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White Vinegar Usage -
An Introduction

White vinegar, besides culinary uses in the kitchen, is a wonderful general-purpose agent (especially for cleaning). You may be surprised at the versatility of this very ordinary item. It is organic and very inexpensive, especially when compared to a lot of commercial products. While it does have an initial smell of vinegar, this aroma only lasts for seconds to a few minutes before it dissipates, making it very suitable to use.

White vinegar for cleaning purposes is used either neat or diluted with water (in equal measures i.e. 50/50 solution). Occasionally, there is also the need to include other everyday and inexpensive items e.g. baking soda, salt etc.

1. Marker

Some approaches make use of bottles and where this is so, we highly recommend labeling the bottles so as not to confuse them with other clear liquid products, using an indelible marker (such as those by Azlon).

2. Spray Bottles

Cheap spray bottles can be purchased at many different stores but many have a tendency to leak, only spray in a jet or the trigger mechanism breaks after just a short time. We have found the best ones for quality and price (while still not entirely infallible) are by Soft ‘N Style - 3 spray bottles for $7. Although breakable and more expensive, glass spray bottles have a better sense of style, we particularly like the blue and brown colored ones. 

3. Squirt Bottles

You may also wish to consider using a flip top lid squirt bottle for easy dispensing of the white vinegar for many of the other approaches listed. Don’t forget to label the contents of these too! We recommend the 16 oz containers by Speedball, while a little more expensive than some, these tend to last well.

4. Funnels

Finally, decanting from a large container of white vinegar into smaller bottles can be a fiddly job, fraught with mishaps. By using a funnel, it will save more time and energy in the end. We like the plastic or stainless steel sets by Norpro.  Don’t forget to make use of the sink when refilling your bottles!