Although we often throw our towels in with our other laundry and wash it all with detergent, this may not always be enough to get our towels as clean as we’d like. If you’ve gone a little while without washing your towels and you feel like they might be a little mildewy, wash them in their own load and use a little bit of bleach instead (for white towels). When they come out, they’ll be good as new.

Keeping fresh cut flowers around your home always brightens the place up. Still, sometimes our flowers can wilt a lot faster than we want them to. To prevent this, try adding a couple drops of bleach to the water that you keep them in. The bleach will sterilize the water and keep everything fresher for longer. Who knew!

As you may have experienced firsthand, any plastic furniture that you leave outside will start to get grimy and even mildewy after a while. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to reverse that wear and tear. All you have to do is mix a solution of bleach and hot water and scrub the furniture down. It should take all the grime off leaving only that bright white plastic color behind.

Grout is one of the hardest things to get looking clean and new again. As it turns out, you can use bleach to accomplish this to great effect. To do this, mix about 3/4 cup of bleach with a gallon of hot water. After that, pour it on the affected areas and use an old toothbrush to scrub out the grime.

Although we do our best to keep our garbage cans from getting too gross inside, it’s inevitable that some of the trash or fluids make it into the can instead of the bag. Because cleaning the cans themselves out is pretty disgusting, we can use all the help we can get. All you have to do is make a bleach solution, pour it in the can and let it sit for about an hour. When it’s all done, blast it out with a hose and you should be good as new.

While bleach is a powerful chemical that you should be careful with (particularly around your food), it actually works wonders for brightening up your old dishes. All you have to do is make a bleach and water solution and try scrubbing down your plates with it. When all is said and done, those dishes should sparkle like never before.

If you have a green thumb, you probably use your garden tools quite a lot. Still, with a lot of us they can get pretty dirty or even rusty. Fortunately, soaking them in a simple bleach solution will make them easier to clean and should even provide some rust protection as well!

Depending on your home, you may have a lot of old fixtures in it made out of white porcelain. Although there are plenty of ways to clean things like this, using bleach is a great way to shine things up! To do this, begin by scrubbing all the basic dirt and grime off of the sink or whatever other surface you’re cleaning. After that, clean it with bleach. At the end, use some bar keeper’s friend to really give it some extra shine and you’re done!

Although bleach can be a bit of an irritant to human skin in some cases, it can be good to use to get rid of bad foot odor or foot fungus. To do this, simply mix 1/4 cup of bleach with a gallon of hot water and put it all in a foot bath or other container. Soak your feet in it for five minutes before rinsing them off. Still, don’t do this method if you have any open cuts or wounds on your feet!

If you want to keep a garden looking neat and tidy, you’re going to have to stay on top of your weeds. Although we don’t recommend going overboard with this tip, you can always make a light bleach and water solution and spray it onto particularly dense thickets of weeds. Though it’ll definitely kill them off, be careful if you’re doing this in areas with plants you really care about.

More generally speaking, bleach is your best friend when it comes to getting rid of rot and mildew. Needless to say, having that kind of stuff around your house is definitely not good for your health. To combat that, mix a solution of half bleach and half hot water and scrub your problem areas with a rough bristle brush. Rinse when you’re done and those surfaces should be back to normal in no time.

Although we can wipe down some of our thicker cutting boards after using them, there’s always that sense that we’re not really getting them all the way clean. To fix this, mix a few teaspoons of bleach into some hot water and scrub the surface of the board with a rough brush. Make sure you rinse and rinse before you use the board again, but this should definitely do the trick.

If you’re one of those unlucky few whom mosquitoes love to snack on, this tip should be a lifesaver for you. The next time you’re going outside or sitting on a patio, simply mix equal parts of bleach and water and leave it in a cap or a shallow bowl on the table. The fumes in the air should be strong enough to keep any mosquitoes or other pests well away from you.

This one is pretty straightforward but it’s still worth mentioning. Although floor cleaning chemicals can usually do the trick for a basic clean, if you switch the solution up for one with bleach in it every couple weeks or so, your floors will sparkle and the air around you will be cleaner.

