Vinegar, a green substitute + getting ride of cat pee smells

[TruePurple]

Vinegar can be a very green product. It can substitute for alot more caustic cleaning products. Its really cheap too.

Vinegar can allow food to last longer and save you not having to throw that food out, which is green.

Heres a new use I've found for vinegar. As a personal deoderant. Instead of buying some chemical deoderant bar, or even some green equivalent. Just slap on some vinegar in your pits after a shower. It won't stop you from sweating/absorb the sweat of course (but thats good because sweat is how we cool down) But when you do sweat it won't smell. The vinegar kills the bacteria that causes the odor and neutralizes any odor already there. I find it lasts for at least a day, if not a few(depending on things) You only need a tiny bit too, just enough to slightly wet the hair and skin.

I don't know if you need to use straight vinegar or whether you could dilute it. I use straight vinegar. It stings a very little bit when you first put it on but then its ok. You might want to keep it from any open wounds though.

Also, I uses vinegar to save a towel someone else threw out because their cat peed on it. I think they already did some scrubbing on it. It smelled absolutely horrible though. I'm sure this could be used for many things though.

What I did was (and I don't know how many of these steps are absolutely required)

I got the towel a bit wet with water then put on a liberal amount of vinegar, making sure to saturate the whole thing. A mister might help with this. Pushing the towel together can help make sure the vinegar is on every bit of it.

Then I let it sit drenched with vinegar for a day, I actually only meant for it to soak for a half hour or so, but some things came up.

Then I thoroughly rinsed & rang out the vinegar. Vinegar cancels out the effectiveness of most soaps AFAIK. Thats why when you use it in the laundry you want to put it in the rinse cycle as a fabric softener/fresher.

Then I coated all parts of it with baking soda. I figure the backing soda would both help neutralize whats left of the vinegar so it doesnt neutralize the detergent. As well as further absorb smells. Then I let it further sit for a short bit then threw it in the wash.

In the end you couldn't barely smell anything at all. At the start you couldn't barely even stand being around it. One item saved from the trash.

I also use vinegar to clean up cat vomit on the carpet. I find it works pretty good on my carpet anyways.

[lilnicky]

I have been buying special stuff with odor neutralizers in it, is there a real effective green solution for this???

[TruePurple]

Um, vinegar, its cheap and green. If you want to make it even more green I suppose you could go organic(but still white) What ever your talking about sounds like a more expensive alternative to vinegar.

[greenteadrinker]

I have been buying special stuff with odor neutralizers in it, is there a real effective green solution for this???

I don't think cheap perfume is green; but what I do is fill a glass or bottle with water, 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and 4-5 tablespoons of cheap perfume; (with a scent that you like of course). I have an old bamboo whisk I keep
in the glass. Once a day, I flip it over to the
other end. The oil won't evaporate and helps hold
the scent. Add a little water once a month or so.
Works for me.

[jcoffman]

I have been buying special stuff with odor neutralizers in it, is there a real effective green solution for this???

There are MANY MANY different options, but what odor are you trying to neutralize, and on what?

[TruePurple]

Greentea, thats masking one odor with another.

Vinegar and baking soda (not at the same time) are great for neutralizing odor. You really don't need anything more fancy then those.

[greenteadrinker]

Greentea, thats masking one odor with another.

Vinegar and baking soda (not at the same time) are great for neutralizing odor. You really don't need anything more fancy then those.

True. I use both of those all the time. I stopped buying "chemical" cleaners a long time ago. I just
keep that "combo" I talked about in the bathroom.
Eating lots of veggies sometimes produces
unwanted odors.....