The Wondrous Effects of Vinegar...

When I was in my 20s feeling young and free my motto was: life's too short for cleaning. Employ a cleaner, I would say, for who really has the time?! So if you'd have told me then, that in ten years' time I'd be excited about the wondrous effects of white vinegar, I'd never have believed a word...

But fast forward a decade. Add two beautiful children to the mix of life and low and behold I spend more than just a few hours a week cleaning! And I'm surprised to find that it occasionally induces a meditative state. That it feels so good when everything, or most things... O.K more than half  - are in their places; dust and debris vacuumed away; surfaces wiped and sparkling. But the high is fleeting. Someone, ALWAYS! Undoubtedly! Walks in with muddy boots on and wreaks everything...

My brother demonstrated for me a few years ago (when I was still in the transition stage - with young child but still loathed cleaning) just how well you could remove limescale from a glass shower door using vinegar. I was never really moved much by this, my heart was never in it in the first place, however I did file it in the depths of my brain for later use.

I came across vinegar in the non-edible sense again recently when reading about cloth nappies. The thing with cloth nappies is that although it's important to sanitise them properly you can't start using lots of bleaches and softeners as it stops them absorbing properly and it's no good either, for a soft tender bottom! I was directed to vinegartips.com and was pleasantly elated to find out that vinegar is not only a fabric softener but it also helps remove soap residue while removing stains and odours. It really works brilliantly, it's cheap and is good for our planet. What more could one want?

With the weather getting warmer it's been time for a dot of spring cleaning. I needed to clean some wooden window sills. A mix of warm water, olive oil and vinegar (yes it sounds like a salad dressing) did wonders and that was really what prompted me into writing this. The sills actually looked like they had been re-varnished. The next one on my list to try will be the oven door.

There are many uses for vinegar, 1001 of them apparently. So please get going and try them. You won't be disappointed - I'm sure of it!