15 Unusual Uses for Cheap Vodka

Contrary to popular belief, cheap vodka is not only for boozehounds and college freshmen. There are many legitimate ways to use vodka that go beyond mere consumption: cleaning, baking, deodorizing, and even drinking (with a few tweaks for flavor.)

Inexpensive vodka makes an excellent replacement for pricier products that do the same thing. Sure, a cabinet full of McCormick's vodka is more difficult to explain than some Windex. But the savings should make up for the worried looks and shaking heads you'll get for buying the cheap stuff by the case. At your intervention, you can teach them all these unusual uses for cheap vodka. Read on to learn more...

Step 1 Forget Expensive Dry Cleaning Bills

Spritz down your garments with a vodka dilution between dry cleaning to remove odors!

Unfortunately, this does nothing for stains, so once you've spilled red wine on your favorite white coat, you've really got no other option but take it to the professionals.  Or, you know, just soak the whole thing in red wine and make it new again!

Comments

[louis.m]

No more weird mysterious chemicals, with flamboyant names, I am making my own cosmetic products for years now. !

I use vodka with ordinary kitchen herbs and/or spices added as an aftershave.

One of my most successful recipes is with a combination of parsley nutmeg cloves and lemon. I add a bit of alum to take care of little shaving cuts and just a pinch borax to prevent spoilage (both of which I purchased at a local pharmacy, and dissolved in some hot water).

I even use vodka with nettle tops (Urtica dioica), as a lotion for my scalp and hair.
Boil young tops (Urtica dioica), picked just before flowering (use gloves or just plastic shopping bags over the hands when picking), with a little water, then pour through a cloth, add borax (see above) and vodka to the liquid, ready.

Very refreshing!

[smckendry-smith]

I've been using cheap vodka to disinfect reusable water bottles for some time now. Swish and rinse. Effective, cheap, and (relatively) non-toxic.

[lucek]

Keep in mind you are probably not disinfecting them. Alcohol doesn't really work well as a disinfectant below 70% or 140 proof. If you are buying the 40%, 80 proof vodka then you're just wasting money.

[wastubbs]

Which is why I keep some 'shine around for my Nalgenes. You can drink it, after, or use it to light your charcoal grill!

[Idun]

I use soft soap for this.

[Idun]

I would not recommend doing this. First of all the alcohol will completely dry out your skin. Commercial hand-sanitizers usually contain glycerol to prevent this.

Secondly the alcohol will not clean your hands if they are in any way visibly dirty or wet. Also the ethanol only kills bacteria and will not protect you from virus such as influenza. Actually, regular use might completely wipe out the natural bacterial flora on your skin making it more receptive to infections in the long run.

In other words: use water and soap.

[mountainclean]

White wine and white vinegar will most often get out red wine. Just wet a soft cloth and gently rub red wine spot. Or, if you spill red wine on your carpet white vinegar in a spray bottle, spray wine stain, rub gently with your hand, let dry and vacuum. You can repeat as often as needed.

[PeoplesCar]

Another good one is lighter fluid on the grill. Add some to a clean, empty spray bottle and use it to generously mist / saturate the charcoal right before you light it. The vodka will burn cleaner than lighter fluid, without the petroleum chemical smell / taste.

[arivera11]

Vodka mouthwash would be great in a pinch - especially if you've had a wonderful lunch involving raw onions - but many dentists (including my own) advise against regular use of alcohol based mouthwashes because they use a "scorched earth" method, killing all the bacteria, good and bad. When the bacteria repopulate the mouth, the bad bacteria get a chance to flourish, and bad breath returns in a big way.

As far as the fierce comment battle going on regarding colloidal silver - I worked for years at a holistic wellness center, and have no ties to any product (the center had no brand loyalty either). I've found that for short term use, it can be beneficial. Quantity and quality of the product matter - I would not feel comfortable with a patient making thier own, taking it daily for life, but using a commerical product where PPM is known - for fighting microorganisms when you are sick (internal use) or externally for skin infections or wounds, colliodal has worked well. Alternatively, for those of your uncomfortable with silver, GSE (grapefruit seed extract) may be preferable - just make sure it is well diluted.

