In what can only be explained as a fit of third trimester nesting, I scrubbed the grout on our kitchen floor this morning. Our townhome is in a building that is about 20 years old, and in that time I don’t think the grout has ever been cleaned – it was icky when we moved in a year and a half ago and up until now I never had the desire to do anything about it. I’ve always lived in places with hardwood floors, so I never really knew that A) grout could be cleaned or B) how to clean it. However, the other day my friend from high school posted something on Facebook about using baking soda and vinegar to clean his kitchen floors. He asked me to look into the matter, and here’s what I found:

It works!!

As I’ve written about before, vinegar is really a wonder product when it comes to running a household. It adds zing to homemade salad dressing…and it also cleans a toilet! In this instance, when combined with regular baking soda it does a very nice job pulling up dirty bits from a late 1980’s kitchen floor.

To clean the grout, I used a spoon to fill in the space between the tiles with baking soda. I then poured vinegar on top and watched the combo fizz (Evelyn loved this part). After about 30 seconds, I took a scrub brush and whisked away the dirt. Once the grout was scrubbed, I used wash cloths and a pail of water to clean up the remaining baking soda and vinegar. It was almost too easy! I went in sections through our 8′ x 6′ kitchen, and the whole process took about half an hour.

The best part? This is a healthy, safe, and environmentally friendly way to complete a common household chore. It is so safe that I welcomed “help” from my 19 month old! Another bonus: its a dirt cheap (pun intended) cleaning solution anyone can afford!