Vinegar is great, but not when cleaning these things.

6 Things You Should Never Use Vinegar When Cleaning

Vinegar is great, but not when cleaning these things.

Most of us know that vinegar is amazing—we can use it for everything from cleaning our windshields to unclogging a drain.

But did you know that there are certain things you should never use vinegar for? Here are six things you should leave the vinegar under the sink and out of reach.

1. Never Use Vinegar On Your Computer Monitor Or Smartphone

Your computer screen may start to look blurry from fingerprints, but that doesn’t mean you should clean it with vinegar. If you do, it could eliminate the oleophobic (a fancy word for oil-resistant) coating on the screen, which will create a bigger problem.

Instead, use a microfiber cloth. You can even get this PhoneSoap Patch, which is a microfiber cleaning pad that you can travel with for any last-second phone-cleaning.

2. Never Mix Vinegar With Bleach

You may think it’s fine to mix vinegar and bleach—think again. If you do, a toxic chlorine gas is emitted, and it’ll do more harm than good for you and anyone around you, causing irritation to the eyes, throat and lungs. If that occurs, seek medical attention.

3. Never Clean Your Pearls With Vinegar

Here’s some pearls of wisdom—vinegar has been known to dissolve pearls. Yep… dissolve them! This is due to the fact that pearls consist of calcium carbonate like limestone. When combined with acids, like the acetic acid that is vinegar? Goodbye, pearls!

4. Never Use Vinegar On Marble Or Granite Countertops

Similar to the acid in vinegar dissolving your beloved pearl necklace, you should never use vinegar on marble or granite countertops. If you do, you’ll run the risk of “etching” them, which occurs when acid eats away at the surface and leaves a dull or discolored spot behind.

Instead, you can use a damp towel to clean the counter, followed by a dry one. You can also make a cleaner from a drop of dish soap, one part rubbing alcohol and 20 parts water.

5. Never Use Vinegar To Clean Your Stone Or Ceramic Floor

Acidic cleaning agents like vinegar or lemon juice will do anything but clean your stone or ceramic floor. Instead, liquid dish soap is a better bet.

6. Never Use Vinegar On Egg Stains

Since eggs have protein enzymes, adding vinegar to egg stains, on clothing or on your car could cause them to coagulate. However, some say vinegar does work to remove eggs from a car, as long as the vinegar-water solution is not too warm. The best bet would be to play it safe and opt for soap and warm water, so you don’t risk the coagulation.

Here’s A DIY Vinegar Cleaner Recipe (That Actually Smells Good)

If you’ve been trying to find the best natural and budget-friendly ways to clean your home, we bet friends and family have recommended to use plain old white vinegar. The only problem with white vinegar is it can be a little pungent to the nose.

We found a DIY Orange Vinegar Cleaner that can help solve this problem. Here are the four things you’ll need:

1. Orange Peels

Feel free to throw in lemon or lime peels, too. It’s completely up to you.

2. White Distilled Vinegar

You’ll need enough to fill up a Mason jar or two, so we recommend spending the extra $1 to get a big jug.

3. Mason Jars

You can typically find new ones for around $1 at stores like Michael’s Art & Crafts, or you might be able to pick a few up at your local thrift store.

4. An Empty Spray Bottle

Pick up a new spray bottle at your local grocery store or a dollar store or reuse an empty one at home.

Finally! The cleaning power of vinegar without the nasty smell.

Spring cleaning season is now in full force, and if you’ve been trying to find the best natural and budget-friendly ways to clean your home, you’ve no doubt come across the recommendation to use plain old white vinegar. But, while you might be sold on vinegar’s effectiveness as a cleaner, you probably also struggle to get past its rather potent, and not so pleasant, smell.

Thankfully though, there are DIY bloggers who’ve come up with a solution: DIY Orange Vinegar Cleaner

This cleaner offers not only an affordable way to clean, but it’s easy to make, will leave your home looking spotless, and smells great.

Ready to give it a try? Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• Orange Peels—Feel free to throw in lemon or lime peels, too. It’s completely up to you.
• White Distilled Vinegar—You’ll need enough to fill up a Mason jar or two, so it might be worth spending the extra $1 to get a bigger jug.
• Mason Jars—You can typically find new ones for around $1 at stores like Michael’s Art & Crafts, or you might be able to pick a few up at your local thrift store.
• An Empty Spray Bottle—Pick up a new spray bottle at your local grocery store or a dollar store or reuse an empty one at home.

Now that you have your supplies, it’s time to start peeling your citrus fruit. You’ll want to have enough peels to fill up the mason jar about halfway.

Once you have all of your citrus fruit peeled, you’ll want to put it in your mason jar along with white vinegar. Make sure once your mason jar is filled, that you cover it tightly. You’ll then want to store it in a dark place for around two weeks.

If you want to store it for an even longer period of time, go for it. The longer you let the citrus peels sit in the vinegar, the more it will be infused with the fresh citrus scent.

Once your new cleaning concoction is done sitting, you’ll want to separate the orange peels from the vinegar so you can then add the liquid mixture into a spray bottle.

I’ve tried this myself and it works quite well. While I still smelled a slight hint of the vinegar, adding the citrus peels definitely helped subdue the pungent vinegar smell. And the best thing is, your new cleaner is multi-purpose, meaning you can use it on anything from counter tops to wiping up your kids spilled milk on the floor.

Happy cleaning!