You probably have aluminum foil, baking soda, peanut butter, vinegar, and Windex in your house and you may even have coconut oil. If not, you should. These common household items can save you emergency trips to the store as...
You probably have aluminum foil, baking soda, peanut butter, vinegar, and Windex in your house and you may even have coconut oil. If not, you should. These common household items can save you emergency trips to the store as well as money.
You may never buy bleach, stain remover, or furniture polish again. Imagine the space you’ll save under the sink and other spots you store household products.
Our guide to using these common and cheap items can save you time and money, sometimes in surprising ways.
12 Uses for Aluminum Foil
We had no idea that there were so many uses for aluminum foil beyond covering things. Foil to sharpen scissors? Immediately had to try it and yes, it really works. Aluminum foil can be used in the garden, laundry room, and before you go to the nail salon.
Check out this article to learn how aluminum foil might help shine a light when you’re out of batteries or save money off your heating bill.
30 Uses for Baking Soda
Opening a little box of baking soda is like opening a money saving treasure chest. There are so many uses for baking soda that you might forget you bought it for baking. Cut flowers will look pretty longer. Kitty litter boxes won’t stink. You may never buy toothpaste again.
Baking soda is great for getting rid of odors and getting stains out of laundry. It unclogs drains, tames spicy food, and makes your omelets fluffy. There are still 22 more baking soda tips to discover.
25 Uses for Coconut Oil
There are way more coconut oil uses that will save money and time than you could guess. Refined coconut oil is a healthier oil option in cooking. It’s touted for how good it is for your hair and skin. Did you know it can clean dead bugs off your car?
Coconut oil cleans, soothes, polishes furniture, restores leather, is good for your pets, and scads more. Check out the article for some surprising uses.
25 Uses for Peanut Butter
Most of the uses for peanut butter we think of involve chocolate and dipping. But did you know it gets gum out someone’s hair? And out of the carpet. Find out more uses for peanut butter and you’ll be surprised at how handy this childhood favorite is.
In a pinch, peanut butter can fix squeaky hinges. It can be used as a moisturizer, ice cream cone sealant, and of course giving little Fido or Kitty their pills. Some people like putting it on bread with jelly. Crazy!
24 Uses for Vinegar
We’ve heard about using vinegar as a glass cleaner, but didn’t know there were so many uses for vinegar for our skin and scalp. We found 24 of them! Vinegar can be used to brighten laundry and replace fabric softener. It cleans our precious coffee makers.
Vinegar is really amazing. Vinegar can remove rust, stand in for eggs in baking, and battle ant infestations. Pretty great for something so cheap.
We are talking about diluted white vinegar mostly. Save the balsamic for drizzling over tomatoes and fresh mozarella.
10 Uses for Windex
You’ll be happy to save money with these various Windex uses, but really, showing off the imaginative ways a couple pumps of glass spray fixes things is part of the fun.
It makes moving heavy furniture easier. Windex gets stains out. It’s an insect repellent. There’s so much this three buck bottle can do — we found 10 household bonuses.
The Penny Hoarder contributor JoEllen Schilke writes on lifestyle and culture topics. She is the former owner of a coffee shop in St.Petersburg, Florida, and has hosted an arts show on WMNF community radio for nearly 30 years.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.