I’m excited. I love my all purpose vinegar cleaner but sometimes it burns my nose. I love that it cuts through messes super easy (like last night when I spilled fresh berry juice everywhere) and leaves my table nice and shiny. But the smell of pickles lingers for a while. I like pickles but not all the time. So I’m excited because I’m finally able to make my own little jar of citrus infused vinegar. No more pickles and little more orange. And you know what, citrus vinegar is super easy to make.
Step One: Eat an orange, or juice a lemon for lemonade and save the peels.
Step Two: Stuff as many citrus peels as you can into a jar.
Step Three: Fill jar to the top with vinegar and screw lid on.
Step Four: Wait 2-3 weeks.
*Update* This is what it looks like a few weeks later when it’s done.
You can use lemons or any other kind of citrus to infuse with vinegar. I did use a very small jar, the smallest raspberry jam from Wal-Mart, and used one orange peel, so mine will probably yield about 3/4 cup of the citrus vinegar. For a quart sized jar, you’ll probably need 4-6 oranges or lemons.
I am waiting for my orange vinegar to “orangify.” That is a word, I just made it up. Then with the leftover orange scrapes, I’m going to make a citrus soft scrub that I originally saw here.
I’m so excited so not have to smell pickles anymore when I clean. I’ll write an update as soon as my orange vinegar is ready.
*Update 4/5/13* I’ve been using my new and improved cleaner and I love it. I sprayed some on my floors and they just glowed afterwards. For food splatters, you’ll say what splatters because they lift so easily with this cleaner. Oh, the smell, the part ya’ll are dying for, it smelled like citrus for a week or so then a little funny so I added more vinegar and now it doesn’t really smell like anything. I will take nothing over strong vinegar.
Happy Cleaning.
Angela
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Angela Says 
I use a large amount of vinegar, I definitely need to try this!
Please do and let me know how it works out for you. :)
I haven’t done your citrus idea yet. I thought to make a larger quantity, I am going to cut up the orange, lemons, limes etc. into smaller pieces.
I thought that your idea was brilliant by the way.
Thanks for sharing
That’s a great idea. I bet the citrus combination will smell even better than with just one type of citrus. You are so sweet Jodi, I hope you have a great week!
What a wonderful idea. The only thing I have ever done with orange peels is candy them…….and most the time, throw them away. Lol. I’ll definitely have to try this though!
When you do, let me know how it works for you. :) Thanks for stopping by.
This is great. I usually clean with vinegar but this would give a much fresher scent. thank you for sharing at Whatever Goes Wednesdays
Sarah
Try it out. I checked my bottle’s progress last night and it already smells better after 2 days.
Thank you for this! My son and I just had oranges this morning so I went and grabbed the peels out of the trash! (Its trash day here so the bag was a BRAND NEW CLEAN one…hehe) I’ve been looking to increase my DIY cleaners and decrease my store bought ones for a little bit, and this will help make it even better! It will be great when this fully “orangifies”. :-) I can’t wait until I can pour this into one of my new spray bottles I bought so I’d have chemical free bottles to use (no need to worry about chemical interactions or chemicals leaching back into my DIY mixes from the bottle….) THANK YOU!!!
You’re welcome! Homemade cleaners are way better than store bought chemicals. I find mine somewhat addicting to use and clean with because they work so well.
Awesome tip! I never thought to do this!
Thanks!
Chrissy
Thanks so much for visiting and inviting me to your link party. I linked up and I’m excited to link up every week.
I love citrus-scented vinegar to clean with, too! One trick I’ve learned: really scrape the white part off of the peel or the vinegar will streak appliances for some reason.
Thanks for the tip! I will try that on my next batch.
What a great idea! I will definitely try this…may even put a litlle on my salad, too…lol
I’ve been doing this for the past handful of months and LOVE it. Smells soooooooooo much better. The only problem I had with it was on a mattress. My son had wet the bed and I used the spray to clean it up…ended up turning the top of the mattress light orange! Looks yucky even though its clean. Mental note: do not use on soft surfaces. lol
Note taken, thanks!
Interesting idea! Saw your link over at Somewhat Simple’s Link Party and thought I’d come and check it out :)
Thanks for stopping by and for the invite!
I’ve done this for a long time, it makes the vinegar smell so much better, and cuts grease better!
Pinning this in my “going natural” board. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
I’m going to have to try this! A much less expensive way to clean! Stopping by from Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop. Thanks for linking this up!
Thanks for visiting. I love love love my vinegar cleaner; it cuts through everything!
This is awesome! Thanks for visiting my blog and for your sweet comment!
selene @ restorationbeauty.com
Looks like a great idea. I would say a citrus smell would be much better than vinegar. :)
It smells so much better, it’s a nice light scent. Sometimes I can’t smell anything at all. :)
I tried everyyyythhiiinnggg on my tile kitchen floor and I hated it because Pine based products left it smudgy and slippery and 409 all purpose cleaners left it sticky. I tried a general vinegar cleaner and I’ve not bought any other cleaners (besides Lysol for disenfecting) since. I really love it! Now that I see I can add a citrus smell to it I will try this! Thank you!
I love my little vinegar cleaner too. I used it the other day on my floors and now they just glow.
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Am definitely going to give this a go – thank you so much for linking up at Empty Your Archive, Alice x
You’re welcome.
I love this citrus infused vinegar idea Angela!! I love to use vinegar for cleaning too, just wish sometimes it smelled a little better. I am going to try this right away! Thanks again. I will be sure to post about it after I do!!
Jeanne
The orange definitely makes it smell better and add a little extra oomph of cleaning power. I’m excited to hear about your results.
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Do you white vinegar?
Yes, I use white vinegar whenever I mention vinegar. I buy them in the big jugs from Sam’s Club.
Marie, orange peels are often used in gardening to chase some animals away. I can’t think of which animal it is that doesn’t like the scent of oranges. I will look on one of the gardening websites and post here. Seems like it is squirrells.