10 House Cleaning Secrets from the Liquor Cabinet

Hi There! And welcome to Week such and suck of 52 Weeks to a Cleaner House! 

My favorite posts that I've written for this series have been the "life hack" type ones that list seriously off-the-wall cleaning methods and ingredients that you'd never think of in a million years.

Strangely enough, while doing research last week, I kept running across household tips that included liquor, wine and beer. My first thought was that maybe I haven't been doing enough binge drinking lately and should spend more time inebriated. But then my liver (still damaged from college) reminded me to keep my sobriety intact and stick to sharing life hack cleaning tips.

Heck, maybe some of you are on-the-wagon right now and would love to find alternative uses for those half-full bottles in your liquor cabinets. Or maybe your windows are filthy and you're out of Windex, but have enough tequila to get you through Doomsday.

Below is a list of ways to use everything from rum to cheap malt liquor in your household cleaning regimen. No, I haven't tried all of them. And, I suspect that you could probably substitute one liquor for another in some of these (not the beer ones) since they're all alcohol. (For example: "Spray gin on mold spores in the shower to remove them." I bet vodka and tequila would work also. Just like in a good martini.Well, the vodka, anyway.)

10 House Cleaning Secrets from the Liquor Cabinet:

1) Mix equal parts vodka and water in a spray bottle to clean windows and glass surfaces. Wipe with newspapers for a perfect, no-streak shine.

2) To keep fresh-cut flowers living longer, add a little vodka and sugar to the vase water.

3) Also use vodka to scrub off gummy residue from stickers on glass. (Like price tag stickers on photo frames. Don't you hate that!)

4) Did you know that you can use tequila on stained laundry? Soak oil-based stains like lipstick and grease in the Russian favorite for all natural spot removal.

5) Spray gin on mold spores in the shower to remove them.

6) When cleaning your fruits and veggies, use leftover white wine instead of water. It's strong enough to kill E coli bacteria and salmonella.

7) Did you know that rum cleans the corrosion off electrical and battery contacts?

Apparently mice and plants enjoy a good brewski as much as humans do.

8) To get rid of mice in a humane way, pour a small amount of beer into a bucket and add a ramp to the side of it. Apparently, the rodents will sniff out the booze, fall into the bucket, then drink to their hearts' content and pass out. Afterward, you may remove them however you like. (Did I really just type that?)

9) Rubbing flat beer onto the surface of old furniture to help restore some of its shine.

10) Pour a little beer into your flower beds and indoor plants. It'll perk them right up.

Try some of these booze-based household uses. Your friends and family members will probably offer to help. Oh, by the way I was kidding about the malt liquor.