Can vinegar on a slice of bread remove garage odors?

For at least November 2020, Gloriousa's health and wellness website has been promoting the following ad on the internet: "Pour vinegar on bread and leave it in your garage."

People who clicked the ad were directed to a slideshow of 92 slides with tips for the home, such as: B. the use of tennis balls under the chair and table legs and the replacement of Kool-Aid powder as a cleaning agent. . Dishwasher and insect repellent with cinnamon. Ninety-two clicks later, readers were faced with the reality that none of the slides offered an explanation as to why they should pour vinegar on the bread and leave it in their garage. The ad was hosted by Taboola, a company that offers advertising space across much of the internet.

Despite Gloriousa's misleading advertisements, it appears that pouring vinegar on bread can have useful household uses.

Author Linda Cobb, in her 2001 book "The Cleaning Queen: The Royal Guide to Stain Removal," wrote that "Odors from old logs and drawers can be removed with a slice of white bread on a bowl and topped with white vinegar." She advised, "Close the dresser or drawer for 24 hours and when you remove the bread and vinegar the smell will be gone!"

While vinegar has long been considered useful for cleaning the house, the role of the bread slice is unclear. A good housekeeper has pointed out that bread is good for vacuuming up spills, cleaning coffee grinders, removing stains from walls, picking up glass, and cleaning dusty paintings. However, he did not mention the ability of white bread or any other type of bread to eliminate odors.

Vinegar has other household uses, such as B. removing musty smells from towels. Good Housekeeping wrote that it can be useful for cleaning toilets, dishwashers, and washing machines. It can also help remove kitchen odors, remove hard water from glass vases, clean the inside of refrigerators, and remove odors from the litter box.

Vinegar has long been thought to help rid a house of rodents. However, the San Francisco Chronicle stated that this was one of many myths:

Aside from letting your house smell like vinegar, this household liquid doesn't do much to scare a mouse off. To prevent mice from entering, you need to block their entry holes. Examine the area around the foundation of your home outside and along the baseboards or inside cabinets or cupboards for possible entry holes. Even a dime-sized hole fits in a mouse.

Insert steel wool or other metal into the hole and seal with sealant. Check the holes regularly to see if the mice chewed the putty and replace it if necessary. Set the traps of your choice to catch the mice that are already in your house. Keep groceries in plastic containers and vacuum up crumbs to make your home less attractive to mice.

We haven't found any evidence that pouring vinegar onto a slice of bread can help remove musty smells from a room the size of a garage. However, it's possible that Gloriousa's ad means a trash can rather than a garage. Good Housekeeping published a recipe for cleaning trash cans that contained white vinegar.

In a viral video from Household Hacker with around 24 million views, it was also mentioned that bread and vinegar can remove odors in trash cans: