Rubbing alcohol is useful for a whole lot. Obviously, there’s the whole sanitization thing that’s responsible for saving countless lives all over the world. Prior to that, folks were pretty much just YOLO-ing surgeries and hoping our bodies can fight off whatever bacteria and fungi were trying to kill us.
And if you wanted to clean ink stains, remove stickers, clean jewelry, heck even defrost windshields, deodorize your shoes, or make ice packs, you could do all of that with good old rubbing alcohol.
But did you know that you could also use the stuff to keep your home bug-free? Nashville-based TikToker Sam Sardina (@samsardina) shared how her life was “changed” upon discovering this usage for the compound in a viral TikTok that’s garnered over 1.3 million views on the popular social media application.
How do you kill bugs with rubbing alcohol?
She begins the clip by holding up a bottle of Equate 91% Isopropyl Alcohol with a spray bottle attachment to the camera before delineating her bug-killing PSA to the internet.
“I have a life hack that literally changed my life that I need to share. If you have mosquitoes, fruit flies, flies, any kind of insect in your house, apartment, whatever, this is gonna be your new best friend. Alcohol, I think this was maybe $3 at Walmart, the top, I just took from an old, empty…spray bottle fits right on perfectly,” she then pretends to be shooting the alcohol at the imaginary bugs before her pantomiming gun noises: “Dead, on contact, mosquito…dead…fly…dead…drop dead.”
Sardina added that due to the nature of alcohol, the compound doesn’t linger for too long to irritate folks who are using it to spray the bugs flying around their home. “And the best part it is alcohol so it evaporates like that. You don’t even have to wipe it up and it’s sanitary, it’s just literally…I can’t imagine my life without it anymore,” she says at the end of her clip.
It seems that there were several other people in the comments section of Sardina’s video who reverberated her love for the rubbing alcohol bug-killing solution, like this person who penned: “My EXACT weapon of choice. Nice to meet you, soldier.”
There were others who’ve found different sprays to kill bugs with: ‘This is so smart. I’ve been gluing them midair with cheap hairspray”
Someone else offered up a modification to Sardina’s methodology, providing what they say is a means of not just killing the bugs, but ensuring others don’t come to take their place once they’ve fallen: “Add few drops of peppermint oil it will also repell anything in the future.”
There was one person who remarked that rubbing alcohol can ruin the finishes on certain fixtures in the home, however, so that Sardina, and others looking to follow her suggestion, should be careful.
Another TikToker offered up an easy fix for this, however: By diluting the rubbing alcohol in the bottle with water, as they say that the alcohol doesn’t need to be full strength in order to kill them. “I live by this! If you dilute to 50% with water you can spray directly on on plants with no damage but kills the pests,” they wrote.
According to this user on the app, they also enjoy using rubbing alcohol to keep the pit areas of their shirts smelling fresh: “I keep that stuff ON me, it’s great too for spraying the pits of shirts (or yourself) to de-stank em. a true summer ally”
Green Pest Solutions wrote that rubbing alcohol is an effective means of killing bugs and even destroying the eggs that insects lay, but in the case of bed bugs (if you’re unfortunate enough to experience these pests) it probably won’t be enough to rid you of your problem: “Rubbing alcohol can kill bed bugs and eggs, but it’s not likely going to take care of your infestation. It kills insects by dissolving their cells and destroys eggs by drying them out.”
Another online resource wrote that there are some types of bugs that lend themselves to death better than others when it comes to rubbing alcohol exposure. Love That Leaf shared how folks with plants who want to protect them from insects need to ensure that they’re using the correct dilution ratios when spraying them on their beloved chlorophyllic friends: “Before you jump in and start using rubbing alcohol to get rid of pests on your plants, it’s important to check you have the right product and are using it at the right dilution rate so your plant can handle the treatment. Coming up is what to look for so you get the right type of alcohol, what the dilution and application rates are for different plant pests, and how to keep your plant safe so it’s only the pests you say goodbye to!”
@samsardina I am exterminator #insects #fruitflies #flies #mosquitos ♬ Please Please Please – Sabrina Carpenter
You might be familiar with this methodology if you ever looked up effective, Florida-man hacks on how to control mosquitoes. YouTubers such as this gentleman delineate how they’ve reversed directions of box fans, and attached boards with zip/bungle ties to the front of the fan (the blow out side) so that bugs are sucked in from the back (air intake side). After trapping them on the board, using a diluted-with-water spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol solution on the bugs kill them dead.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sardina via TikTok comment for further information.
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The post ‘I think this is maybe $3 at Walmart’: Woman shares rubbing alcohol trick for getting rid of all bugs in your home appeared first on The Daily Dot.
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