Cornstarch And Vinegar Combined Make A Powerful Cleaner For A Sparkling Home

Cornstarch is a handy pantry staples that does more than just thicken your soups and crisp your fries. As it turns out, that bag of cornstarch sitting in the back of your cupboard is also handy when combined with vinegar, which is also a versatile cleaning supply.

From degreasing to deodorizing, you can use cornstarch in nearly every room of your house to clean. Why is it so useful? A lot like baking soda, cornstarch is not only a superfine abrasive but it is absorbent, making it useful in a variety of cleaning applications. As an added bonus, it is also environmentally friendly, reducing the need for toxic cleansers that may do more harm than good.

So, let's get down to business and explore how these common kitchen items can help keep your home spic and span. Combine a tablespoon of cornstarch with a cup of vinegar, and then warm it in the microwave before spraying it on soap scum. Let the mixture sit for five minutes before wiping it away to reveal a newly sparkling surface. You can also combine a tablespoon of cornstarch, a tablespoon of vinegar, and two cups of water to create a homemade glass cleaner. When you leave the vinegar out of the equation, there are even more uses for cornstarch around the house.

There's no reason to limit the uses of cornstarch as a cleaning product to just the applications that include vinegar, which can be too caustic for some uses. For instance, you can mix cornstarch with a bit of water to get a homemade silver and furniture polish. Add lemon juice (and more cornstarch) into the equation to create a mold-killing paste — just by apply the paste and letting it sit for up to 20 minutes.

Cornstarch is also useful in the laundry room. Put a cup of it in a bag with your fleece items and give them a good shake before letting it all sit for a couple of hours. Shake off your items after, and that's it!. If you have clothing with grease stains, you can pour cornstarch directly on the stain to absorb the grease, wait a few hours, and then wash the clothes. You can do the same with upholstery and carpets. In that case, you have to leave the cornstarch until it fully absorbs all of the grease before vacuuming it up.

Cornstarch also makes a great deodorizer for everything from shoes to carpets — just sprinkle a bit on your offending surface and let it sit for a while before shaking it out or vacuuming it up. If the versatility of cornstarch has grabbed your interest, check out our other DIY natural cleaning solutions.