It ‘Dawned’ On Us: 40 Dish Soap Hacks That Will Make Cleaning More Enjoyable

We all know the obvious use for dish soaps – cleaning all our dirty dishes. Potent dishwashing liquid can get rid of scraps of food and grease very easily without drying out our hands. But did you know that there are many other ways to put dish soap to good use? For example, veterinarians use it to remove oil and other debris from animals after oil spills. There are many ways to use dish soap that you probably aren’t familiar with. Therefore, in this article, we’d like to share some valuable ways to use dish soap other than its obvious purpose. On this list, we have compiled useful hacks all the way from insect repellent to tool cleaners and de-icers to unclogging toilets. We sure hope that at least one of these tips will help simplify your life!

Cleaning Driveway Stains

Isn’t the oil stain in your driveway from your car annoying you? It totally affects the beauty of your driveway and is unappealing to the human eye. Additionally, it isn’t easy to clean with ordinary cleaning supplies. Well, we’re here to help you with this nuisance.

All you need is dishwashing liquid, a hose, and a large bristle brush. Go ahead and squirts large amounts of the soap onto the surface that’s covered with car oil. Then, start scrubbing with the brush until you see the oil fading away. Finally, rinse with a hose.

Driveway Ice

Alternatively, you could clean the ice on your sidewalk or driveway with dish soap. During wintertime, ice might accumulate on your sidewalk or driveway, which makes it rather dangerous to walk or drive on. It is crucial that you get rid of the hazard.

Mix a tablespoon of dishwashing liquid with a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and a half-gallon of warm water. Simply pour the mixture over your driveway or sidewalk, which will help the ice melt it and, in turn, avoid dangerous slips and falls.

Cleaning Cars

While you’re cleaning the driveway, take a look at your car. How long has it been since you’ve cleaned the exterior? To make sure that your car is squeaky clean at the end of the wash, trust the one and only handy dish soap.

Mix a tablespoon of dish soap with a gallon of hot water. Then, use a soft sponge or cloth and wash your car thoroughly. However, do keep in mind that dish soaps strip away wax. So, you’d have to re-wax the car after washing it.

Cleaning Brake Dust

Another way to use dishwashing liquid for your car is to use it to clean the brake dust that accumulates from your car wheels over time. Due to the properties of dish soap, it can cut through grease easily, which makes cleaning so much easier.

Go ahead and mix a few drops of dish soap with a bucket of hot water. Dip a sponge into the mixture and wash your car wheels with it. Finally, rinse it with water, and you’ll have brand new-looking wheels!

Finding Punctures

We all have been in that situation where we just can’t find the hole in our punctured tires, and it’s absolutely frustrating, to say the least, especially when it’s during the night when it’s so dark to see what you’re doing.

Here’s a simple solution: mix a few drops of dish soap with some water and brush it around the tire. Look out for small bubbles because this will indicate the location of the puncture. Just be sure to keep dishwashing liquid and a brush in your trunk.

Cleaning Windows

Cleaning windows may seem like an easy job. However, in reality, it is actually far from easy. Clean windows, in our opinion, are windows that are shiny, streak-free, and fingerprint-free, which is rather difficult to achieve if you ask us.

Here’s a trick from a cleaning company. First, fill a bucket with water and add dishwashing soap. Dip a scrubby pad in the mixture and scrub the dirty window. Finally, squeegee the window from top to bottom and wipe the blade with an absorbent cloth each time.

Cleaning Grills

Another thing that is extremely difficult to clean is barbeque grills. Don’t get us wrong – barbeques are fun, but the mess that comes after them gives us a huge migraine. The dirt from the grill is the hardest thing to get rid of, and we can all agree.

Well, not anymore! Dish soap comes to the rescue with its magnificent grease and oil-fighting power. Start by filling up a bucket with hot water and add a few squirts of dishwashing liquid to it. Finally, let the grill rack soak for roughly 10-15 minutes, then scrub and rise.

Cleaning Fireplaces

Fireplaces are another household item that falls in this category, continuing on the topic of things that are hard to clean. Not only is it difficult to clean, but it’s also seldom cleaned because it’s already going to get dirty, so why bother?

The soot sticks to the fireplace bricks over time which makes it so difficult to clean in the long run. To clean this, mix equal parts of dish soap with salt and add water to make a paste; apply the mixture to the bricks and let it dry. Then, wipe it off with a sponge and warm water.

Cleaning Grouts

Grouts are often neglected by many homeowners in their cleaning process, making it the one place dirt accumulates and gets extremely difficult to clean over time. A short-term fix would be buying a grout marker and covering the dirt with it.

