Rid pets of fleas
Fleas can take over your pets and home in a shockingly short amount of time, and they’re notoriously difficult to kill. Fortunately, washing your pet with Dawn dish soap diluted in lots of hot water can cause fleas to slide off and die. Just remember to use an unscented variety and rinse your animal well.
Clean vinyl floors
Vinyl flooring is easier to keep clean than carpets or hardwood floors, but the low-maintenance option is also harder to get looking perfect. Get sparkling vinyl flooring by adding two tablespoons of Dawn to a bucket of hot water and mopping, then letting it air dry. The result will be non-slippy, shining floors.
Scrub up garden furniture
Garden furniture gets grubby shockingly fast, but because it’s not used often it can be tempting just to leave it to the elements. However, cleaning your garden chairs doesn’t have to be arduous: simply add a couple of drops of Dawn to a bucket of hot water and slosh over your furniture. Then blast it with the garden hose and let it dry in the sun.
Repel ants
Ants are mostly harmless creatures, but having a large number of them parade through your home is annoying and potentially destructive. Luckily, they can be scared away by mixing equal parts water and vinegar and adding two pumps of Dawn dish soap. Spraying the mixture on spots where ants congregate will cause them to flee.
Get windows extra clean
From vinegar and newspaper to specialist cleaners and microfiber rags, hundreds of strategies exist for getting clean, streak-free windows. However, a bucket filled with hot water, a glass of white vinegar and a splash of Dawn dish soap will result in sparkling windows with no scum or streaks left behind.
Remove lice from a hairbrush
Considering how quickly they collect skin cells, oil, hair and dirt, most people don’t wash their hairbrushes nearly often enough. With that said, depositing a brush or comb in a jar full of warm water with a few drops of Dawn dish soap will draw away all sorts of nasties, including lice and lice eggs.
Clean your make-up brushes
Make-up brushes are another fashion and beauty accessory that people let go between washes for far too long. The good news is, you can take your brushes from nasty to like-new by washing them with a mixture of warm water, Dawn dish soap and a little bit of shampoo. You can also dip damp bristles in dish soap and swirl around.
Keep flies away from food
Flies are an annoyance with very few elegant solutions: fly paper, electric zappers and sprays all have their downsides. However, if you want to collect and kill them in one place, then pour a mixture of vinegar and Dawn into a container. The flies will be attracted to the vinegar and will be unable to escape the dish soap.
Remove stains from a carpet
Carpet stains are more stubborn than almost any other kind of mess but with attention and effort, they can be vanquished. Add a tablespoon of Dawn dish soap to 17oz of hot water, then soak a cloth in the mixture and apply to the stain. Alternate this with cold water rinses and dabbing dry with a clean cloth and the stain will be gone in no time.
Banish garage oil stains
Oil stains are unsightly and can ruin your garage floor or any paved areas outside your house. To clean them up, pour baking soda or bicarbonate of soda over the spot, and then cover the bicarb with Dawn dish soap. Combine the elements with a plastic scrubbing brush and then leave for several hours before rinsing.
