The Very First Thing You Should Do with a New Bottle of Vinegar

In addition to being a pantry staple, distilled white vinegar is also a popular cleaning agent—and for good reason! A vinegar solution is a great (and cost-effective) way to clean everything from floors, counters, and windows to dishes, glasses, and even your microwave. There are so many ways to clean with vinegar, we’re often finishing up one bottle and reaching for a new one.

Next time you’re reaching for a new bottle of vinegar, there’s one thing you should do with it before anything else. By the time you grab a fresh bottle (depending on how often you use it, it’s probably safe to say about once a month or every six weeks) it will probably be time to take care of an important kitchen chore you’ve been neglecting: de-gunking your faucet of hard-water deposits! 

Here’s why it’s important: Your kitchen faucet is where you get water for washing your dishes, produce, and hands. And for most people, it’s also a source of drinking water. When was the last time you looked underneath the faucet or examined its jets? If you don’t regularly clean your kitchen faucet, there could be calcium deposits from hard water, or even mold or mildew. 

Want to feel better about using the water from your kitchen sink on a daily basis? Vinegar is a simple and effective method for taking care of the gunk building up in your faucet.

Yes, this is really as easy as the photo above makes it look. Just grab a plastic baggie, fill it about halfway with distilled white vinegar, and pull the baggie up and over the faucet head (you want it to be totally immersed in the vinegar). Then use a rubber band or elastic tie to secure the bag in place so that the faucet can soak for 20 to 30 minutes. After the timer’s gone off, remove the bag and use a dish brush and water to remove any remaining gunk. Do this about once a month or every six weeks (read: every time you need to open a new bottle of vinegar) and you’ll have a nice, clean faucet. And you’ll be ready to put the rest of the bottle to work on other areas of your home.

Read more: This Lazy Bathroom-Cleaning Hack Works Great in the Kitchen, Too

This post originally ran on Kitchn. See it there: The Very First Thing You Should Do with a New Bottle of Vinegar