12 Ways to Use Rubbing Alcohol
from Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things1. Remove hair spray from mirrors
When you are spritzing your head with hair spray, some of it inevitably winds up on the mirror. A quick wipe with rubbing alcohol will whisk away that sticky residue and leave your mirror sparkling clean.
2. Clean venetian blinds
Rubbing alcohol does a terrific job of cleaning the slats of venetian blinds. To make quick work of the job, wrap a flat tool — a spatula or maybe a 6-inch (15-centimeter) drywall knife — in cloth and secure with a rubber band. Dip in alcohol and go to work.
3. Keep windows sparkling and frost-free
Do your windows frost up in the wintertime? Wash them with a solution of 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol to 1 quart (1 liter) water to prevent the frost. Polish the windows with newspaper after you wash them to make them shine.
4. Dissolve windshield frost
Wouldn’t you rather be inside savoring your morning coffee a little longer instead of scrape, scrape, scraping frost off your car windows? Fill a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and spritz the car glass. You’ll be able to wipe the frost right off. Ah, good to the last drop!
5. Prevent ring around the collar
To prevent your neck from staining your shirt collar, wipe your neck with rubbing alcohol each morning before you dress. Feels good too.
6. Clean your phone
Is your phone getting a bit grubby? Wipe it down with rubbing alcohol. It’ll remove the grime and disinfect the phone at the same time.
7. Remove ink stains
Did you get ink on your favorite shirt or dress? Try soaking the spot in rubbing alcohol for a few minutes before putting the garment in the wash.
8. Erase permanent markers
Did your little angel just decide to decorate your countertop with a permanent marker? Don’t worry, most countertops are made of a nonpermeable material such as plastic laminate or marble. Rubbing alcohol will dissolve the marker back to a liquid state so you can wipe it right off.
9. Remove dog ticks
Ticks hate the taste of rubbing alcohol as much as they love the taste of your dog. Before you pull a tick off Fido, dab the critter with rubbing alcohol to make it loosen its grip. Then grab the tick as close to the dog’s skin as you can and pull it straight out. Dab again with alcohol to disinfect the wound. This works on people too.
10. Get rid of fruit flies
The next time you see fruit flies hovering in the kitchen, get out a fine-misting spray bottle and fill it with rubbing alcohol. Spraying the little flies knocks them out and makes them fall to the floor, where you can sweep them up. The alcohol is less effective than insecticide, but it’s a lot safer than spraying poison around your kitchen.
11. Make a shapeable ice pack
The problem with ice packs is they won’t conform to the shape of the injured body part. Make a slushy, conformable pack by mixing 1 part rubbing alcohol with 3 parts water in a self-closing plastic bag. The next time that sore knee acts up, wrap the bag of slush in a cloth and apply it to the area. Ahhh!
12. Clean bathroom fixtures
Just reach into the medicine cabinet the next time you need to clean chrome bathroom fixtures. Pour some rubbing alcohol straight from the bottle onto a soft, absorbent cloth and the fixtures. No need to rinse — the alcohol just evaporates. It does a great job of making chrome sparkle, plus it will kill any germs in its path.
source Readers Digest
When you are spritzing your head with hair spray, some of it inevitably winds up on the mirror. A quick wipe with rubbing alcohol will whisk away that sticky residue and leave your mirror sparkling clean.
2. Clean venetian blinds
Rubbing alcohol does a terrific job of cleaning the slats of venetian blinds. To make quick work of the job, wrap a flat tool — a spatula or maybe a 6-inch (15-centimeter) drywall knife — in cloth and secure with a rubber band. Dip in alcohol and go to work.
3. Keep windows sparkling and frost-free
Do your windows frost up in the wintertime? Wash them with a solution of 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol to 1 quart (1 liter) water to prevent the frost. Polish the windows with newspaper after you wash them to make them shine.