Unfortunately, this is a rather expensive solution as it wears off quickly. Lucky for us, our trusty dish soap comes to the rescue again. Fill a spray bottle with heated vinegar and add some dishwashing liquid. Lightly spray the solution on the grout, let it sit for a while, and scrub away.

Cleaning Brushes and Combs

Think of the last time you deep cleaned your brushes and combs. It must have been a long time ago, right? Since they have not been cleaned for a long time, think of how much oil and hair products that have built up over the years and how dirty they must be.

Don’t fret. An easy way to clean them is to fill a sink with Borax, hot water, and of course, dishwashing liquid. Put all your brushes and combs in the mixture. Soak them for a while and clean them out thoroughly with warm water.

Cleaning Bathtubs

You might think that bathtubs are pretty clean as all you ever put in them is soap and water, which is theoretically pure. Unfortunately, those materials that you think are clean can leave scum behind over time, primarily if you use a lot of soap.

One simple solution to remove soap scum is to pour dishwashing liquid over it, let it sit overnight, and rinse it with clean hot water the next day. Due to the properties of dish soap, it effectively cuts through scum and removes grease and grime without destroying your bathtub.

Cleaning Carpets

Carpets are pretty easy to clean as they only require the occasional vacuum until you get a stain on them. That’s when cleaning carpets become a headache, which you might resort to calling a carpet cleaning service. Carpet cleaners are expensive, while cheaper ones don’t work. So, what do you do in this situation?

Once again, dishwashing soap has got your back. Mix 2 ounces of hydrogen peroxide and an ounce of dish soap in a spray bottle, and you’ve created your very own carpet cleaner. Spray the mixture onto the stain on your carpet, and it’ll easily remove it.

Cleaning Floors

On the other hand, if you don’t have carpeting in your home, dish soap can be used to clean floors as well as walls. With the help of this powerful stuff, your walls and floors will look as though they are brand new.

All you have to do is mix a half teaspoon of dish soap, half cup of Borax, one teaspoon of ammonia, and two gallons of warm water. Use gloves and a soft rag or scrubbing brushes to clean away all the dirt, grime, and fingerprints with the mixture.

Cleaning Glasses

For all of you out there who wear glasses, isn’t it absolutely irritating when your glasses fog up? What about when it’s raining? The lenses become filled with raindrops. We get it! So here’s a little trick to rid yourself of that annoyance.

In a spray bottle, fill half of it with water and the other half with rubbing alcohol, and add a drop of dish soap. Give it a good shake and spritz it on your glasses, making sure to rub it off with a microfiber cloth.

Cleaning Up After Painting

When we’re painting, we’re bound to get paint stuck on our hands, and sometimes that can take a long time to clean off. Have no fear! We can once again count on the trusty dish soap to save us from this nuisance.

Before getting into painting, cover your arms and hands with a coat of dish soap. This coat prevents the paint from getting stuck on your arms and hands; just wash your hands with water when you’re done painting, and they’ll come right off.

Clothes Food Stains

If you have kids, you’ve probably been in this situation more times than you can count. Even if you don’t have kids, you’ve most likely encountered these situations once or twice, and that’s accidentally spilling food on your clothes. Food stains are actually hard to clean once they have dried.

Fortunately, you can easily remove them with this “recipe.” Mix two teaspoons of dish soap with two teaspoons of white vinegar and two pints of warm water. Then, apply this mix to the food stain, and it’ll dissolve in no time.

Clean Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers are a much cheaper option for parents, but they are difficult to clean. For all the parents who are struggling to find an easy way to clean cloth diapers out there, we’ve got your back, or rather dish soap has got your back.

To easily clean cloth diapers, add a few drops of dish soap to the load of laundry that you’re washing the diapers in. Run a hot wash and rinse until there are no bubbles left to be seen. Be sure to control the amount of dishwashing soap you use, though.

Cleaning Kiddie Pools

Another thing that you might have if you have kids are kiddie pools which are a staple summer activity. These pools are often plastic and can accumulate a funky odor rather quickly. So, to avoid this, you should clean it frequently.

To clean this, dump the leftover water from the pool. Then, simply scrub the pool with a wet sponge and some dish soap. You’ll be left with a hygienic kiddie pool when you’re done. Do keep in mind not to use bleach as it’ll ruin the pool.

Cleaning Pools

As mentioned above, dish soaps are great for cleaning kiddie pools. Since kiddie pools and big pools are technically the same concepts, dish soap actually work well with cleaning you’re regular-sized pool too. They can get quite dirty as they aren’t cleaned very often.

