I have discovered a great way to make some great smelling cleaning products, using ordinary white vinegar, and orange peels.
Cleaning with vinegar is nothing terribly new: there are hundreds of recipes and creative uses for this staple cleaning product. I think the most straight-up useful way is as a glass cleaner. Just squirt it through a mister onto glass or a mirror, and wipe it away with an old rag cloth.
But the smell! Pew, I was initially really put off by the smell of vinegar in the room after I had cleaned. What’s a girl to do?
Make orange-infused vinegar, of course! I can’t believe how effective and easy it is to turn plain old stinky vinegar into a refreshing cleaning liquid!
How to do it
- Get a bottle (I use glass) and mostly fill it with cheap white vinegar.
- Cut up an orange, or two, and eat it. Yum!
- Stick the orange peel into your glass jar
- Put on a lid, and leave it on the kitchen bench for a few weeks.
Over time, the vinegar will leech the colour from the orange peels, leaving a slimy looking peel, and yellow coloured liquid. When you think it has leeched for long enough, empty the vinegar into a bottle and store it: I put mine back into the original bottle, or into a spray bottle. I also combine it with Baking Soda (Bicarbonate of Soda) in various ways to clean surfaces, toilets, ovens, toasters, my kettle … the list goes on and on.
It’s so much more of a pleasure to clean with an uplifting orange-fresh scent. It takes the typical home-made cleaning recipe from a bit dodgy and home-grown to a “proper” product. This is how it’s meant to be done! 🙂
Simple Crafty Life 