4 beverages that pull surprising double dutiesfeatured
Let’s hear it for the beverages!
Listen, anyone can drink their beverages; let’s get a little next level and spritz, soak, and scatter ’em around the house! Here are four of my favorite tried n’ true (really!) ways to make basic, non-toxic liquids do double duty.
1: Kool-Aid as a toilet cleaner
“Keely,” I can hear my Mom saying, “You buy Kool-Aid?” Nope! But, like most American adults, I possess a kitchen which conjures- and hoards- the weirdest of foodstuffs at any given time. I have never, to the best of my knowledge, bought powdered drink packets nor tubs. But here they are! (Alongside ramen noodles, unmarked bags of tea, and cornstarch in tiny baggies. Who’s giving me this stuff?!)
So. Kool-Aid. Apparently the citric acid is why sprinkling and swirling a handful of this powder into the toilet bowl works so well at stripping stains and, while zero people would debate that this is a better choice during cold n’ flu season than, say, BLEACH, there are a couple of solid reasons to give this method a try: a) this is a supremely non-chemically way to get your kids to help with toilet cleaning (although they should still wear gloves, yo), and b) it looks really, really cool.
(And no, I’m not going to show you a photo of the toilet in question. Why the internet thinks ANYONE needs to see toilet photos is way beyond me. You’re welcome.)
2: Vodka for mold and mildew
This one hurts my heart a little. I need to hear you repeat after me: “I will not use the good vodka.” (If I find out that I’m somehow responsible for a Ketel One spring cleaning I don’t know if I could live with myself.
Fill a spray bottle with a few ounces of your best bottom-shelf potato juice and spritz it over anything mildewy or showing early signs of mold. (We have a glass block shower window that this project was pretty much made for.) Leave it on for 10-15 minutes and wipe/scrub off as needed. Here’s the best part about cleaning with vodka: It actually leaves zero scent behind.
Here’s the second best part: You’re practically on your way to having a Bloody Mary in your hand. (Talk about household-helping beverages!)
3: Coffee grounds as deodorizer
Okay, so this one’s technically not a liquid, but rather the byproduct of said liquid (and boy, do we have an endless supply ‘round here). And guess what? This weirdo one really works! Something about the properties of used coffee grounds really sucks in the various household odors…of which we also have an endless supply.
First up, make some coffee. (I’ll wait.) Sprinkle the grounds in a bowl and place them around the house for a couple of hours. No, really, that’s it. I legitimately did this yesterday in my living room after my girls dumped gym shoes on the floor that smelled like- oh, let’s go ahead and call it- death. I burned candles, opened a window, and even mopped the floor after removing (and cleaning) the offending sneakers. Nada, until I placed a bowl of coffee grounds on the coffee table. (Meta, no?)
Now my living room smells awesome. (Or, at least as close to awesome as it was before.)
4: Milk to fill china cracks
Stick with me, now. In terms of favorite beverages, milk doesn’t even crack the top 10. (Yes, I have 10 favorite beverages, don’t you?) But I’d been reading about how, in some cases, milk can help fill in hairline cracks in china, porcelain, and heavy-duty dishware. (Some people swear by it, others say it’s a waste of dairy. My take is, if you’re about to toss a beloved piece of crockery, might as well give it a try, right?)
I had just the plate to use: A cracked Tuscan print plate from Williams-Sonoma that we received as part of a wedding present. (And had I known how expensive it would be to replace, I never would’ve let anyone use the dang thing. PEOPLE! Know your audiences and gift recipients!) And, while I usually toss broken things fairly easily, I held onto this one because I had a feeling I could maybe/sorta fix it. And I maybe/sorta did!
I submerged the plate into a deep-sided pan filled with about 2 cups of milk, heated it over low for about an hour (I covered mine to prevent too much evaporation), and let it cool in the milk. Rinse, dry, voilà. Without getting too scientific, what’s supposed to happen is that the heated milk makes the proteins expand and fill the tiny spaces. After it’s cooled, it forms some sort of decent/who-knows-how-temporary epoxy. (Note: Definitely avoid this project if you’ve got any kind of casein allergy.)
And, while the crack is definitely still present as a hairline in my Tuscan plate, it’s now water-tight.
Or milk-tight.
(I’ll see myself out, thanks.)
Have you tried any of these? Would you?
Comment below!
