I keep seeing that a lot of you use vinegar to clean instead of store bought cleaning products.....but does it actually kill germs? Also is their a weird smell afterwards?

If it actually does save money and work, I think I will start using vinegar instead

Thanks- Ann

I was curious as to what ratio you mix it with water for cleaning.

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My son is medically fragile with a trach to breathe. We ONLY use vinegar to clean his equipment. Yes, it does kill bacteria. It also sanitizes. There is a little bit of a smell, but I actually don't mind it. Also, if you have smelly laundry, or you left a load in the washer and it starts to smell, add a cup of vinegar to the laundry with your detergent. ALL smells disappear, including the vinegar smell.

We buy it by the gallon around here.

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I personally don't mix it with water because I'm trying to sanitize medical equipment. I would say 1/2 and 1/2 would be good for regular cleaning.

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There are more than 40 different types of congenital heart defects. Little is known about the cause of most of them. There is no known prevention or cure for any of them.
My Blog:Musings of a Heart Family

I use vinegar for cleaning almost everything. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant and it's non-toxic. I prefer that because we have really little kids. I mix it in a ratio of 50% water to 50% vinegar, as Tommy's Mommy suggested. There is some smell, but it evaporates fairly quickly and actually does some deodorizing in the process. We can't use heavily perfumed cleaners due to allergies/asthma, so I'm somewhat careful about the smells at our house.

Michelle

I use it in the laundry, and the only smell I notice is when I first take out of the washer, but it quickly dissipates and doesn't leave any scent on the clothes after they're dried, whether on the line or in the dryer.

There are several threads going on in Green forum regarding vinegar. One talks about how capable it is killing germs and some of the others discuss different "recipes" on using it.

Here are some uses of Vinegar

Uses of Vinegar

I use vinegar 50/50 with water. I started using it mainly because my dd (2) gets into EVERYTHING! I caught her playing with chemical cleaner once, I threw it away immediately.
It only smells like vinegar while wet, once everything dries the smell disappears and unlike with other cleaners the whole house smells clean and not like smelly stuff covered up with flower smell...

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I started using vinegar to clean after I found my toddler sucking on a bottle of "orange cleaner"...

I use a 50/50 mix with water to spray the counters and clean the laminate flooring. I use it straight as a rinse aid in the dishwasher and as a softener in the washer.

As the PPs stated, the smell dissipates very quickly when using it as a cleaner. When using vinegar in the wash/dishwasher, I can't smell it at all.

Check out the Green Living forum. There are lots of discussions on vinegar going on right now!

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