How-To's Day: Citrus Vinegar Cleaner

Vinegar is an amazing natural cleaner! It is one item you can have on hand to tackle all kinds of cleaning needs. This project is super simple and easy and the result is a wonderful citrus infused vinegar that you can swap in for your household cleaners. White distilled vinegar is a popular household cleanser, effective for killing most mold, bacteria, and germs, due to its level of acidity and adding citrus only makes the vinegar even more potent.

I really like this DIY because it is kinda like making citrus compost. If you eat a lot of citrus fruit or have a citrus tree in your yard this is the perfect project for you! You'll need a large glass jug or jar that has an opening large enough to accommodate the citrus peels, and it has a lid that seals tightly. You don't need the whole peels in one large piece but it does make it easier to fish out the peels if they are bigger than a quarter.  When you have your first peels ready, drop them into the jar and add at least white distilled vinegar to cover the citrus peels.  I like to add the whole bottle of white distilled vinegar to the jar even if there is just a small amount of citrus and then you can continue to drop in more citrus peels as you accumulate them. The key is that you have the citrus marinade in the vinegar for at least 10 days to get all the citrus essence infused in the vinegar. Set aside a container you can put the infused vinegar back into once finished.

After your mix has set for at least 10 days you are ready to separate the citrus peels from the vinegar juice. This is one time I'll advocate paper towels - you can use them as a filter to catch the pulp from the liquid.  Double Bonus: you can use the paper towel after straining as a cleaning pad to clean your kitchen surfaces :)

It IS Vinegar!

Once you strain off the citrus here is our citrus vinegar in an upcycled salsa jar which happens to have a wonderful yellow top. This citrus infused vinegar can be used  by itself or mixed in over 101 different ways for all your cleaning needs.
Spring Cleaning Eco Style!

XOXO, KC