Apple Cider Vinegar – Household & Pest Control Benefits

Apple cider vinegar is something that you can get at the grocery store for a couple dollars per gallon bottle. It’s a cheap product but the health and household benefits are priceless. This article covers the health and household benefits associated with apple cider vinegar, which have stood the test of time.

Apple Cider Vinegar for Pest Control

Apple cider vinegar can be used to repel and eliminate common pests. It works at eliminating pests that are indoors as well as outdoors. A lot of people use apple cider vinegar as a way to eliminate fruit flies from the house, which is done using a fruit fly vinegar trap.

This is very easy to make because all you need is a cup or bowl, apple cider vinegar, and some dish soap. Some people put plastic wrap over the top of the bowl or cup and poke small holes into it. You don’t actually have to use the plastic wrap unless you want to or feel like it will be beneficial in the location of the bowls.

Add apple cider vinegar to a bowl, using as little or much as you want, and then add about two drops of dish soap. Set the bowl where the fruit flies are likely coming from for the best results. This could be in areas such as near the kitchen sink, by the trash can, or by the bowl of fruit.

Within hours you will have a ton of fruit flies floating in the water. The good news is that the longer you leave it out the more fruit flies you’ll collect. You can dump the water and replace the trap as needed and set as many of them around the house as you need to get the job done.

Apple cider vinegar is also great at repelling ants and it’s very easy to make an ant repellent with this vinegar. You just want to grab a spray bottle and mix one part apple cider vinegar to one part water. Just take the spray and spray it along the areas where you notice the ant trails. Typically, these trails are near windows, doors, or around the baseboards. Spraying along the ant trail will prevent more ants from coming into your home.

You also can spray the apple cider vinegar mixture right onto the ants to kill them, which works best if you have a large number of ants at once you need to get rid of. Spray counters, cabinets and anywhere else you think the ants are traveling.

If you have a problem with aphids, then you might want to try apple cider vinegar to help get rid of these crop-killing bugs. Take a bottle and combine 1-ounce of apple cider vinegar with 3-ounces of water and mix it together. You can spray this on your plants to keep the aphids off of them, although some plants don’t like the acidic nature of apple cider vinegar. It could end up hurting your plants if you spray too much or spray too often.

If aphids are killing off everything in your garden, then it’s at least worth a try to use the apple cider vinegar. You should spray only a small amount the first few times you use it on or near your plants so that you can gauge the reaction of those plants. If nothing seems wrong with your plants and they appear healthy, continue using small amounts of apple cider vinegar as needed to keep the aphids away.

Using the Vinegar for House Cleaning

Using apple cider vinegar as a house cleaner works pretty well and will clean a variety of items within your household. It will work in the kitchen and bathroom, but also works well in your laundry. You can get a spray bottle and mix apple cider vinegar and water in equal parts to create a cleaner that’s all-purpose. Use this to spray down your counter, sink, microwave, cutting boards, and anything else in your kitchen. It will leave your windows streak-free as well if you use the mixture on the windows around your house.

In the bathroom you can use apple cider vinegar basically everywhere, but the concentration depends on what you’re cleaning. For counters, sinks, cabinets, and similar items you want to use a spray mixture of apple cider vinegar and water in equal parts. The apple cider vinegar can also get soap scum out of your shower or tub, but you don’t want to dilute it with water for this purpose. It can get rid of any mineral deposits you see and the best part is that it doesn’t need to be wiped off after being applied.

In the laundry room, you can use apple cider vinegar on the washing machine itself or use to help clean your clothes. Just add one cup to your laundry and you’ll notice the washing machine smells better and your clothes also smell better and get much cleaner. If you have clothes that have been sitting in storage for a long time, this is a great way to get the lingering smell out without harming the clothing itself.

It also works well as a monthly treatment option to keep your washing machine smelling like new and not like mildew or mold. The smell might seem strong to you at first, but it quickly goes away and turns into a sweeter and milder smell.

Applying Vinegar to Kill Garden Weeds

If weeds in your garden are a huge problem, then just use a simple apple cider vinegar recipe to cure that issue. Take two cups of apple cider vinegar and mix it with one-half cup of Epsom salt. Put this mixture into a spray bottle and then shake it all up to ensure the ingredients are mixed together. Spray on the weeds moderately and within just 24 hours they should begin to die off. Spray on the weeds a while before it rains because if you do it right before it rains, the vinegar will just wash away and it won’t work at really soaking into the weeds.

It’s important that you don’t spray too much because the apple cider vinegar can kill plants. There are several plants that hate the acidity found in apple cider vinegar and they will begin to wilt if sprayed too much with this vinegar. If you notice that the vinegar is harming your plants, you should either stop using it altogether or cut back on the amount you are using. Some people prefer to just use the apple cider vinegar in the driveway to kill the weeds in between the cracks, since most people don’t have any plants in this area.

Apple Cider Vinegar for Weight Loss

Apple cider vinegar itself may help increase the feeling of fullness, but it won’t work on its own for losing weight. It can help lower blood sugar levels and also insulin levels, which are important for feeling full and not overeating.

Apple cider vinegar is useful as a weight loss aid because it gives you the ability to take in fewer calories each day since you’ll feel fuller overall. It makes more sense that if you feel fuller then you won’t be taking in as many calories or snacking as much during the day.

Using apple cider vinegar also isn’t going to help you lose a ton of weight either, so keep your expectations fairly low. You may lose another pound or two but it’s not going to be a quick 10-pound drop. It’s more about your overall lifestyle and diet than just one product such as apple cider vinegar. The good news is that it can help people in certain situations lose some weight around their belly and feel fuller for longer.

Helping Patients with Diabetes

Apple cider vinegar is actually really good for people who have Type 2 diabetes and it can help control blood sugar and insulin levels. The apple cider vinegar can help significantly lower the blood sugar when eating a meal high in carbs. Studies have shown that if you take two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before you go to bed, your fasting blood sugar can be reduced by four percent.

A study also showed that consuming 50 grams of white bread and taking apple cider vinegar can reduce the blood sugar by 34 percent. Apple cider vinegar works because it helps increase insulin responses, which will lower the blood sugar levels after eating. If you are on medications to help control your Type 2 diabetes, you should talk to your doctor before beginning a regime with apple cider vinegar.

While the apple cider vinegar isn’t a cure-all and won’t replace diabetes medications, it can help keep your blood sugar levels more controlled. You may also notice that your A1C levels are getting better too, which is important for maintaining your health. It’s important to prevent the diabetes from affecting other internal organs so the better your A1C levels are over time, the better it is for your body.