15 Household Products That Are More Useful Than You Realize

We all have our own arsenals of go-to household products, like Windex for cleaning glass and mirrors, OxiClean to brighten dingy laundry, and dish soap to make our dishes sparkle. But what if I told you that your most reliable household products are likely capable of a lot more than their marketing suggests?

Not only is it true, but it’s the whole premise of today’s blog post! :-)

Here I’ll be highlighting some unexpected and unusual ways to use 15 common household products. From tackling messes to treating pimples to making extra-fluffy omelets, your trustiest cleaners and household products just got a whole lot more useful!

15 Everyday Household Products With Surprising Uses

1. Windex

Do you remember the bride’s parents from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding who used Windex as a cure-all? It may not be a miracle cure, but they were right to think it could do a lot more than clean glass!

You can use the iconic blue glass cleaner to kill ants, treat stains, and even lubricate heavy furniture to make it easier to move. Check out this post to learn more about these uses for Windex, and others you probably didn’t know about!

2. Baby Wipes

If you’ve ever helped send paper invitations for a wedding, shower, or party, then I don’t have to tell you that licking the envelopes quickly gets very old. But there’s a super quick and easy way to skip the saliva all together—use a baby wipe to moisten the adhesive strip on the envelopes instead!

But wipes aren’t just useful for event planning. In fact, keeping a pack of wipes stashed in your car or purse can help you be prepared for just about anything!

3. Dryer Sheets

The slightly tacky texture of dryer sheets makes them surprisingly adept at removing stains and scrubbing away messes. Use them to remove deodorant marks on your shirts, clean bug splatters off your car, and much more!

4. Borax

Preserve flowers? Yep. Make slime? You bet. Clean just about everything? Absolutely! The real question is what can’t borax do?

5. Magic Erasers

Magic erasers are a dependable option for removing stubborn stains and marks on hard surfaces, but they can do a lot beyond cleaning crayon marks off of walls! Use them to rub stains off clothing and upholstery, scrub scuffs off your shoes, and even tackle stubborn grout grime! Check out 23 uses for magic erasers here.

6. Washing Soda

Washing soda (also known as sodium carbonate, soda crystals, or soda ash) is a highly alkaline powder that makes a safe, effective solvent for a wide range of stains. I mostly use washing soda as a laundry booster, but it’s also a great secret weapon for cleaning your oven, stove top, and other household appliances!

7. Hydrogen Peroxide

Wash the house, treat pimples, and brush your teeth all with the help of that signature brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide. It’s one of the stars of my two-ingredient miracle cleaner for very good reason!

8. Dish Soap

If you’re a regular reader of the blog, then you know I’m a super fan of Dawn dish soap. It’s grease-cutting power is unparalleled, but even I have yet to discover every single thing you can do with it. You can use Dawn to make bubbles, de-ice sidewalks, and even soften your cuticles before painting your nails — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

9. Sponges

Sponges aren’t only useful for lathering up dirty dishes. You can use sponges to freshen up the smell of your fridge, protect your knees while gardening, or even create toys for your little ones!

10. Car Wax

Did you know you can use car wax to keep fingerprints off your fridge? (If only we had a solution that could keep our hands off it, too!) ;-) Find out how to use car wax to prevent fingerprint marks, avoid mildew, keep mirrors fog-free, and much more here.

11. Compressed Air

If you have a can of compressed air at home for keeping dust out of your electronics, there’s so much more you could be doing with it! Compressed air is perfect for blasting away dirt and debris in hard-to-reach places, like the nooks and crannies of your vacuum canister, between the slats of your window blinds, and so much more.

12. Oxygen Bleach

Oxygen bleach products like OxiClean are famous for their ability to brighten up dingy whites, but its applications beyond the laundry room are equally impressive! You can use it as a powder, paste, soak, or spray to whiten grout, remove stickers from jars, and more.

13. Baking Soda

A staple ingredient in many baking recipes, baking soda (also known as sodium bicarbonate) has many properties that make it useful for household tasks. Add it to omelets to make them extra fluffy, sprinkle it on your mattress to freshen it up, or even relieve the symptoms of a painful UTI. I’ve written about over 25 uses for baking soda here on my blog, but the possibilities are truly endless!

14. Drano

Drano isn’t merely useful for clearing out clogged or slow drains. I’ve discovered that it can work wonders for cleaning your driveway too! Those oil stains on your driveway won’t know what hit them.

15. WD-40

Did you know WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th Formula? It can do so much more than simply displace water, as I discovered years ago when I used it to successfully remove a wad of Silly Putty that my daughter Britta had gotten stuck in her hair. (Toddlers!) In addition to salvaging toddler hair, you can also use WD-40 to clean carpets and pest-proof things like trash cans and bird feeders.

Do you have any unconventional uses for your favorite household cleaners?