The DIY Guinea Pig: Orange Peel Vinegar Cleaner

It's funny how great minds think alike. In the course of a week I had quite a few people ask me if I had ever done the Orange Peel Vinegar cleaner. One person had 2 great questions regarding it 1)does it attract fruit flies? 2) do things get sticky from the orange peels?

I had never tried it before, so of course I had to fix that and test the stuff. I found many, many, many different websites about it but they all pretty much said the same thing.

Orange Peel Vinegar Cleaner
You will need:
Orange peel (or any citrus peels)
Glass jar with a lid
Vinegar

Directions:
Place all the peels into your jar until the jar is full. Pour in enough vinegar to cover the peels. Seal the jar and let it sit for at least 2 weeks. Pour the liquid into a spray bottle and use as an all-purpose cleaner. (Some people choose to use it as a concentrate and add 2 parts of water to 1 part of vinegar)

I loaded up on oranges and thoroughly enjoyed them while saving all the peels. It took about 2.5 oranges to get enough peels to fill a regular mason jar.

I poured in the vinegar, sealed it, and put it in my pantry.

The Verdict: 2 weeks later I opened the jar, shoved my nose in and breathed deep (and prayed i wasn't about to singe all my nose hairs from a vinegar overload) It smelt great. There was a hint of vinegar, but it mostly smelled like orange juice. Unfortunately the smell didn't last. The orange scent faded over the next week or so and it eventually smelled like the vinegar was rotting. The smell is pretty strong and likes to linger.

I never noticed any fruit flies being attracted to it, but it's also been pretty cold and the fruit flies are few and far between.

It is a bit sticky when wet, but fortunately the sticky fades as it dries.

All that being said, it's a great cleaner. Picture this: a little girl sitting at the table downing a blueberry and spinach breakfast shake. For no apparent reason she decides to throw the rest onto the ground. For many reasons, I didn't get to that spill for 3 days. It just sat there, happily baking in the sun. I knew it was going to be a beast to clean when I finally got to it, so I sprayed the citrus vinegar onto it, let it sit a few minutes then went over it with a wet wag. It came right up, no scrubbing. Booyah!!!

I was pretty sad that the orange smell didn't stay, so I decided to try lemon peels to see how the smell differed.

When the two weeks was up I opened the jar, shoved my nose in and breathed deep.... HELLO! My sinuses were very clear at that point. There was no lemon smell at all. But the way it cleans and the sticky texture is exactly the same as the orange peels.