I am planning to get some at the commy today b/c after reading how well it cleans for the rest of you ladies I want to give it a try. But I do have one question, does it kill germs? I need to clean with something that will kill bacteria and germs.

Yes! Vinegar is a very powerful antibacterial, fungacide and cuts through mold and even acts as a pesticide on some insects!
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/home/164
Indeed it is!

heads up on antibacterial soap and stuff - they recently discovered that Triclosan - the most common anti-bacterial additive to hand-soap and the like - when mixed with the chlorine in tap water - turns into chloroform after 1 minute of being exposed to warm water.
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2007/feb/science/ee_chloroform.html

So - alternative anti-bacterials that have graced my shelves for cleaning:
vinegar
lavender oil (ok to use on children's toys)
lemon juice (great for glass like windows) (any citrus, actually)

I've gotten rid of all toxic cleaners in hopes to make the house more safe for all the kids and our pets..In part because I have been avoiding cleaning while they're awake because the vapors irritate the baby's eyes - he's sensitive - and the house was looking shabby.
So, with these three non-toxic cleaners (along with baking soda and salt) I can clean whenever I have a chance and the energy without worry for him.

A lot of cleaners are made from these tried-and-true chemicals and so on - companies just take these natural-things, process them and remove the extra stuff - and sell it in a more condensed form.
However, honestly, some things haven't worked for me like they should - such as the expensive shampoo solution on my carpet - and when I used vinegar that cut through stains better than anything else ever have...and we have a very light-beige carpet that 20 years old, It's looking dang good! But you know that! LOL - you read my posts.

Vinegar is usually sold with the salad-dressings or baking-needs like baking soda. (just for those who don't know - not everyone actually uses it..took me a while to remember where it was at - I use to only think it was good for pickeling and so I haven't bought it in years)

Vinegar is why condiments don't go bad for a long time - 'cause it's an astringent...that includes most salad-dressings and pickled items.

:yes I buy the large jugs of vinegar at the commy.

yup, I love vinegar. I go through huge bottles quickly here. It works great for cutting hard water, etc.

Thanks so much ladies. The commy is closed today so I'll pick some up tomorrow for sure. How much do those big jugs usually run you?

1gallong costs me $1.25 at the commy :)
But since my commy is sooooo far away I spent $1.70 at Wally-world :)

wow that is super cheap.

wow that is super cheap.

:lol That's what I said! LOL

1 gallon of carpet-shampoo costs me $12.00 at the PX - the cheapest I can find ... I can buy 6 gallons of vinegar for that cost! I was floored and so annoyed that I didn't switch over sooner...I've gone through 3 gallons of shampoo this last year in efforts to get this carpet clean clean clean (it was never really cleaned before and it's been soooo time consuming to get it this way)
AND that's after we deep cleaned it for hours before we even moved in.

hmm - how much money will this save me?...I need to add this up just for fun :)
this replaces (within a month of average cleaning): fantastic bathroom/kitchen cleaner (2 bottles = $4.00), Bar-Keeper's Friend (for toilets and hard stains, 1 container/month - probably less, but it's highly toxic = $1.80), Tilex (1 container/month or less = $3.47), carpet shampoo (1 gallon/3 months = 12.00...$4.00/month) and the pet-odor remover that I use with the laundry detergent...(laundry detergent = maybe $4.00/month, pet-odor remover = $6.25/month or so)

and it just saved me $25.00 in new bottles and sippie cups.

So - this month switching over has saved me maybe $50.00.
shoot - I'll add it to the occasional dishwasher load, too.

I'll be the guinea pig to see how color-stay clothes are with this stuff, too :yes I'll let you know later when I get this load of nasty kid-clothes washed and dried.

that's awsome. I need to clean my carpets too so we'll see. I am to scared to put it in the laundry so once you tell me how it worked then I'll do it :lol

I put about a cup of vinegar in every load of wash that I do. I have a front load washer so I fill the bleach cup with vinegar and pour the rest into the prewash slot. It makes everything come out smelling clean. I have bedwetters whose sheets and pj's were starting to smell and no matter how much I bleached them or soaked them they still smelled when I took them out of the dryer. I started using vinegar in every load and the smell is GONE! The clothes stay color fast as well.

Run it through the coffee maker to clean it out. Use it with newspaper for streak free windows. Put it in the dishwasher to clean the hard water stuff off the inside. I did this and was AMAZED at what I cleaned out of the inside of the dishwasher which was bought less than 3 years ago and is a Kenmore Elite so not a cheap dishwasher either.

I did a search for posts on cleaning carpet stains & this came up.

I'm curious about this....What do you clean with this?

I clean everything with this-my laundry, my windows, my floors, my dishes, the cat puked the other day on my one rug and I cleaned it with vinegar and it came out-no stain nor smell!

So I can try it on the carpet stain.....Do I just mix it w/ water & then scrub?

Why do you put it in your laundry- just for the smell, like ste was saying? Do you just mix it w/ your laundry detergent?

I've never heard of using vinegar for cleaning! That's neat :D

I put vinegar in my bleach dispenser-my water stinks over here and the vinegar takes the smell away!
The carpet stain..I didn't even dilute it, I just poured about 1 tbs straight onto the spot, let it sit for a minute, then scrubbed it with a white, clean rag.

ok, this may be a dumb question... but doesnt vinegar smell bad?

Vinegar does smell, but once it evaporates or dries, the smell is gone and you're left with a clean, sweet smell. I LOVE it as a fabric softener. It totally removes all the soap residue from the detergent, and that is the BEST way to get fluffy towels.

It also is much better than using windex, because the vinegar small dissipates very quickly and the windex I can smell for days.

I use it to clean: windows, glass computer desk, phone, dishes that have burnt on food (pour vinegar in, let sit overnight), sippy cups, bottles, faucets, stainless steel, in my rinse cycle for laundry, in my dishwasher instead of jet dry, and to mop when the floor gets nasty. It's a great tool to use. I haven't tried it on stains, but the carpet stain remover I use smells like vinegar so I assume it has it.

If you leave a bowl of cider vinegar out on your counter overnight, the annoying fruit flies will all be dead in it in the morning. I hate those things.

ETA: Only use white vinegar :) The others might stain things.