If you’ve been using a certain coffee cup or mug for a long time, it’s bound to get some rings around it that just won’t yield to normal soap or scrubbing. In those cases, try mixing a little bit of bleach into hot water and pouring it all into a basin. Soak your cups or mugs in it for about an hour before trying to clean them out again. Be sure to rinse thoroughly, but this is almost sure to do the trick.

Even though our swimming pools usually have their own filtration systems and chlorine in the water, sometimes they can wear down. In these cases, the water starts to look a little green or cloudy. To clear this right up, try using a little bit of bleach to shock the pool water into cleaning itself again. Still, if you’re going to do this, be sure to check the pH and the cyanuric acid levels first—get the full instructions on this one here.

Ok, so most of us probably know this trick already—still, it’s important enough of a use that we still have to mention it. If you have some white shirts that are a little less white than usual, add a little bit of bleach to your washing machine next time you do a load of whites. When they come out, they should be looking as good as new.

If you accidentally spilled food on your bed sheets or whatever else, don’t fret—bleach can be your best friend in cases like this one. Just like with the white shirts, all you have to do is soak the particularly stained parts of the sheets in a bleach solution before running them through the laundry. When they come out, the stains should be gone.

If you don’t regularly clean your shower curtains, they can get mildewy and gross in no time flat. Whether we’re talking about vinyl or cloth curtains, all you have to do is soak them in a bleach and hot water solution for a few hours before washing them as you normally would. When they come out, they should be good to go.

If you’re serious about your gardening, you already know that you can make little trimmings off of your plants to help propagate them in other pots or other parts of the garden. What you might not know is that you can accidentally spread plant-borne diseases if you don’t clean the trimmings first! To do this, dip your plant trimmings in a heavily diluted bleach solution, wiping and rinsing them off afterwards. If you move quickly, these should kill any germs and viruses hanging around without hurting the plant itself.

If you’re done with a potted plant and want to reuse its container, you’re going to need to clean it out first. Still, those pots can get pretty grimy and crusty after having a plant in them for years. To clean them out easily and to kill any germs in the process, try rinsing them out first and then soaking them in a light bleach solution. Rinse again after you’re done but this should make your pots as good as new.

While Windex and other chemicals can be used to polish windows up, you don’t always have to buy one of those products specifically. Instead, make a simple diluted bleach solution and wipe your windows down like you usually would. We guarantee they’ll shine better than they’ve ever shined before.

Although it’s nice to buy some secondhand toys for your kids to play with every once in a while, they’re not always the cleanest when you first get them. That applies double when it comes to plastic toys! To fight against this, try dunking them in a simple bleach solution for a few minutes to disinfect them. Rinse well and dry when you’re done and you’ll be good to go.

If you’ve done much traveling, you probably have been in situations where you were unsure just how safe the drinking water was. Though this tip is not for the faint of heart, you can sometimes use a tiny amount of bleach to sterilize otherwise undrinkable water. The ratio in these cases is about half a tablespoon of bleach to four gallons of water.

Cleaning out a toilet requires a little more cleaning firepower than average. Though it goes without saying, bleach is particularly well-suited to hard tasks like these. To make things easy on yourself, pour a little bit of bleach in the toilet and let it sit overnight. In the morning, scrub the toilet out and it will be both clean and sanitized.

Anything that gets used a lot and develops a strong odor is a good contender for cleaning with bleach. As it turns out, dog crates are one of the things that fit perfectly into this category. Like some of the other examples, all you have to do is mix some bleach with some hot water, rinse thoroughly and then blast it all out with water. When you’re done, the crate should be as good as new.

Just like we mentioned earlier with weeds, you can use a simple bleach solution to thoroughly clean out your garden paths. To do this, simply make a bleach and water solution and spray or scrub it into any of your problem areas. In no time at all, your walkways should be completely clear.

Because bleach is so strong, we obviously don’t recommend doing this one all the time. Still, if you have a family member around in your house who’s sick or contagious, using a bleach and water solution in the air is sure to wipe out any germs or viruses that are flying around. Though you don’t want to do this over colored carpet, a simple water and bleach solution should do the trick—add some essential oils to make the place smell nice, too!

If you have a pond or a lake in your backyard with a rowboat in it, you may sometimes want to take it out on the water and get out of the boat… without it floating away. While it doesn’t make sense to carry around an actual anchor for a smaller boat, you can always use a heavy bottle of bleach on a rope to keep yourself in place. Just make sure you don’t puncture it and keep the lid on tight!

