Tips On Using Vinegar For Laundry Care
Vinegar can help remove bad odors from textiles
We know it as a popular ingredient in salad dressings or for descaling. However, there are also uses of vinegar in laundry maintenance.
However, you should definitely use white, colorless vinegar or dilute vinegar essence accordingly, so as not to get stains on your textiles from brown or different colored vinegar.
Wrinkle iron
With vinegar and water, wrinkles and cabinet smells disappear quickly and effectively!
If it is a smaller item of clothing such as a shirt or top, it is sufficient to hang the item on a hanger above the stove (for example on the cooker hood).
On the stove, mix equal parts vinegar and water in a large saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.
The steam smooths the wrinkles in the textile and the vinegar removes bad smells and “cupboard grumbling” from the fibers.
Odor remover
Mix equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle and use it to spray the smelly garment until the surface is wetted.
Don’t worry, now it smells strongly of salad sauce at first, but after it has dried up, all negative smells have disappeared! Slight wrinkles disappear at the same time.
Descaler
Depending on the hardness of the water, it makes sense to descale the washing machine regularly, maybe once a month.
To do this, you simply use vinegar instead of detergent. Put a whole bottle of this in the detergent drawer while the water runs in.
Choose the wash program at the highest possible temperature and, if possible, let it sit for at least 30 minutes.
While the heating rod in the washing machine heats the water, the vinegar does its job. You may see small air bubbles rising, indicating that the limescale is dissolving.
Color freshener
To freshen up a short-pile carpet, revive the colors and remove bad rumors, vinegar water is also a tried and tested home remedy.
To do this, mix water and vinegar in a cleaning bucket in a ratio of approx. 1:10, i.e. about one bottle to a bucket of cleaning water.
The carpet should be vacuumed well beforehand. Now find a lint-free cotton cloth and a scrubber. Rub the carpet with the cloth dampened in vinegar water.
Anti-gray
White laundry can turn gray over time. This has many causes.
On the one hand, it may be that you have dosed the detergent incorrectly and, if the dosage is too high, detergent residues are responsible for the gray haze.
If you have used too little detergent or if the detergent is not good enough, the smallest dirt particles have accumulated on the fibers.
If your tap water is very hard, the gray haze is mostly calcium deposits. You should then soak your laundry in vinegar water.
Either via the “soak” function of your washing machine with vinegar instead of detergent during the prewash (the hotter the washing temperature, the better) or in a bucket overnight.
Simply put a bottle of vinegar in the prewash or in the cleaning bucket.
Against sweat stains
Sweat stains arise from a mixture of sweat and deodorant, which tend to baked into the fibers and are difficult to remove again.
Soak the affected area in vinegar before washing, let it sit briefly, and then wash as usual.
softener
Sometimes chalky water can harden your laundry. If you add pure vinegar to the washing process via the fabric softener compartment, the laundry will be softer.
Use of vinegar: sanitizer
Have you ever dared to pull apart the rubber lip on the drum of your washing machine? No? It could be that something is waiting for you there that scares you!
With a cloth soaked in vinegar, you can rub the entire rubber seal thoroughly to remove detergent residue, mold and other residues without leaving any residue.
And don’t forget to check there regularly from now on!
Descale the iron
If you have made the mistake of running your steam iron with tap water in the past, then you probably know the problem that the steam output is reduced by limescale deposits and even limescale trickles onto your laundry when the steam is blown!
You can prevent this by using “ironing water” or simply distilled water.
Once the limescale is in the iron, only descaling will help.
Pour a mixture of water and vinegar (1: 1) into the water tank and heat the iron.
Keep hitting the steam until the water has completely evaporated. To clean the nozzles, run the hot iron over a towel soaked in vinegar and use great pressure to rub the limescale out of the nozzles.
