15 Unusual Uses for Cheap Vodka

Intro: 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!

STEP 2: I Can See Clearly Now

A small spray bottle with vodka and water is the perfect solution for cleaning your glasses.
Don't get ripped off by those greedy optometrists - make your own at home!  One optical employee told me they make their own cleaning solution by combining water, alcohol, and a drop of dish soap.  Give it a try!
(May not be suitable for lenses with special coatings - try and your own risk.  And the tell us how it went!)

STEP 3: Goo Be Gone

Vodka is a great solvent for sticky residue.  Maybe you have a tiny spray bottle that used to hold overpriced lens cleaning solution that you've decided to repurpose into a homemade lens cleaning solution spray bottle, but it has sticky residue from the label that used to be on it.  Problem solved!

STEP 4: Mouthwash

Kill the germs that cause bad breath!  Combine cheap vodka with a few drops of cinnamon, spearmint, or tea tree oil and let sit for two weeks.  You've got your own high-octane mouthwash.  Just make sure to spit after you rinse.

And next time you've had too much vodka, you can use the vodka mouthwash to freshen your breath!  No one will be the wiser.

STEP 5: Keep Flowers Fresh

Add a teaspoon each of vodka and sugar to water to keep freshly cut flowers looking great.  The vodka kills the bacteria that would otherwise grow in the water, and the sugar provides nutrients the flowers need to thrive.

STEP 6: Flakier Pie Crusts

Swapping ice cold vodka for water in pie crust recipes ensures a flakier crust.
The liquid makes the dough more pliable to work with, and then evaporates while baking, giving you a lighter result than water.
Try this recipe for the perfect pie crust!

STEP 7: Homemade Extracts

Vodka is a perfect base for flavored extracts, including chocolate and vanilla.  Add vodka and flavoring to sanitized bottles and let sit to develop flavor.

STEP 8: Window Cleaner's Best Kept Secret

A vodka dilution makes a great window-cleaning solution.  Combine vodka and water in a spray bottle and use newspapers for a perfect, streak-free finish!

STEP 9: Odor Eater

Mist stinky shoes with vodka between wears to cut down on the smell.  Feet can also be soaked in vodka to remove odors, as proven on Mythbusters!

STEP 10: No More Flakes

A vodka rinse is a great solution for dandruff or dry scalp.  Mix one cup of vodka with two teaspoons of rosemary and let sit for two days.  Strain and use as a rinse to remove shampoo build-up, or as a leave-in scalp treatment.

STEP 11: Re-Usable Ice Pack

Combine equal parts vodka and water in a sealable freezer bag for a slushy ice pack to nurse injuries.

STEP 12: Hand-Sanitizer

If you're someone who deals with germy kids all day, you know the importance of having hand sanitizer within arms reach.  Vodka is a natural enemy to bacteria, so reach for that small spray bottle and mist your hands generously.  And if the kids are really giving you a hard time, no one will notice a few spritzes down the gullet too.

STEP 13: Natural Astringent

Dampen a cotton ball with vodka to use as a facial astringent to cleanse and tighten pores, or dab onto cold sores to help dry them out.

STEP 14: Treat Wounds!

Vodka acts both as a local anesthetic and disinfectant, so is perfect for treating open blisters and other minor wounds.  It's even great for treating aching teeth!

STEP 15: Drink It!

To enhance (remove) the flavor of cheap vodka, run it through a charcoal filter multiple times.  The charcoal will get used up quickly, however, and if you're using brand-name filters, it may end up costing as much as a nicer bottle of vodka in the long run.  Instead you should refill your charcoal filter at home!

STEP 16: Infuse It

If the filtered vodka doesn't do it for you, remember, vodka makes great infusions!  Just add fruits, herbs, bacon or skittles to round out your liquor cabinet with specialty home-brewed custom liqueurs.

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!

[harderm]

Louis, what herb and spice mixes do you use for your aftershave? Sounds great. I like the natural smells in my shaving lotion and aftershave, but I have no idea how to make them.

[eemke]

I worked at the ballet-company in Amsterdam for one season and they used Wodka in stead of dry-cleaning ! but not the cheap one ... and it ony works if you spray it one dirtectly after you used the clothes : when the sweat is still fresh and moist ! I felt drunk afterwards : spraying all those costumes , I worked in a cloud of wodka : thank God it was odourless

[JohnC430]

so u got drunk from the fumes and since it was odorless u did not know why u were drunk and then after work u went to the local bar for a drink so that u would know why u were drunk.

[OWK000.]

I prefer cheap rum. With new sugar cane harvesting machinery rum is cheaper than ever. Some cheap vodka is just cheap flavored rum anyway--best get it sans the cheap vodka flavoring. Rum tastes better. Go grain free.

[Andyrob257]

Proper Vodka doesn't have any flavour. If it does, it's cheap vodka!

[OWK000.]

