Love thine vinegar. And clean thine computer.

So says The Vinegar Institute (I was surprised it existed but now it seems so obvious really. The url is: http://www.versatilevinegar.org - Duh!).

See, January is National Clean Up Your Computer Month (again, who knew. But yes, such a month does exist). And what better ordinary ingredient to use to clean up your computer than vinegar. In their eager press release The Vinegar Institute (I don’t think I can ever say that without snickering) quotes the step by step instructions found in the book Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things:

Before you begin cleaning, make sure you have all pieces in the ‘off’ position.
Mix equal parts of white vinegar and water in a bucket.
Dampen a clean cloth in the solution and squeeze out the excess. Avoid spraying directly onto your hardware, as it could cause problems with your circuits.
Begin to wipe all pieces down (computer, keyboard, monitor).
Use cotton swabs to reach into those tight places, like between keys on the keyboard.

Now, I know my keyboard is filthy. Rather, underneath my keyboard is filthy what with a recent coffee spill (see: Laptop 911: how to save your computer from a coffee spill)and office cats who shed all over me and my desk. But I don’t know how I feel about using vinegar to clean my keyboard. Will there be a smell? So in search of the answer I poked around The Vinegar Institute’s website. And I was shocked by my vinegar ignorance.

(Also, I’m mentioning this now so you get ample warning. May, is National Vinegar month - don’t you forget it)

According to the Synovate White Distilled Vinegar Attitude and Usage Study from 2004 and 2005 there are three types of people in the world: Virgins, Visitors and Visionaries.

Virgins are the 33 million people who haven’t bought or used white distilled vinegar in the past year. Next we’ve got the Visitors, who make up the vast majority of Americans. Visitors are those who have purchased white distilled vinegar a maximum of two times a year and they’re “open to experimenting with various uses” once they hear about them. Now the Visionaries are real special. There are only 31 million of them in the US. These enlightened folks purchase white distilled vinegar three or more times a year and take it off the shelf monthly. They know to use vinegar to clean kitchen surfaces exposed to raw meat, clean house, get rid of unwanted grass (?), remove glass water rings on wood furniture (hello! I need to try this!! Apparently you rub the stain with equal parts white vinegar and olive oil which strangely sounds like a salad dressing… hmph), and get rid of funky smells. In addition to their varied employment of vinegar the true hallmark of a Visionary is that they “may even create their own new uses.” Whoa boy.

If this is all a big-time epiphany for you may I recommend the site’s ”Uses & Tips“ page.