All you need is a sponge or mop along with a dishwashing liquid, and you’re ready to transform your pool into a brand-new sparkling oasis. Squirt the dish soap along the length of the pool and get scrubbing. This takes away all the dirt that accumulates on the edges of the pool.

Door Lubricants

Do you absolutely hate squeaky hinges? Normally, lubricants are used to rid your peaceful home of noisy and squeaky door hinges, but they are quite toxic to breathe in, so it’s probably not the best to use in a house with infants.

For a non-toxic lubricant substitute that actually works, apply a few drops of dish soap onto any squeaky hinge that you have in your home. Once you’re done, you’ll realize that your peaceful home returned to its former glory.

Insect Repellents

As difficult as some home appliances can be to clean, ants and insects can be even more difficult to get rid of. Insect repellents often have a toxic smell to them, and it isn’t the best idea to use them daily.

Therefore, create a safe ant and insect repellent that actually works! Mix a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide, mouthwash, and dish soap in a spray bottle. Then, spray the area where ants and insects frequently appear, wait for 5-10 minutes, and wipe it off.

Preventing Insects

Since dish soap can be used to repel insects that are already in your home, why not use them to prevent these unwelcome guests from entering your home in the first place? This way, you don’t have to worry about seeing these creatures in your home at all.

With the solution we created earlier, spray it along doors edges and windowsills. If any unwanted guests try to enter your home through these spots, they’d be stunned by the mixture, and you can easily wipe them away with a cloth.

Pest Killer

As mentioned above, insect repellents are often toxic, and this is the same with pest killers, which are even worse considering that they are used on products that we consume. However, pest killers are a must-have when it comes to gardening.

Substitute ordinary toxic pest killers with a non-toxic solution made of water and dish soap. Although this isn’t the perfect substitute, it works well enough to get rid of spider mites, aphids, and other common garden pests that might visit your garden.

Keep Your Trees Healthy

If you’re a gardener, we know you’d absolutely hate aphids – the most common enemy for each and every gardener. They eat away your trees and do no good whatsoever. If you’re itching to get rid of them, try this hack.

Get rid of these annoying creatures by mixing two tablespoons of dish soap into a gallon of water. Then, add the mixture to a garden sprayer. Spray both sides of the tree leaves, branches, and trunk for 15 minutes daily, and rinse it off after 15 minutes.

Houseflies Killer

Additionally, houseflies are a nuisance, and we never want to see them in our house. But again, housefly repellents are often toxic and would endanger our health if it is used daily; it’s especially dangerous to use toxic repellents if there are infants, as we’ve said before.

Houseplants are one thing that attracts houseflies and other insects. Therefore, for a quick and simple solution, fill a spray bottle with water and a drop of dishwashing liquid and spray that on your plants. This should work like a charm to repel the insects.

Flea Medication

As seen above, dishwashing liquid is very effective in expelling pests and insects from your home. Similarly, you can expect the same results when this is used on your pet. You can easily rid your pet of fleas with this simple trick.

Create a flea medication with merely two ingredients: warm water and dish soap. Soak your pet in the medication for about 5 minutes and give them a thorough head-to-toe scrub. To finish, let them dry off and comb through their hair.

Flea Killer

If your pet has fleas, it is possible that your pet has infected other areas of your home as well. This most probably means your couch, bed, and carpet. Therefore, you should rid your home of fleas after you rid them from your pet.

Pour a tablespoon of dish soap into a 16-ounce spray bottle and fill the rest of it with plain water. Shake the bottle to mix the ingredients. Then, spray the solution onto the carpet and furniture, let it sit for roughly 15 minutes, and wipe or vacuum off the excess.

Clogged Toilets

Another annoyance that homeowners face is clogged toilets. Let’s be honest. We all hate to be the unlucky one who’s unclogging the toilets because it’s smelly, disgusting, and sometimes, rather troublesome to unclog. Fortunately, dish soap can help with this task.

Most dish soaps have grease and oil-cutting properties, which very effectively break down oils and other substances in the drains. So, pour a pot of warm water along with a few squirts of dishwashing liquid in the toilet and plunge or flush away.

Tools Cleaner

The surface of tools is constantly filled with oil and grease because it is used for all sorts of things that require fixing, whether it is cars, bikes, or water pipes. This is what makes the tools so oily and dirty.

According to Keenly Kristin’s blog, all we have to do is clean the tools with a special mixture that includes a gallon of hot water and, yes, dish soap. With the help of a rag, this mixture can do wonders when cleaning tools.

