17 Surprising Things Dish Soap Can Accomplish

Dish soap may be sitting by your kitchen sink, ready to go battle with dirty dishes, but there are many other things in your home that could benefit from the magical powers of dish soap. Honestly, this simple household cleaning tool can do some pretty amazing things around your home. Let’s take a look at 17 unexpected ways to use this stuff.

1 . Eliminate Grease Stains

Remove grease stains from clothing, or any fabric, with this simple trick. Just put a drop or two of dish soap onto the stain and rub in with an old toothbrush. Then wash in warm water and the grease stain should be a thing of the past. A mixture of dish soap and hydrogen peroxide will also help rid your kids’ clothing of grass stains.

2. Homemade Ice Pack 

Make a homemade icepack by placing a cup or so of dish soap in a Ziploc bag and putting it in the freezer. The dish soap never fully freezes making it pliable and perfect to put around bruises and owies.

3. Shine Up Your Jewelry

Make your jewelry sparkle again with a mixture of seltzer and dish soap. Just soak your jewelry in there for 5 minutes, then swirl it around through the suds. Use a soft toothbrush to scrub out grime, then rinse with water and lay out to dry.

4. Trap and Kill Fruit Flies

If you’ve got a fruit fly problem in your kitchen, just make a dish soap trap. Pour about an inch of fruity-smelling dish soap into an open container (Tupperware or Mason jars work well), then add another inch of water. Then cover the container with some plastic wrap and poke some holes in the wrap. Flies will be attracted to the smell and fly in, but won’t be able to fly out with the soap on their wings.

5. Get Rid of Stains on Upholstery

To clean up your upholstery, you’ll want to use whipped detergent. Sounds fancy, but it’s not. Just fill a container with half dish soap and half water. Then whip up the mixture with a hand mixer. Then use a rag to spot clean stains with this frothy mixture.

6. Grimey Patio Furniture

Add a squirt of dish soap to warm water and wipe away the dirt and grime on patio furniture.

7. De-Fog Glass

If you want to prevent windows or mirrors from fogging up, just squirt some dish soap onto a clean, dry cloth and work it into the glass until soap disappears.

8. Lubricate a Screw

Need to drive a screw into wood. One tip from the DIY pros is to put a drop of dish soap on the screw making it easier to drive into wood.

9. De-Skunk a Pet

Did your dog or cat get sprayed? Mix together 1 quart of hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 cup of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of dish soap. Then use this solution like shampoo on your pet. Try to let it sit on their fur for 10-15 minutes before rinsing.

10. Keep Spiders and Ants at Bay

My brother was afraid of spiders. Even the little bitty ones. One trick for keeping spiders, ants and other pests away is to spray around vents, doors, windows and other entrances pests like to use.

11. Unclog a Toilet

Unclog a toilet without a plunger.

12. Oil Stains on Concrete

If you notice an oil stain in your garage or concrete patio, don’t fret. Simply sprinkle baking soda over the stain, add some dish soap and scrub with a plastic or non-metallic brush. Let sit for a few hours and repeat until the stain is history.

13. Kill Poison Ivy

Simply swipe poison ivy leaves with some dish soap (wearing rubber gloves of course) and within a few days they should wither up and die.

14. Laundry Detergent in a Pinch

This winter I rented a condo. I needed to laundry but didn’t want to spend big bucks on a tub of laundry detergent. I simply put a few drops of dish soap into two cups of water and sprinkled it in the washer once the water filled up.  Saved me several dollars.

15. Homemade Bubbles

When I was a kid I could waste away a whole afternoon blowing bubbles. Simply add a few drops of dish soap to a plastic water bottle, shake it a little bit, and then blow some bubbles.

16. Remove Red Wine Stains

Red wine can be a nightmare of a stain, but it’s not impossible to remove. Just mix up this miracle stain fighter. Add 1 teaspoon of dish soap with 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide, then use a clean sponge to drizzle the mixture directly onto the stain. Let it sink in for a bit, then rinse with cold water.

17. Kill Fleas

Lemon ajax kills fleas if you use it to bathe your dog, a groomer told me about this years ago.

What do you think of these 17 clever ways to use dish soap in your day to day life? Do you use dish soap in a different way? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.