5 Fresh Ways to Clean Your Bathroom with Vinegar

Vinegar is impressively versatile. But there’s one room in your home where it really shines.

Here are our five favourite ways to get your bathroom its shiniest and most hygienic.

Why is vinegar a good cleaning agent?

White vinegar has long been hailed as a natural and non-toxic cleaning product alternative.

At 5% acidity, it’s able to successfully eliminate many household bacteria, dissolve hard-water deposits, and cut through grime, making it the ideal bathroom cleaning companion.

Better yet, it’s totally safe to use and is a much cheaper alternative to most cleaning products.

Sounds like a win-win in our books.

How To Clean Your Bathroom with Vinegar

We’ve compiled an easy-to-follow list of tips on how to best use vinegar in what is likely the dirtiest room in your house.

You may also be aware that vinegar has a slight odour that will dissipate. Ironically, vinegar can also be a great deodoriser. This is because the acid in vinegar alters the organic molecules of whatever odour is in the air while still being safe enough to use for a variety of purposes.

Note: You may notice, we’ve utilised baking soda in some of the below tips. Baking soda is undoubtedly vinegar’s best friend and used together, they pack a powerful cleaning punch.

1. Cleaning hard deposits from shower head

Its shape and position make the shower head one of the more awkward spots to clean in a bathroom.

Here’s how vinegar can help.

Pour undiluted white vinegar into a plastic bag and close it up with a hair or elastic band. You’ll need to leave it overnight and take it off in the morning. It will dissolve the hard deposits easily and make your shower head shine.

If the head is still a little dirty, use an old toothbrush to scrub the crevices and spout if needed and rinse afterwards.

2. Dealing with streaky mirrors

Streaky mirrors can be extremely frustrating, particularly when nothing seems to make it look right. Vinegar works here because its acidic configuration is able to break down the filmy build-up on your glass surfaces.

Spray a 1:1 warm water and white vinegar solution on your glass and gently wipe down. We recommend using a microfibre cloth for this task.

Microfibre cloths are made from super-fine synthetic yarns split into millions of microscopic fibres. This gives it an enormous amount of surface area and makes it extremely absorbent.

3. Cleaning the toilet

If you have hard water stains in your toilet bowl, vinegar is a simple and effective tool for getting rid of them.

Pour a cup of vinegar into the bowl and leave it overnight. When you wake up, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of baking soda in and give it a good scrub. Flush and you’re good to go.

Note that you should clean your toilet regularly too with a commercial cleaning product – for obvious reasons, your toilet needs a stronger disinfectant than vinegar.

4. Declogging drains

Shower and sink drains can often get clogged up due to a build-up of hair, grease and soap. We recommend doing this regularly to keep your drains clear and functioning well.

Start by pouring boiling water down the drain, then pour about half a cup of baking soda down there too and around the rim.

Use a 1:1 vinegar and water solution and pour it down the drain as well. Wait for around 20 minutes and use boiling water to rinse everything away.

5. Multipurpose Cleaning

You can use vinegar as a cleaning product on all of your bathroom surfaces, except on marble or granite. Due to its acidity, regular vinegar use on stone surfaces can cause an etched effect.

It's a great idea to develop your own multipurpose spray, which can be used on a variety of tasks. Here's your recipe.

Citrus and Vinegar Multipurpose Cleaning Spray Recipe

• 1 cup of warm water

• 1 cup of white vinegar

• juice of 1 lemon

• 10 drops of orange or lemon essential oil

Instructions

1. Put the ingredients into a glass spray bottle (essential oils can wear down plastic) and gently shake it.

We recommend keeping your spray in the fridge. This spray can also be utilised around the rest of your home as well. It’s fantastic for removing dirt on surfaces like glass, sinks, and countertops.

Things You Should Never Clean with Vinegar

Vinegar is very effective; However, it shouldn’t be used for certain jobs.

• Natural stone - You should use liquid dish detergent and water instead.

• Eggs spills - The acid can coagulate the egg and make it really tough to remove.

• Hardwood floors - As wood floor cleaning experts, we know a thing or two about cleaning timber. Vinegar’s acidity can wear down the polish of your floors, dulling their shine over time.