[DeliciousMystic]

Thanks for the info about using a vodka mouthwash often.. I had been using a diluted one that I had made, and it seemed to do a good job, but I don't like the idea of a scorched earth strategy.. I guess I will go back to trying to flavor apple cider vinegar.. which doesn't taste as mouthwashy, but did seem to do a better job..

[kidNeutrino]

and why your Russian cleaning woman was always smiling, a little for the windows, a little for me... Vaporizing alcohol gives you quite a rush!

[klaviatury]

Vodka has other uses you missed, it can be used to counter ethylene glycol poisoning, a common ingredient in antifreeze that can cause renal failure. It also helps prevent harmful radiation poisoning. It is also the active ingredient in a good time!

[nightninja87]

hi im not trying to say anything bad great instructable but your photos seem to be off in some of them not sure if its my computer or if its just accidental i would check into it keep up the good work

[discowhale]

I've been complaining about the 'cheap' taste and smell of vanilla extract for years.

I saw AB of "Good Eats" fame talking about making vanilla extract, so I went to fBoy and bought some vanilla beans C-H-E-A-P!

Next I hit the liquor store.  Here...I had a quandary.  Cheap vodka or good vodka.  I decided to go whole hog because the beans were cheap...Stolichnaya!

I let it steep about a month, shaking the bottles every day or so, and VIOLA!

I now have vanilla that smells and tastes like vanilla did when I was younger. (trust me, young was a long WHILE ago)

For roughly $20, I made almost a quart of top notch vanilla that truly improves the flavor of anything it touches.  Especially home made ice cream.  Yummers.

[sswenston-forbes]

Alcohol kills skin cells, especially vulnerable wounded ones. Same is true of witch hazel and hydrogen peroxide. It's better to use soap and water -- or just water.

[dreadengineer]

Infections also kill skin cells. In my experience, my cuts seem to heal faster when disinfected with something than when just washed with water. I'd be interested if there's a study or a medical opinion somewhere in favor of just water.

[Tiktaky]

I know in first aid courses we are taught to use just water, This is because disinfectants can kill the wounded cells as well as infection cells, and could lead to law-suits. The reason is purely because we live in a Pass the Blame world.

If I forget to run my cut under-water or my bandaid wasn't adhering correctly, The wound will start to grow hot itch, this is the sign of an impending infection. At this point, It will heal faster if you put a drop of alcohol or detol on it.

[sswenston-forbes]

The doctor in the ER recently was the one who told me this. He said soap and water. He also said to use a triple antibiotic salve and loose bandages. My family member who was wounded quite badly recovered well -- without infection or major scarring.

[lding]

We were taught in the emergency department, you should wash 'clean' wounds with sterile saline solution (or water). 'Dirty' wounds should be cleaned with some sort of antiseptic. But most antiseptics do kill cells. It's a matter of judgement.

I don't know what the medical literature is to support that. But that's what we do at my hospital.

[RangerJ]

Antifreeze. Use it in your boat or RV pipes (mixed with water) to avoid freezing in the off season.

[P.Bechthold]

Oh. Hate to be a pooper! But:

Mouthwash vodka is probably not a great idea. After Ke$ha told us to brush our teeth with a bottle of jack, I tried it. It was great feeling! very tingly. BUT. I asked my dentist about it later on (We chat about many things). She explained that the residual alcohol in your mouth is just sugar nasties waiting to eat your enamel away.

Now, I hope that isnt true.... But it doesnt make sense. So maybe this use is not as useful as we hoped.

[sbates1]

Your dentist forgot basic chemistry and/or doesn't understand alcohol.

Jack Daniels is bourbon, and Vodka is (well...vodka). Both typically are 80 proof (aka: 40% alcohol by volume). That other 60% doesn't include sugar, or the drinks would be liqueurs. Now, if you tried to brush your teeth with say, Gran Marnier, then yes, there would be some residual sugars in the liquid.

My only issue with this idea is that your breath WILL smell of vodka afterward if you've used the cheap stuff. Run your vodka through a Britta water filter first to remove that cheap Stoli flavor, and you could do this.

Heck, do it anyway. It makes your cheap hooch taste and smell better.

[P.Bechthold]

HUZZAH!

Bring on the Jack :)

I googled it some more. Yup. I will have to let her know next checkup that I have been brushing exclusively with booze. Thanks for the comment :)

[Ugifer]

A drop of bleach and a little sugar has the same effect - the bleach kills the bugs and the sugar feeds the flowers. Don't add a glug of bleach, however, or you kill everything.

