Once upon a time, one of my education professors talked about replacing her "teacher bleach" (aka a water-and-bleach mixture used to disinfect toys at the end of the day) with "teacher vinegar". She also went on rants about how annoying it was that her employees didn't appreciate her micromanaging and proceeded to base the final exam on absolutely nothing that was in the textbook or discussed in class, so I didn't take her advice to heart.
Cut to when we are meeting with painters to discuss the first floor color changes. Our dining room had this garish wallpaper trim on the top of the walls (the type that was considered regal in the 80s). We had been picking and scraping at it with little luck. One of the painters looked at it and said that it would most likely come off with some warm water and vinegar.
Since it would've cost us an additional $100 just to have a painter scrape off the trim, we took an empty Windex bottle and filled it 50/50 with warm water and vinegar.
The wallpaper trim downright fell off. We still had to get a spackling knife under the edges, but, for the most part, it peeled off like dried glue on skin.
Since we had filled the bottle up all the way (and still needed more Windex), I began using it on all the other areas that needed cleaning.
Yes, the smell is pungent at first. But this lasts maybe 10 seconds. And a few seconds of smellong vinegar is worrh streak-free windows, dirt-and-grime-free window sills, and mildew-free patio fencing.
I should've known that I would eventually get on the "eco-cleaning" bandwagon, but I am surprised that I tried it out purely because I didn't want to pay the painters more.
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