4. Dissolve windshield frost
Wouldn’t you rather be inside savoring your morning coffee a little longer instead of scrape, scrape, scraping frost off your car windows? Fill a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol and spritz the car glass. You’ll be able to wipe the frost right off. Ah, good to the last drop!
5. Prevent ring around the collar
To prevent your neck from staining your shirt collar, wipe your neck with rubbing alcohol each morning before you dress. Feels good too.
6. Clean your phone
Is your phone getting a bit grubby? Wipe it down with rubbing alcohol. It’ll remove the grime and disinfect the phone at the same time.
7. Remove ink stains
Did you get ink on your favorite shirt or dress? Try soaking the spot in rubbing alcohol for a few minutes before putting the garment in the wash.
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| Rubbing alcohol took ink pad ink off him, me, the carpet, the couch, his clothes and the bathtub after his bath. |
8. Erase permanent markers
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| My three year old and dry erase markers on the stairs. |
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| With only one pass over. I'll let the kids so the rest. :) |
9. Remove dog ticks
Ticks hate the taste of rubbing alcohol as much as they love the taste of your dog. Before you pull a tick off Fido, dab the critter with rubbing alcohol to make it loosen its grip. Then grab the tick as close to the dog’s skin as you can and pull it straight out. Dab again with alcohol to disinfect the wound. This works on people too.
10. Get rid of fruit flies
The next time you see fruit flies hovering in the kitchen, get out a fine-misting spray bottle and fill it with rubbing alcohol. Spraying the little flies knocks them out and makes them fall to the floor, where you can sweep them up. The alcohol is less effective than insecticide, but it’s a lot safer than spraying poison around your kitchen.
11. Make a shapeable ice pack
The problem with ice packs is they won’t conform to the shape of the injured body part. Make a slushy, conformable pack by mixing 1 part rubbing alcohol with 3 parts water in a self-closing plastic bag. The next time that sore knee acts up, wrap the bag of slush in a cloth and apply it to the area. Ahhh!
12. Clean bathroom fixtures
Just reach into the medicine cabinet the next time you need to clean chrome bathroom fixtures. Pour some rubbing alcohol straight from the bottle onto a soft, absorbent cloth and the fixtures. No need to rinse — the alcohol just evaporates. It does a great job of making chrome sparkle, plus it will kill any germs in its path.
source Readers Digest
HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
Here is one of my favorite tips. Hydrogen Peroxide is one of those things that I couldn't do without. I soak all our toothbrushes in it and I know it makes a difference. If I get a canker sore I swish my mouth with it and it's gone the next day.
One day my little son face planted and got a major bloody nose. The older kids rushed to his aid with a white bath towel. I know. HP to the rescue. Poured it on the towel, let it bubble and threw in the wash. Good as new.
My husband hunts and comes home with bloody clothes. HP to the rescue again.
I've used it on acne and it works! I just put it on a cotton ball and rub it on the blemish and it really gets rid of it fast. I'm amazed.
I haven't used it on all of the rest of these tips except for of course cuts and scrapes, but will give them a try now that I know all of these other uses.
- As a mouthwash and gargle
- In relaxing baths and foot baths
- To sanitize toothbrushes, and dentures
- As a produce wash, to keep fruits and veggies fresh longer
- To disinfect compost pails, cutting boards, and scrub brushes
- For washing carpets, floors, and windows
- Stripping wood furniture, and cleaning wooden decks
- Removing mold
- To brighten laundry & remove stains (especially great for removing blood)
- To clean out aquariums
- To keep the water clean in fish farming
- In gardening: As a plant fertilizer and plant spray
- To clean swimming pools and spas, as an alternative to chlorine
- Taxidermists use it to clean and whiten bones…..
- It's used in making cheese
- Aseptic packaging (those weird little boxes that food comes in) are sprayed with it
- It is used in products for whitening teeth, treating acne, and cleaning contact lenses
- Oh, and it's also great for cleaning cuts and skin infections. source unknown
