In the exotic world of old wives’ tales and old-fashioned remedies, a standout favorite that continues to prove itself is apple cider vinegar.  A simple search can bring up hundreds of health benefits, cures, remedies, and cleaning solutions composed of apple cider vinegar, and those are just the beginning of its uses.  Today, we’ll narrow those down and bring you a few of the tried and true methods for using apple cider vinegar that, when implemented in your life, can be both cost effective and be another completely natural resource to put in your clean-living arsenal.

When looking to purchase apple cider vinegar, you will discover that you have options.  This may come as a surprise, as apple cider vinegar doesn’t sound like a very diverse product, but not all apple cider vinegars are created equal.  Your run-of-the-mill, supermarket brand apple cider vinegar may seem more cost effective, but when considering a purchase for health-related uses, it doesn’t provide what you need, as it is artificially flavored and overly processed.   A raw, unpasteurized, and unprocessed apple cider vinegar, such as Bragg’s, is the way to go, as it is filled with enzymes and live bacteria as a process of the fermentation that makes it great for your health and extremely effective in other uses as a remedy and cleaning base.  You’ll recognize this apple cider vinegar because of the “mother” floating around the bottom of the bottle.  This may look unappealing, but this is actually the result of the fermentation and is what contains all those healthy enzymes and bacteria that let you know this is the bottle you want to buy.

 

Now, let’s get down to some proven uses for ACV:

  • ACV can be used as a cleaner.  Mix with water, and apple cider vinegar can be used as a substitute for your chemically-based cleaners for your bathroom, kitchen, for cleaning up spills and messes, for washing down walls and baseboards, mopping floors, dusting, and even washing windows.  A 1:1 mixture is even powerful enough to get rid of kitchen grease.  There is really no limit as to what you can clean with it.  Put your ACV/water mix into a spray bottle, and you are free to clean to your heart’s content.

  • ACV can be used in your laundry, especially for towels and rags.  Put a cup of ACV into your water as your washer fills up, and ACV will soften, refresh, and remove odor out of your laundry.

  • ACV is a knock-out winner against heartburn.  That sounds crazy, I know, but the acetic nature of apple cider vinegar combats the acid in your stomach and also aids in breaking down fats.  It can be used when dealing with heartburn by putting 2-3 teaspoons in a glass of water and drinking it down, but you can also use that same combination before each meal as a preventative measure against heartburn.  ACV is also known, when gargled, to calm and heal a sore throat.  This just opens Pandora’s box for the health benefits of raw, unprocessed ACV.

  • ACV is a known deodorizer, and can be used to eliminate odor in the air, as well as odor in carpets, furniture, mattresses, etc.  Using a spray bottle with an ACV/water mixture of 1-2 tablespoons of ACV per spray bottle of water, you can spray over your items as you would with Febreeze to eliminate odors in your home.

This is really just tapping the surface of the world of apple cider vinegar.  Again, there is a plethora of remedies and cleaning solutions, and what is listed above are just a few of most common uses for ACV outside of cooking.  Apple cider vinegar provides another avenue with which to live more cost effectively, simplify your routines, support your health, and remove chemicals and toxins from your life.  Apple cider vinegar has been used throughout history and continues to prove itself to be a relevant and superior product for our lives today.