Eco Friendly Cleaning with #HeinzVinegar

When I heard about the new Heinz Cleaning Vinegar, I was thrilled beyond belief!  Eco friendly cleaning is a passion of mine.  My daughter and I both have asthma and as such, strong chemical cleaners can be really hard on our breathing.  We also have a few cats and a dog and I am always scared to use some kind of cleaning product that might cause them any harm.  Of course, along with those reasons, just the idea of being able to avoid anything that could cause further damage to our fragile earth is extremely important to me.  So several years ago, when my daughter was in high school, she did a project on making your own earth friendly cleaners.  After the research that she did on the value of making your own safe cleaners and the recipe book of homemade cleaners that she made to go along with it, we started using homemade eco-friendly cleaners exclusively.  One of the main ingredients of many of these cleaners is vinegar, so naturally when I heard that Heinz had put out one that was especially for cleaning, I was excited and intrigued.  I couldn’t wait to try it out.  Well, actually, I did have to wait a week because it’s actually such a hit that it was sold out at the Fort Gratiot, Michigan store when I went to get it.  I finally got my hands on some this past weekend and I was all ready to get cleaning. Check out my entire shopping trip here.

My first question was, what makes Heinz® All Natural Cleaning Vinegar different than their basic white vinegar that I’m using in my cleaner recipes right now?  Well, you see it’s made to a different strength than their typical white vinegar – made from “select sun-ripened grain, diluted with water to a special cleaning strength of 6% acidity” (from the Heinz website).  At under $3 for a one gallon jug, this is a very economical, yet safe cleaning product that you can use without worry throughout your home, even around children and pets.

My front window with the dog’s “artwork” (nose prints) all over it.

I decided to really put this product to the test by picking out two of my worst cleaning jobs.  For the first one, I’m going to try cleaning my windows.  Now you might wonder why that’s one of my dirtiest jobs but you can see in the pictures that my dog Trinity, a big German Shepherd, just LOVES to leave her “artwork” (also know as nose prints) all over the windows in my house and van.  These can be difficult to remove without leaving behind smudges and smears so I knew that if Heinz® All Natural Cleaning Vinegar could take care of this and leave behind clear, sparkling glass, I was really on to something.

See that nice clean center section? Amazing!

I used the #HeinzVinegar straight because these nose smudges are pretty stubborn but for regular window and glass cleaning, I dilute it a bit with some water.  Put this into a spray bottle for ease of use (I found the bottles at the dollar store).  You can see the results yourself!  It worked beautifully!

Kitchen floor covered with ground in dirt and mud courtesy of one big German Shepherd and a week of rain.

Next up, and by far, the dirtiest, yuckiest job in my house is cleaning my kitchen floor.  You see, the previous owners put in this highly textured floor tile.  It wasn’t even meant to be used indoors – it’s actually tiling that you use outside around the pool area and it has a deep rough textured finish to it to keep people from slipping around the wet pool deck.  It’s meant to be cleaned by spraying it off with a power washer.  Unfortunately, that’s out of the question in my kitchen so I’m constantly fighting to keep the floor clean.  Add to that the fact that my back door is right off my kitchen and that’s the door that the dog comes in and out of and well, the dirt and grime and truly disgusting.  We’ve had a lot of rainy weather here lately and that translates into the dog tracking in all kinds of mud.  No matter how quickly and thoroughly I try to clean off those big German Shepherd paws, there is always a muddy trail across the floor.  It sinks down into those textured tiles and becomes nearly impossible to get up without spending hours and hours on my hands and knees scrubbing!  Let’s see if the Heinz® All Natural Cleaning Vinegar can handle this huge job!

Look at the incredible job that Heinz Cleaning Vinegar did to restore my kitchen floor to its clean, white state! I’ve never found another cleaning product to work this well on it!

In this case, I mixed the vinegar with some Meyers liquid soap.  If you have a really tough spot, you could also make it into a paste by adding some baking soda for extra scrubbing power. You could certainly put this cleaner (minus the baking soda) into a spray bottle for some spot cleaning but since I was faced with such a messy job, I decided to put it into a bucket and use my mop to apply it.  Look at those results!  Even my daughter walked in after I cleaned this section of the floor and was very impressed by how easily this mixture had cleaned away the dirt and grime!

I’m so pleased with how well this product has worked for me.  It will definitely be a staple in my homemade cleaning kit and I’ll be using it on a regular basis.  Besides its cleaning power, vinegar can also help cut the grease so it’s great for cleaning ovens and stoves and other greasy surfaces.  It can clean and deodorize smelly surfaces like our cats’ litter boxes, places where the pets have had “accidents”, and even helps to get rid of “wet dog smell” from the couch and mattress (yes she’s a big baby and sleeps with me!).  It can also help to sanitize surfaces like cutting boards and countertops.  It’s just a product with so much versatility!

Here are a few more of my favourite cleaning with vinegar tips:

~Vinegar can really get your stainless steel appliances or chrome sink fixtures shining!  Just a few water drops? – use a little bit of the vinegar on a rag and polish away those spots!  More of a lime and soap scum buildup? – make a paste out of about 2 T. salt and 1 tsp. of cleaning vinegar, rub on with a sponge or rag, and polish away with a cloth.

~ I keep a spray bottle of straight cleaning vinegar handy to spray down counter tops and cutting boards.  If you find the odour too strong, you can follow up by rinsing with plain water.

~ For tougher spots on my counters, stove tops, and sinks, I mix 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 T. of an eco friendly soap like Mrs. Meyers Clean Day products.  Add in enough of the vinegar to make it a thick creamy paste.  Rub on with a damp sponge and then wipe away with a clean wet rag.

~ I live in an old house and we have old pipes that like to clog up easily.  So, to prevent that from happening, every week I pour a cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a cup of hot white vinegar.  Let that sit for 5-10 minutes (you should see it bubbling as it works) and follow up by running or pouring hot water down the drain.

~ My microwave can get so gross with all those splatters and splashes all over it.  Once a week, I put 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup water into a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup.  I put that into the microwave on high for 2-3 minutes until it reaches a really good boil.  I let that sit there without opening the door so that the steam can continue to work on those baked on food particles.  Once cool enough to handle, I dip a sponge into that mixture and wipe down the walls and tray of the microwave.  It’s clean and smells fresh when you’re done!

Give Heinz Cleaning Vinegar and safe, healthy cleaning a try in your home! I’d love to hear about your results!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™and HEINZ #CBias #SocialFabric.  All opinions and ideas are my own.”