One of the most frustrating things about quitting smoking is trying to remove all evidence that you ever smoked. The smell tends to stay for months (if not years) on items such as clothes and furniture. Vinegar can be a great help in eliminating odors which tend to linger for an extended period.

If you have burned some food or if you smoke in your home, you can remove the smoky smell by placing a small bowl filled three quarters full of white or cider vinegar in the room where the smell is the strongest. In less than a day, the odor will be gone. If you want to dispel the smell of fresh cigarette smoke, wave a cloth that’s been moistened with vinegar around the room to absorb the smell. This is obviously more appealing than buying an assortment of air fresheners and deodorizers which merely cover up any foul or unwanted odor. Using vinegar helps assure that you actually remove the odor.

Another one of many uses of vinegar is to clean mildew stains. You can apply full strength vinegar to heavy mildew stains or dilute half and half with water for light stains. You don’t have to worry about ventilation and you can apply white vinegar to nearly any surface without worry. You can also prevent mildew from forming on rugs and carpets by misting the back of the rug with full strength white vinegar in a spray bottle.

To clean chrome or stainless steel, spray it with full strength vinegar, then buff it to a high shine with a soft cloth.

Soak silverware or jewelry in one half cup of white vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda for three hours. Rinse items with cold water and dry thoroughly with a soft cloth. They will sparkle and your mother will be proud!

You can create vinegar paste to clean brass and copper. Use equal parts white vinegar and salt or vinegar and baking soda. Use a soft cloth or paper towel to run the paste into your brass or copper until the tarnish disappears. Rinse off with cool water and then buff to a shine with a clean soft cloth.

Nothing can be more frustrating than accidentally writing on a nice, clean white shirt or blouse. You can remove pen marks with white vinegar on a sponge. Keep repeating until the marks are gone. Your budding artist child’s decoration on your living room wall will disappear in no time.

You can remove a sticker or decal that is on a painted surface by saturating the corners and edges with white vinegar. Scrape it off with a plastic card. The sticky remains can also be removed by soaking it with white vinegar and then wiping clean. You can un-stick the sticker or price tag from just about any surface using white vinegar.

Instead of washing your scissors with water, which will likely just rust the fastener, wipe them clean with a cloth dipped in full strength vinegar then dry them off with a clean, dry cloth.

Clean piano keys with a solution of equal parts vinegar and water. Dip a soft cloth into the solution and ring out as much as possible. Wipe each key gently, drying with a soft cloth as you go. Be sure to leave the keyboard uncovered for 24 hours after cleaning.

You can use vinegar to deodorize a lunch box, car trunk or footlocker by soaking a piece of white bread in vinegar then placing it in the closed space over night. By morning, the smell should be gone.

If you are a coffee drinker, you know how important it is to fill your coffee pot with cold, clean water. But if your pot isn’t truly clean, it will be nothing more than a waste of time. Use a solution consisting of equal parts vinegar and hot water to thoroughly clean your coffee pot. Run the solution through a cycle on your coffee pot, then run three pots of clean water to clean the coffee insides out thoroughly. The solution will also clean the glass of your coffee pot or the inside of your carafe – just let it soak for a while, then rinse out well.

Brighten bricks in your home by going over them with a mixture of one cup of vinegar per gallon of hot water – this solution works for brick floors or brick fireplaces.

By mixing one pint of warm water, two tablespoons of olive oil and four tablespoons of white vinegar in a small container. Seal the container and shake it to mix thoroughly, then apply it to the paneling with a clean cloth. Let it soak in for a few minutes then polish the paneling with a clean, dry cloth.

If your carpet or rug looks worn and dingy, you can bring them back to life by brushing them with a broom dipped into a solution of one gallon of water and one cup of white vinegar. The best part is – you don’t have to rinse the solution.

Use a half cup of white vinegar and two tablespoons of salt to get carpet stains out. For tough carpet stains, add two tablespoons of borax to the mixture.

Fill a spray bottle with one part vinegar and five parts water. In a second spray bottle, mix five parts water with one part non-sudsy ammonia. Spray the stain with vinegar solution to saturate it and let it settle, blot with a clean cloth then spray with the ammonia mixture and blot. Repeat the process until the stain is gone.

You can remove grease from kitchen surfaces using a solution consisting of equal parts white vinegar and water.

Use distilled or cider vinegar and iodine in a small jar to paint over wood scratches with a small brush. Match the shade of your wood by using more iodine or more vinegar.

Do you hate those water rings on your tables? Equal parts of vinegar and olive oil applied with a soft clean cloth, wiped over the stain with the direction of the wood grain will get rid of the stain. Use another clean cloth to polish it up. For leather water rings, use a sponge and full strength white vinegar to remove the stain.