Ice Packs

Ice packs are commonly used to ice injured shoulders, knees, or elbows. Purchasing them may be quite pricey. Therefore, the next best idea is to turn a bag of water into ice. Unfortunately, this method tends to melt quickly when taken out of the refrigerator.

Fortunately, there’s an easy solution for this, and that’s adding dishwashing liquid and water in a ziplock bag. By adding the soap, it will not solidify but will still be super cold, which makes it the best solution to wrap around the body parts that need it.

Yeast Infection Medication

A yeast infection is a common fungal infection that causes irritation, discharge, redness, and intense itchiness around the vaginal area. There are various medications for this infection, but they are all pretty pricey. Therefore, for a cheaper option, make one yourself!

You can make your own yeast infection medication by putting a few drops of dish soap on the crotch of your underwear, scrubbing with water, and throwing it in the washing machine. This will prevent the fungus from spreading and eventually kill it.

Poison Ivy Blisters

If you’re an outdoors person, you’d know that getting poison ivy rashes and blisters is inevitable. It is extremely irritating if the oil from the blisters pops and moves to other areas of the skin because this means the rash will spread.

Since most dish soaps have properties that are enemies of oil, it is the perfect soothing medication for poison ivy rashes and blisters. Wash the infected area with dish soap and watch as the dish soap dries out the blisters.

Guiding Cable Through Conduits

Guiding cables through tight spaces such as conduits can surely give you a major headache. It takes so much time and requires a great amount of concentration, which in our opinion, is the main reason why so many people hate this job.

Fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of dish soap. Then, spritz the cable with the mixture before you guide it through a conduit; the soapy mixture helps ensure a smooth journey through a tight space for the cables.

Homemade Bubbles

If you have kids, they will definitely enjoy this next dishwashing hack. This hack turns ordinary dish soap into fun bubbles to play with. With this hack, you don’t need to spend a penny more on buying bubbles from the store!

First, prepare a cup of dish soap, 6 cups of water, ¼ cup of light corn syrup, and a container. Next, fill the container with water and slowly add the dish soap. Avoid making the solution bubbly or foamy. Finally, add the corn syrup, give it a good stir, and you’re good to go.

Stripping Hair Color

Ladies, you must know that dying your hair at a professional salon comes at a high price which is why most ladies prefer to dye their hair at home. You must’ve experienced dying your hair a tone darker than you’d like.

Well, here’s how to make your hair lighter without having to go to the salon. Replace your original shampoo with dish soap and wash your hair as usual (but only once). The dishwashing liquid will lightly strip the color of your dyed hair.

Shampoo

Alternatively, you could use dishwashing soap once a week as shampoo. The struggles of finding a good shampoo that absorbs all the oil and locks the moisture are real, and dish soap is here to the rescue. If you have oily hair, this hack is for you.

Instead of ordinary shampoo, use dish soap and warm water to wash your hair once a week. Remember to rinse your hair thoroughly with warm water after using it, and you can bid your greasy hair farewell. This is a great way to save money on shampoo!

Manicures

It is common for the ladies to dress up their nails. And nowadays, many men do it too. Many wish to have their nails done at professional parlors, but, like hairdressers, they charge a high fee. This is why more people are doing their manicures at home.

However, manicures that are done at home just aren’t as good as the ones done by professionals; the nail polish applied just isn’t smooth enough. A quick and simple solution would be to dip your fingers in a bowl of warm water with a few drops of dish soap.

Cleaning Jewelry

Jewelry gets kind of rusty and loses its shine after being used for a while now. Usually, this is when the jewelry is totally abandoned and never put to use again. However, here’s an easy hack to revive your old jewelry.

Mix seven parts of water, one part of ammonia, and a squirt of dish soap in a bowl. Dip an old toothbrush into the mixture and start brushing your old jewelry. Once you’re done, you’ll find your jewelry sparkling like it once did.

Face Cleanser

Here’s another dish soap hack for all the ladies who have oily skin; it must be pretty difficult to find a cleanser that washes off all the oil on your face without leaving it dry like it’s about to crack.

Incorporate dish soap into your cleansing routine. Wash your face with a mixture of a few drops and warm water. The properties in general dish soaps have the ability to break down the grease without totally removing moisture which is the perfect cleanser for oily skin types (only do this once a week max).

Gift

All in all, dish soaps have many uses other than dishwashing. It can be used to ease difficult chores around the house, save some money, or be used for beauty hacks. As seen from all the uses mentioned above, dish soaps can be used by almost everyone.

That’s why it’d be the perfect gift for anyone of your friends or family with a list of all the things you can do with it. We hope you enjoyed this article and learned some tips and tricks that you can impress people with. If you did enjoy it, do share it.