus Candied Lemon Peel Recipe, Enamel Cookware Stain Removal Tips, Homemade Potpourri 101.