[Ugifer]

My optician recommended methylated spirits (essentially ethanol with about 10% methanol and purple dye) for cleaning even coated lenses. Meths is nearly pure (methyl and ethyl) alcohol, so 40% (or perhaps 35% - this is the cheap stuff) in vodka is unlikely to cause any damage.

[mcr2582]

Alton Brown's Good Eats TV show talked about this on his Apple Pie episode. He used Apple Brandy and while that imparted some flavor to the crust, the reason for using it had to do with the way alcohol mixes with flour vs. the way water mixes with flour. (Consulting Google...) Basically, flour and water will form gluten, while flour and alcohol will not, and because most of the alcohol will evaporate during cooking, you can add more liquid initially which makes handling the dough easier.

[jpritchard2]

Many of these I'd rather pay the 2 bucks for rubbing alcohol than waste vodka

[Tiktaky]

Same, cheap vodka is $20 for 500ml. Rubbing alcohol is $5 a liter.

[scoochmaroo]

That's what I paid for the vodka! :D

[guineapig101]

Well so far I've only done the pie crust trick, but oh my gosh it was delicious. Thank you so much!

[vincent7520]

In fact,the useful part of vodka is alcohol … so why don't you use cheap pure alcohol that you can find in drugstores ?…
(unless they don't sell it in the US ?…)

[Pilgrimm]

Ordinary Isopropyl alcohol purchased at the drug store for 78 cents per pint (16 oz) consists of alcohol at 70% by volume, or 140 proof. Your cheap vodka probably costs $3.00 per pint, and proofs out at 80 proof, or 40% by volume. So buy a bottle at the drugstore (isopropyl alcohol), add an additional 16 oz of water, and use that for anything in your 'ible' that is NOT for human consumption. Your end cost will be about 78 cents for a whole quart! Seems like you went to a whole lot of trouble..... Only difference is that you can't drink isopropyl alcohol, but you can use it for everything else!

[caarntedd]

Isn't step 15 the "usual" use for cheap vodka? Step 16 is also good, and I think I will try step 4, but I'll swallow instead of spitting. The other steps? HERESY!

[KEYBOARDISBROKEN]

Its only heresy if you use decent vodka for the other steps. the cheap stuff tastes nasty and makes me feel unwell (even with a mixer). High quality vodka- I can take it neat without trouble.

[KEYBOARDISBROKEN]

Another use; Most inks are soluble in vodka (sharpie markers ect), so it's works for cleaning whiteboards, fingers ect...

(as a student, I often use it to remove phallic drawings from my face after a night out!)

-Oh yeah, most spirits with more than 40% alcohol will work for this, but vodka is best as it's alcohol and water (thus no colouring or strong(er) smells).

(as in quite literally distilled alcohol (96%), and either local mineral water or distilled water to dilute it a little. I'd imagine the cheap stuff uses tap water, so filtering it wont loose too much flavour.)

[lovetoputter]

The filter system "works" for cheap tequila too. We bought a super cheap tequila to test this out with a Brita filter. The tequila turned "drinkable" after about 6 runs, but not pleasant. Same for vodka - drinkable, but not pleasant.

[lovetoputter]

Hi PauliJames, have a look at this link to "hobos." They might not all be chasing down alcohol. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-hobo.htm. Now I'll bet any number of them would have some amazing instructables. :)

[bsharpstick]

For any use of vodka that is not ingested, you can use wood (or denatured) alcohol, available in the paint department of your hardware store. You can buy it by the gallon for much less than vodka. It is pure alcohol with no water.
For infusions and other ingested uses, I use Everclear. (Note that some states like Florida, only allow 151 proof Everclear to be sold.)
I keep a spray bottle filled with wood alcohol for various cleaning uses.
One of the best uses is as an insecticide. It kills roaches within seconds, leaves no toxic residue behind, and sterilizes any bacteria that they might be tracking in on their tiny little dirty feet.

[MsJaxFla]

So far, the only one I would even think of using. I don't know where you live, but I can not get a bottle of vodka for $2.

[kjackman1]

Alright then. Here the cheapest vodka is like $80. I wonder if you can use rum?