Though you don’t want to overdo it, you can use a little bit of bleach solution to make sure the inside of your car is completely spick and span. To do this, simply mix together a solution of half water, half bleach and spray it lightly around your car. Use a toothbrush or other small scrubber to work it around. Wipe everything down when you’re done and you’re good to go.

While wiping down your surfaces with a sponge or a rag works in the short-term, sometimes you need something a little heavier to get those lingering germs off. In these cases, try using a light bleach solution like we’ve described above and wipe down with a paper towel. Your surfaces will be cleaner than they’ve ever been before.

Though you usually don’t want to stain your shirts with bleach, you can sometimes use it deliberately to make cool designs and patterns on your clothing. If you’re going for a kind of acid-wash look, do it haphazardly on your jeans. You could take the color out of a bottom half of a shirt or put a stencil down and draw around it in bleach pen. The possibilities are endless!

No matter how often you clean out your coolers, they can still tend to develop some pretty funky smells over time. To avoid or fix this, try making a bleach solution and letting it soak in the cooler for a few hours. When you’re ready, blast it out with water and all those lingering smells should be gone.

Because they’re made out of such sturdy material, bleach bottles can be repurposed in all kinds of ways. Make sure you have all the bleach cleaned out first before using a box cutter or other sharp knife to carve off the handle portion of the bottle, leaving a handle and a scoop behind. Use this for scooping out dog food, powdered laundry detergent or whatever else you can think of.

Ok, this one is a little bit silly… but it’s also pretty fun. Much like the tip above, all you have to do is cut the top half of a bleach bottle off so that the cap end is included. Once it’s thoroughly cleaned out, you can scream through the top of it to make a pretty effective megaphone. What you do with it we leave up to you.

Though this tip might only be really useful if you have a lot of worn or tarnished dishes, you can always put just a little bit of bleach in your dishwasher to brighten everything up. Because bleach is such a strong chemical and you eat off of your dishes, we do recommend giving everything a good rinse before you use it again.

If you have an old aquarium you want to reuse (or you have one you’re using that just won’t get clean), why not try using some bleach to blast it out? Make sure to take out all your fish and plants and store them safely before using a bleach and water solution to scrub out the insides. With any luck, that caked on algae should be gone in no time.

Much like some of the other items on this list, your kitchen appliances can get pretty grimy if you don’t stay on top them. To combat this, try mixing a bleach and hot water solution and scrubbing down some of the problem areas. This trick should work on both metal and porcelain surfaces.

If you spend much time in the garden, you know just how delicate your little seedlings can be when you’re waiting for them to sprout. To give them a little extra protection, you can always use old hard plastic bottles to protect them from critters and other forces of nature! Just like our other examples, slice the bottom of a bleach bottle off and uncap it. Once it’s fully cleaned out, place it carefully over your seedlings and you’ll be good to go.

Although this one may seem a little unusual, bleach can be a great self-defense tool or weapon in a dire situation. If you have a way to keep a small amount of bleach in a container on a keychain and someone attacks you, throw it in their face so that you can get away. Though we hope you never have to use this one, it remains a tactic worth knowing. Be warned, though: bleach can cause significant chemical damage to the eyes so only use in the most dire of emergencies!

Though this one is a bit controversial, some have said that you can use a highly diluted mixture of bleach and water to take contaminants and pollutants off the surface of thick-skinned fruits and vegetables. If you don’t buy local or organic produce, you could give this trick a try for yourself. Be sure to use very little bleach, dip your produce for not very long and rinse thoroughly afterwards.

It’s always fun to carve up some pumpkins when Halloween rolls around. Still, you may have noticed that a lot of your Jack-O-Lanterns wilt and turn rotten much to soon. To avoid this, try giving your lanterns a quick dunk in a diluted bleach and water solution. This mixture should help ward off the germs that make your lanterns deteriorate.

If you have a few empty bleach bottles lying around, you can easily up-cycle them by filling them up with sand and using them as weights! If you want to mount them on a stick of some kind you could make your own curling weights. On the other hand, you could also use a few of them as ballasts for a tent on a windy day, for example.

