An under-valued household item has become highly valued in our home lately. Here are a few of the ways we've learned to appreciate a good old spray bottle:
# 1) Vinegar & Water: I've attached a list from a magazine article entitled "Cheap Cleaner" about all the practical uses for vinegar (Stain remover, furniture polish, bug spray, dishwasher rinse). I keep this at the kitchen sink and use it for everything.
Let me digress about vinegar since it really is a Wonder Product...
I'm amazed at the many tips available for vinegar. Here's a handy bookmark (there's also one for baking soda uses. Think I'll try the homemade playdough suggestion.) You can print and keep handy or tape to your spray bottle: Vinegar Uses
Additional helpful vinegar tips:
Heinz Vinegar
VinegarTips.com
The Vinegar Institute
Here's a tip from The Vinegar Institute (I just love that there's a Vinegar Institute!) that I'll be trying the next time I have cut flowers in the house:
Keep Flowers Longer
Keep flowers fresh longer. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons white vinegar in a 1-quart vase of water. Trim stems and change water every five days.
# 2) Veggie Wash: I buy fruit & veggie wash at Trader Joe's but the flip top makes me feel like I'm wasting so much of it if only cleaning one produce item at a time. So instead, I've diluted it with water (to make it last longer) and added to a medium spray bottle. It's labeled and stored on the kitchen windowsill for easy access—fortunately, my kids love fruits and veggies so this one is used many times a day.
Although, after my day of researching vinegar, I might just have to switch to washing the fruits and veggies with the same vinegar and water solution I clean the counters with.
# 3) Kitchen Table: After dinner, my daughters love to take a spray bottle filled with water and clean off the kitchen table as well as the hardwood floors. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Who knew spraying water could be so fun?!
# 4) Bathtub: I've purchased two (matching, of course!) travel-sized spray bottles (found them in the travel section at Target) that I then add a little baby shampoo/body wash and fill with water. It's now the only bath toy in the tub. In order to distract my toddler from spraying her big sister in the face, I ask her to spritz various body parts: "Can you spray your toes?" Entertainment, education, housecleaning, kid cleaning...this is by far my favorite!
On a recent trip to a farm with family, I was reminded of another great use for spraying water—as a mister on a hot day. And to think they charge a fortune for them at amusement parks!
