You know that rubbing alcohol you have sitting under your bathroom sink that gets used only a few times a year when your child gets a scrape or cut? Well, instead of letting it waste away under the sink, start using it! There are so many great uses for rubbing alcohol that you can use almost daily. Check them out:
1. Clean Your Faucets
If you rub a little rubbing alcohol on your faucets it’ll make them sparkly clean. Be sure to check and make sure that you can use rubbing alcohol on the material your faucet is made out of before doing this, though. You don’t want to ruin your fixtures.
Source: Kassandra Bay Resort & SPA
2. Clean Mirrors
If your bathroom is anything like mine, the mirror gets a build up of hairspray over time. It’s very difficult to get off sometimes, and even glass cleaner can’t get it off. Put a little rubbing alcohol on your paper towel and rub it on the mirror. It’ll take the buildup right off.
3. Remove Onion Odor
One of the things I hate most about cooking with onion or garlic is that when I cut it the odor sticks to my fingers and no matter how much I wash my hands I still can’t seem to get rid of the stench. However, if you put some rubbing alcohol on your hands it’ll remove the odor right away.
4. DIY Ice Pack
If you’re in need of some relief from an ice pack, but don’t have one, you can easily make one yourself. Mix one part rubbing alcohol to two parts water in a freezer bag. The rubbing alcohol doesn’t allow the water to completely freeze, making it pliable to use as an ice pack.
Source: Samsung Tomorrow
5. Clean Stainless Steel Appliances
No need to buy special cleaner for your stainless steel appliances. Just take some rubbing alcohol, put it on a scratch free soft cloth, and rub your appliance clean. It’ll clean it, remove all those unsightly fingerprints, and make it shine like new.
6. Clean Makeup Brushes
You should clean your makeup brushes at least once a month. One of the easiest ways to do this is to let them soak in some rubbing alcohol for about 20-30 minutes. Once they’re done soaking, rinse them out and let them dry.
Source: Lisa Brewster via Flickr
7. Remove Laundry Stains
If you’ve got a pesky laundry stain you can’t get out of your favorite shirt, try soaking the stain in a little rubbing alcohol for a few minutes. Then launder the clothes like normal. Make sure you do this only on washable clothes, and not on ones that are dry clean only. You don’t want to ruin any of your clothes more than they already are.
Source: Granite Charlotte Countertops via Flickr
8. DIY Granite Cleaner
Cleaning granite countertops can be very difficult because you have to buy either special cleaner or just use soap and hot water. If you don’t feel like the soap and water is getting the job done, then try making your own granite cleaner. Mix up a half cup of rubbing alcohol, 2 cups water, and 8 drops of dish soap and you’ve got yourself a great cleaner.
9. Remove Permanent Marker
Having trouble getting those permanent marker stains off your walls or countertops, or any other hard surface that your kids made? Take your rubbing alcohol, rub it into the stain and it should come out. Now, you don’t need to be so afraid of permanent markers stains as much.
10. Nail Fungus
Hopefully you never have to deal with any kind of nail or toenail fungus, but if you do, you can soak the nail in equal parts water and rubbing alcohol. Since rubbing alcohol is a disinfectant it will help get rid of the fungus.
Source: Mislav Marohnić via Flickr
11. Relieve Nausea
Feeling a bit nauseous lately? Rubbing alcohol can even help with that. Put some on a cotton ball, place near the tip of your nose and breathe in. It should almost instantly take away nausea. Just be sure not to inhale too much or for too long. You want to eliminate the nausea, not make yourself more sick.
12. Bug Bites
Itchy bug bites can be one of the most frustrating things – the constant itching and pain, not to mention the ugly bump. Rubbing alcohol can also relieve the itching sensation as well as reduce the swelling of the bump if you put some on the bite.
13. Remove Stickiness
You know that irritating sticky residue left over when you take off a sticker like a price tag? Try rubbing it off with some rubbing alcohol if the surface is safe to do so. It should take that stickiness right off.
14. Swimmer’s Ear
With summer coming and your kiddos going swimming all the time, if you have some rubbing alcohol around, you can easily prevent swimmers ear, as well as relieve any pain caused by swimmers ear infection. Pour a little in the ear and it’ll dry up the water right up and prevent infection.
15. Clean Eyeglasses
Keeping eyeglasses clean is next to impossible. Even cleaning them with glass cleaner can create streaks. Try cleaning them with a little rubbing alcohol instead. It should not only disinfect them, but keep the streaks at a minimum.