I've been wanting to try cleaning with vinegar for a while now but my husband thinks it will make the house smell. Can anyone verify that it isn't so bad?

I love vinegar!! Truly.

I clean with it all the time. The smell goes away quickly, and it kills bacteria. Which would he prefer - bleach or vinegar?

It does smell weird for about five minutes, but then it's fine.

My family groans when I use it, but it goes away quickly. I agree with magicbm... bleach or vinegar, both kill bacteria but too much bleach inhalation can be very damaging to humans.

I didn't know vinegar can be used to clean wood. I'm looking forward to trying it.
Sometimes I leave a small juice glass with vinegar in the bathroom to absorb odors. It smells pretty good to me.

There is a slight vinegar scent, amandromeda, but it goes away after a few minutes. Vinegar is supposed to be good for killing odors, actually.

Not only does the smell go away, but it gets rid of other odors. For example, I put a bowl of vinegar in the microwave to get rid of the food smell in there (just place the bowl in the micro, don't actually heat it). By the time I finish cleaning the rest of the kitchen, the food smell is gone.

Vinegar and bleach mixed together are far better than either one separately.

"vinegar bleach solution sterilized all of the surfaces tested within 20 minutes, while a diluted bleach solution alone was only effective in killing all of the spoors on 2.5 percent of the surfaces after 20 minutes.

To make a sterilizing solution for household use, first dilutie 1 oz (30 ml) of household bleach in one gallon (3.8 L) of tap water and then adding 1 oz (30 ml) of 5% distilled white vinegar."

But you need to let it sit--esp. for cutting boards. It's not just a quick swipe with a wet rag. Needless to say, you're not standing over it, deeply inhaling.

I use vinegar in my dishwasher rinse cycle. The glasses come out clear, no cloudy residue. Vinegar may not have the same result depending on your water type.
I found out that vinegar in the washing machine rinse cycle is great for getting rid of musty odors in clothing, rugs or other washables.

i love all the input! I'm totally going to show my husband this post and prove to him that vinegar is the best way to go.

CHEAP! Wallpaper Stripper

1 part white vinegar
1 part HOT water

I used Paper Tiger (tool) to perforate wallpaper.
Soaked wallpaper with vinegar solution.
Scraped off with large putty knife.

Tip: the more solution, the better.
Tip: keep more than one sprayer bottle ready to go - sitting in the sink full of hot water.

We did large living room, large hallway and bathroom for not more than a few dollars.

Only a few hours of smelly vinegar then it simply smelled oh so squeaky clean.

Vinegar diluted 50% is the best window cleaner I've ever used. I just use a damp cloth to clean with it, and a dry cloth to wipe dry. (Also have discovered basic white wash clothes can be used in 95% of the instances you would use a paper towel.) For years I thought it was something that two generations ago used because nothing else was available. I was so wrong - it is amazing and is absolutely better than the ever-streaking Windex. That revelation has caused me to re-think all my cleaners and even beauty products and I am realizing how many of them aren't better than the old-fashioned original versions made from basic household items.

This is a very helpful post.

I love the glass bottle in this picture. Do you know the source?

You can also use vinegar instead of liquid fabric softeners. I just put it straight into an old Downey ball. Bonus in that you can use it with towels too (using normal fabric softener on towels makes them less absorbant).

I have a problem with an area rug. Last Thanksgiving a friend of mine threw up red wine and food on my Ikea PS area rug (wool, round, 7 feet across). I tried to clean it, but I could not get rid of the odor. It has been rolled up and stored in my garage since Thanksgiving weekend. Is there hope? Will vinegar help? I don't want to spend $140 to get it professionally cleand and I'm not sure the color will hold up in the process anyway.

I may have to buy some vinegar once my cleaning products start running out! Thanks for this very informative post. I knew cleaning with vinegar was Earth friendly and cheap, but I have been hooked on store-bought harsh chemicals since I was a child. Time to make a change.

I guess I'm the only one whose willing to say (or at least admit) that the smell is intolerable.

I want to go green. I want to be economical. I stocked up on vinegar and tried my best for a couple of weeks to clean with only vinegar and vinegar solutions.

Finally, my man said, "Can't we puhlease do something else?"

So, we're back to the pretty smelling, somewhat green, very much more expensive solutions.

Life is rough, but it doesn't have to be stinky, too.

xoxo

I might be in the minority here but I kind of like the smell. Granted, if my apartment smelled like that all the time it would quickly fade. My husband complains though...

I'm with AGirlNamedMe. Everyone touts the power of vinegar but the smell is a deal breaker for me. I've tried it for several different uses from a hair rinse to a cleaner and I found that the smell lingers after it dries, and sometimes it's still noticible after days.

I'm more sensitive to smell than most folks, so perhaps most won't have the problem with it? To me the smell of bleach is the smell of clean, so I don't mind it at all, but vinegar is for sure more earth and human friendly.

In regards to smell if it's a higher mix of water vs vinegar the smell should go away quickly. For dissenfecting I actually prefer Thieves oil, I mix in little peppermint oil with it and it smells great, people at work at even asking me for bottles LOL. I wouldn't use vinegar for wood floors though it may be too acidic and could dull the shine.

If you put some baking soda into your drains and follow it with plain white vinegar the mixture will bubble and scrub out the gunk in the drains.
Much better than the toxic and dangerous drain cleaners.

I add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to my vinegar/water mix & it does the job beautifully.

I'm very sensitive to smells, and I much prefer the smell of vinegar to that of bleach, and it also doesn't linger, unlike bleach.

Even if it did smell bad though, I'd rather not get ill from my cleaning products.

So, I can't help but wonder...how safe is it for us to actually CONSUME vinegar given all this talk about how powerful of a cleaning agent it is.. ??