Green Cleaning with Heinz Cleaning Vinegar #HeinzVinegar #CBias

We live in an area that has hard water. The type where you could scour for hours and still wonder if you’ve even made a dent.  It drives me bonkers! I’ve tried so many different types of chemical-based products because I thought that was the best cleaning agent to try. It’s modern and new and of course it should work, right? Sometimes, taking a step back and remembering healthy cleaning methods can reap some tremendous benefits!

I was recently asked to take a trip to my local Walmart to check out a new product called Heinz Cleaning Vinegar. Not all vinegars are the same, and this one is a specifically made cleaning solution for those tough cleaning jobs at home. Since the product is so new, it was initially tough to find but it does appear that the stores have this particular #HeinzVinegar in stock. When you visit the store, the Heinz Cleaning Vinegar is placed with the regular vinegar not the cleaning products! I suppose this is because, per the Heinz website, it is safe to use for cooking as well as cleaning. You can see my entire shopping experience by visiting my Google+ album.

With two boys that love to touch everything, natural cleaning in our house is something that has interested me but I had yet to put into practice. I even have a book called Clean & Green by Annie Berthold-Bond which I’ve referenced over the years, marking pages of what I’d like to try but never have. After so much reading and knowing which products I needed, I knew Heinz Cleaning Vinegar would be a great place to start! There are so many easy cleaning routines that can be done using vinegar. It’s nice to know that there is a non-toxic and healthy way to clean.

There were three areas I wanted to test out and all of them deal with the darn hard water residue that I find in the kitchen and bathrooms. And these simple, non-toxic products were all I needed to use to clean them:

Kitchen Cleaning

We have a black kitchen faucet and therefore you see that horrible white residue on it all the time. I’ve tried a number of different pastes and mixtures but there is usually something still left even after several cleanings. That is until I found this gem:

• 1 tsp alum
• 1/4 cup vinegar

I put the vinegar and alum in a bowl and mixed it up. Then I let a rag soak in it and wrapped it around the faucet. I was a bit impatient, so I probably should have let it rest longer before wiping it down.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Another area in our kitchen that I wanted to clean was the kitchen drain/garbage disposal. I’ve had some suspicions recently that the drain might be getting slightly clogged and before we go taking things apart I thought a good cleaning might help. If nothing else, it should at least clean any residual odor from the drain!

• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup vinegar

I poured the baking soda in the drain followed by the vinegar.  At first, I missed pouring the vinegar over top of the baking soda, so I needed to repeat that again. When the vinegar and baking soda mix, there is a hissing sound and you can see some bubbles.  I let this sit for about 20 minutes and then rinsed with hot water. There was definitely a freshness from the drain that was not there before and the running water seemed to empty just fine!

BUBBLING VINEGAR + BAKING SODA

AFTER

Toilets

I’ve always despised cleaning toilets. Lucky for me, my 4 year old hasn’t discovered what a icky chore this can be! It never crossed my mind to allow him to take on this household task but with a chemical-free cleaning agent such as Heinz Cleaning Vinegar it seems like a good start at teaching him how to take part in family cleaning activities!

• 1 cup borax
• 1/4 cup vinegar

Just pour both ingredients into the bowl and let it rest for a few hours (overnight is a good time to do this!) Then just scrub and flush! You can always add a little lemon juice for a fresh scent after cleaning.

 What are your favorite tips for using natural cleaning products, like vinegar, in your home? I’d love to try more!

*Disclosure: 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. All opinions are my own. #CBias #SocialFabric”