Quick survey -- how many of you bought or were gifted more hand sanitizer than you or your family could use during the pandemic? Those of you who didn't accumulate excess hand sanitizer -- bravo to you!
Hand sanitizer is dated for expiry. The alcohol-based solutions do not become unsafe to use, but they may become less effective beginning a few months after expiry. In addition to the expiration question, some of us may have simply acquired too much hand sanitizer.
Our family wound up with far more hand sanitizer than we could use. I bought. couple of bottles in early 2020. Small bottle were gifts with purchase in some stores. And pleasantly-scented, pocket-size containers were a popular holiday gift in my house in 2020 and 2021. On top of this surplus, one large bottle smelled particularly boozy to some of us, and so was completely avoided. So here I am, lots of partially used bottles of hand sanitizers floating around our house, car, purses and jacket pockets -- some expired, some not -- and I needed to find ways to use the stuff up.
My first thought was it does a great job stripping my hands of natural oils, so it must make a halfway decent degreaser. What I didn't know was that it would also be good at breaking down soap scum. Here's what I've used hand sanitizer on so far: cleaning the bathroom sink, the synthetic solid surface countertop (Corian), the bathtub, chrome faucets and handles, the glass shower doors, the seat and exterior porcelain parts of the toilet, and a hair dye stain on a white cabinet door (required multiple applications and some rubbing, but the stain eventually came out). I was very pleased with how well this worked on the shower doors. I've tried a bunch of different products on the soap scum with mixed success. A rag and some hand sanitizer really got the doors clean. As this is a sanitizer, bathroom cleaning seems to be the perfect use.
In addition to the gel hand sanitizer, I also received some spray alcohol-based sanitizer as gifts. I have found the spray kind makes a great alternative to deodorant. After working around the house and getting a wee bit sweaty, I give a quick spritz under the arms, allow to dry, and I'm fresh smelling once again.
Always nice to find uses for something that might otherwise be discarded.
