Here are 10 reasons to add vinegar to your laundry routine. This works well for small amounts of mold and sour smells. For larger mold issues and stains, you’ll need to use a more aggressive treatment. The mild acetic acid in vinegar also acts as a whitener and brightener for gray, dingy clothes. To get stained white socks and dingy dishcloths white again, add 1 cup of white distilled vinegar to a large pot of water. Heat to boiling, and add the dingy items. Allow them to soak overnight, and then launder as usual. This method should only be used on 100 percent cotton fabric. If you do like a light scent, add a couple of drops of an essential oil like lavender to the bottle of vinegar. It also helps get rid of the excessive lint if you accidentally washed something dark with some lint-producing towels. Distilled white vinegar is also effective in removing heavy smoke odors in the air following a kitchen or other small household fire. If you have automatic detergent or fabric softener dispensers, place distilled white vinegar in the dispensers to dissolve any residue buildup that may limit performance. Use vinegar to clean more frequently to help freshen a front load washer with musty odors. When the iron is cool, rinse the tank with distilled water. Refill the iron and shake water through the vents onto an old cloth. Finally, iron an old cloth for several minutes to expel any residue before moving on to ironing wearable garments. To remove scorch marks from the faceplate of an iron, rub with a paste of equal parts distilled white vinegar and salt. Finish by wiping down the faceplate with a cloth dampened with full-strength distilled white vinegar.