This one is very specific but it’s too good not to include. If you want to make a beautiful play tent for your kids, buy a sheet of blue fabric and dot it all over with a bleach pen to make little and big stars on it. When it’s completely covered, hang it up over a tent frame and shine a light through it. If done correctly, it’ll look just like a starry night sky from the inside!

Just as bleach can be used to clean up grout and garden paths, you can also use bleach to take the grime out of an old wooden fence. To do this, mix a quart of bleach with about two quarts of water and add a 1/4 cup of dish detergent. Next, use a brush with rough bristles and scrub the fence with the solution. With a little bit of elbow grease, your fence should look as good as new.

Although you can use bleach to whiten up your clothes in the machine, you can also use bleach to clean out the machine itself. To do this, run about a cup of bleach through the machine while it’s empty and let it do its thing. When it’s all done, your machine will be fully clean.

If you have clothes that you want to hang up to dry, it helps to have a container to keep all your clothespins in. To do this, thread your clothesline through the handle area and cut another hole in the side of the bottle. This way, you can keep all your clothespins in the bottle and reach in whenever you need one.

Just like the above, cut two holes through the middle of the bottle and run your belt through it. Put the belt on and you now have a perfect mobile container to collect fresh berries with!

Although bleach can be used on all kinds of clothing, it’s especially helpful on baby clothes (which get stained on virtually a daily basis). Just like any other article of clothing, you can spot treat it with bleach as necessary. Otherwise, wash a bunch of these clothes together, put bleach in the washer as normal and let it go.

Though we have another boat-related tip on this list, this one is better for emergencies. Like some of the other scoop instructions, slice the bottle in half to make a wide scoop. Keep it in the boat in case it starts filling with water so you can scoop it back out quickly.

Much like anything else on this list, you can use just a little bit of bleach to clear out any dirty particles in your humidifier. Because it needs to be completely clean to keep the air clean, this is worth doing every once in a while. All you have to do is add a couple drops of bleach to a gallon of water and let the humidifier run as normal.

Although you don’t want to do this all the time, sometimes it’s important to give your dentures a deep clean. To do this, mix one teaspoon of bleach with a glass of cold water and dunk the dentures in there. When they’re done, wash them off thoroughly and you’re good to go. As an added bonus, it will whiten the teeth as well!

If you have a big yard and you get an ant infestation, you probably know just how irritating they can be. Although you can pursue all kinds of ways to get rid of them, one of the best ways is to pour about a cup of bleach down the ant hill to take them all out at once.

If you accidentally touch some poison ivy and you see it on you, don’t panic! All you have to do is wash it thoroughly with soap and water first. After that, mix equal parts bleach and water and dab the affected area with a Q-tip. The chemicals in bleach will blast through the urushiol oil, the stuff that makes poison ivy harm your skin.

If you live in a cold place and your car gets stuck on ice, don’t panic. Although salt or gravel can help move you car out of the ice, you can also use a little bit of bleach to give your tires more grip on the ice. Just pour a little bit under the tires and try to drive out again.

Though having a garbage disposal in your sink is incredibly useful, it can also get pretty gross if you don’t keep it clean. If you start noticing some strange odors from it, try pouring a little bit of bleach mixed with water down the disposal and turning it on. With any luck, those smells should be history.

If you’re a thrifty person, chances are you do your best to wash out old plastic containers and reuse them as much as possible. Still, if you have anything that’s particularly acidic or tomato-based in them, they can sometimes get stained. To clean those out and make them like new, mix a little bit of bleach and water and let it sit in those containers. After a few hours, wash it out and it should be as good as new.

Having a pen explode in your pocket after going through the wash is about as annoying as it gets. While it will often ruin whatever clothes it touches, it will also stain the inside of your washer. To get those stains out, mix up a little bleach solution and scrub down the inside with a rough brush. With any luck, the stains will come right out.

Rather than throwing away all your old sponges, try soaking them in a water and bleach solution. Once that’s done, wring them out and rinse them thoroughly with water. With any luck, all that old scent and staleness should be gone.

If you or anyone around you has lice, a good thing to do is to sanitize all of your hair care items. To do that, mix a few tablespoons of bleach into hot water and fill a tub with it. Drop all your combs and hairbrushes in it to make sure there aren’t any lice living in it anymore.