Ask Me How Much I Love Vinegar

I found yet another use for my fave salad topping today - cleaning away battery contact corrosion.

Let me stress that this corrosion was not on a battery, but on a removable metal contact in a battery operated toy. I tried cleaning the corrosion off with a paper towel to no avail, and then discovered that the contact plate was removable, and therefor available to other cleaning methods.

Hmmm. What about soaking it in vinegar? I submerged it in a little glass bowl for about ten minutes, and then carefully wiped it dry. I reinserted it in the toy, added fresh batteries, and presto: it worked!

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Cleaning Your Garburator

I've heard many times about grinding some citrus (like lemon or orange pieces) to clean the garburator, but hadn't considered the vinegar/baking soda option.

In his column in today's Vancouver Sun, Shell Busey suggests the following:

Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda into the garburator, then 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Close the drain, leave for eight hours, then carefully rinse with boiling water.

I'm definitely going to try that. It would be easy enough to add the baking soda and vinegar and close the drain right before going to bed at night, and rinsing it in the morning.

He also suggests the following for cleaning the garburator blades:

Make ice cubes that are 1 part lemon juice and 5 parts water. He recommends two trays. To clean, run hot water first for two minutes, then grind all the ice at once while running cold water. After the ice has been ground, shut off the garburator for an hour.

Sounds good to me - no harsh cleaners involved. Certainly worth a try :)


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Green Cleaner: Electrolyzed Salt Water

It's green, and it sanitizes, degreases, kills athlete's foot, kills anthrax spores, kills salmonella, cleans toilets and sinks, increases the shelf life of produce, to name a few. It's ten times more effective than bleach at killing bacteria, and you can drink it.

I want this stuff!!

What is it? Electrolyzed salt water. Low voltage electricity can convert salt water to a very powerful, yet non-toxic cleaning agent. Sodium ions are converted to sodium hydroxide (a cleaner and degreaser), and chloride ions become hypochlorus acid (a disinfectant).

The catch is that the machine required to zap your salted tap water costs about $10,000, although apparently there are companies out there that sell "home use" ionizers for anywhere from $600 - $3,000.

Can't we just add salt to water and stir it really well? No?

Hopefully if this stuff works as well as it appears, the home ionizers will become more mainstream and affordable.

This info, btw, is from a Vancouver Sun article, the link to which is not working at the moment. Here's the pertinent details for anyone who's interested in Googling it to find out more:

Source: Vancouver Sun
Article Title: Miracle Water Answers Prayers
Publication Date: March 14, 2009

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Four Uses For Vinegar

There are a million and one posts out there about the wonders of vinegar, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. Here are four ways I personally have used it:

1) Mould inhibitor: I make homemade bread, which has no preservatives. I keep the bread wrapped in a paper towel in a Tupperware tub in my fridge, and between each loaf I wipe out the container with Vinegar. I have yet to see any spoilage using this procedure.

2) Spray cleaner: This one is good for the kids: I can clean the walls with the kids in tow, and not worry about them breathing in vapours or fumes.

3) Cleaning coffee maker: An oldie but a goodie - enough said.

4) Deodorizing cat pee: Just pour on full strength, and it takes care of the stinkies. I`m not sure how. Your house smells like a french fry stand for a day or two, but once that smells fades, the cat pee doesn`t return, unlike with most commercial sprays.

I buy vinegar in bulk from Costco and always have lots on hand. It`s definitely useful stuff!