Trader Joe's briefly had this cheap "Australian Vodka" from made from grapes, that was very clean tasting-- no vodka flavor. Awesome for tincture. Right now, I've got a bottle of "Vodka" made from coconut sugar that is more like Everclear, but I will take anything over grain-based spirits. Too me, vodka does have a very distinctive flavor, even the better stuff. . . as does tequila and rum. Do not know how they get "vodka" flavor naturally--the yeast and the grain, I would expect--but I read somewhere that they do flavor up cheap rum for vodka.

[Andyrob257]

I'm talking original Vodka from Russia, not even the Polish/Czech stuff they sell in most countries nowadays. Smirnoff has never been to Russia. My Wife is Russian and when she goes back to see her family she brings back several bottles of proper Vodka, this can only be bought in Russia. And, it is virtually tasteless, apart from the burn of the alcohol. Also, we can drink a full bottle between us and be completely sober and have no hangover afterwards. (As long as that's all we drink!!) It's a bit like saying, Jack Daniels is original whisky/whiskey. It a derivative from the original but by no means the same thing.

[DIY-Guy]

The idea that someone could be "completely sober" after sharing a bottle of 80 proof is an interesting one.

Could it be that it's only the side effects from other chemicals produced in the process that are not being felt? I mean, would reaction tests show being drunk even though a person does not feel drunk?

[JohnC430]

a friend and I used to finish a full large bottle of Scotch in an evening. we also danced thru the evening so i suppose a lot of the alcohol evaporated thru our breath or sweat etc. we never got "rolling" drunk.

the small muscles are affected first... the ones in your eyes so the room seems to spin a little. when we finished the bottle we would go out the door, call a cab and go home. end of a wonderful happy evening.

[Andyrob257]

Okay, I agree we couldn't have been completely sober, but we felt sober. You try drinking half a bottle of neat Gin and see how you feel! And yes, I'm pretty sure that it is the other chemicals in spirits that make you feel drunk and that give you a hangover.

[throbscottle]

I've had cheap rum that tasted like cheap vodka - maybe that is why!

[JohnC430]

A vodka rinse is a great solution for dandruff or dry scalp. Mix one cup of vodka with two teaspoons of rosemary and let sit for two days. taste it while it is sitting. try a couple of spoonfuls after meals. One way or another in two days it will be finished. buuurppp. i cant believe i drank it all

[glamourd]

2 of My favorite uses for vodka:

Antibacterial Linen Spray/Air Freshener:

1 Cup - add essential oils to preference; this is My favorite - combine in a spray bottle and Shake well before using:

1/4 part vodka

3/4 parts water

5 drops Tea Tree Oil

10 drops Lemongrass Oil

20 drops Lavender Oil

~~~~~~~

Vodka is also a great mold killer! One recipe is to use a 1:1 ratio of vodka and distilled water to spray directly onto mold, let sit for 10 minutes and scrub. Another recipe applies straight vodka to the problem area, but you can add essential oil to mask the smell. If you add Tea Tree Oil, it is a natural antimicrobial so this will enhance your benefits!

[pgs070947]

As the use of what used to be common household chemicals become harder to obtain legitimately (won't name them) thanks to terrorist activity (Hydrochloric acid named in the press, left on a UK motorway recently), then you have to turn to other sources.

The price of meths and especially industrial meths with duty added is nudging towards the price of basic vodka, then vodka might be your cleaner of choice.

I have a bottle of absolute alcohol here (99.9% ethanol or 175 degrees proof) which only ever gets used for skin cleaning prior to blood glucose finger pricking.

[DIY-Guy]

I thought "proof" numbers were half the percentage of alcohol strength?
80 proof vodka is 40% alcohol, isn't it?

[pgs070947]

No. It isn't half the proof figure.
Proof spirit was originally tested by pouring a small amount of the suspect liquid onto a small pile of gunpowder. If you could ignite the gunpowder, then the liquid had passed "proof" i.e. too much water, then the powder wouldn't ignite (it would eventually as the gunpowder dried out) - so 100% proof met that standard.
Off the top of my head, 70% proof vodka is near enough 40% ABV - Alcohol By Volume). I must admit I didn't do all the sums. So 100% ABV would be 100x70/40 proof or thereabouts.
Proof was used before more scientific methods like gas liquid chromatography came along.
The UK proof figures are all I'm familiar with, but other countries might use different systems. People understand proof, but ABV is harder for many.
Going back to the misuse of chemicals, there is another (today) reported acid attack in UK. Acid is becoming the weapon of choice. Soon, all the useful household or building chemicals will be outlawed, spoiling it for the legitimate users (descaling pipework, cleaning off mortar residues) to stop a small minority. Local authorities and the EU have a field day banning things like effective pesticides.
When I pour A voddie tonight, I'll have a look at the label

[DirtyIrishGit]

America and the United Kingdom do measure proof differently. Here in the States, proof is defined as twice the percentage of alcohol by volume. Still, good vodka is good vodka, regardless of how it's measured.

[Jkivance]

That's really cool with what cheap Vodka can do . Thumbs up!

[kkmmccoy]

You can drink it too!!!