If your house is anything like the average American family's, you probably have a few cans of soda lying around.
My family actually gave up the sweet stuff a little while ago, but our pop stockpile was so big we're still working through it.
That made me wonder if there were any creative ways to use Coca-Cola around the house. It turns out there are a lot.
The secret ingredients that makes these tricks work are carbonic and phosphoric acids in the drink's additives.
They're totally safe to drink (in small doses) but also handy for these 17 household tasks:
1. Do your laundry
It sounds counter-intuitive to pour coke on your clothes, but that's just what I'm asking you to try.
Pre-soaking clothes in the soda can help to remove grease, milk, and blood stains in the washing machine.
Just don't mind if your clothes come out smelling sweet.
2. Clean grout
I was using that expensive shower-scrubbing foam like it was going out of style, but coke works just as well.Pour a little bit on a scouring brush or toothbrush and wipe down your floor or shower walls with it.
Just remember to rinse the soda off when you're done, or else it will get sticky.
3. Clean glass
The drink's grease-busting power comes in handy when your family leaves streaky hand prints all over your windows.Just pour some soda in a spray bottle and wipe it off with a clean rag.
The drink will clean smudges off your eyeglasses too, but you'll want to rinse thoroughly after pouring it on.
4. Kill pests
Leave a plate with some coke on it out in your garden. Nasty slugs and snails will find it irresistible.
The sugar draws them in, but the drink's acidity kills the bugs.
This method has been known to catch wasps too. Some gardeners will even pour soda down an ant hill to clear out the pests.
5. Clean a burnt pan
Stuck on food won't scrape off your frying pan? Pour in some coke and lightly simmer.The soda will loosen up the gunk in the pan, and a soft spatula will scrape it off.
You can also soak oven grates or pots in coke overnight, then scour away burnt spots the next morning.
6. Make yourself feel better
Parents know that Coca-Cola isn't exactly a health drink, but doctors do sometimes recommend it.
Soda can soothe your stomach if you're feeling nauseous, and is useful for both constipation and diarrhea.
Coke with ginger and lemon is also a trusted sore throat cure in China.
7. Cooking and baking
Coke is both sweet and tangy, which makes it useful for all kinds of recipes.It can tenderize meat, and is perfect as a rub or marinade for pork chops and chicken wings.
You can make all kinds of dessert with coke too, from brownies to cake and cupcakes.
And don't forget - swap Coke Zero in any of these recipes and it's suddenly sugar-free.
8. Clean your toilet
The acids in this drink are tough on the calcified stains inside your toilet's rim.
Simply pour the drink around the rim and over any stains.
Let the mixture sit in the bowl for a few minutes, then flush or scrub with a brush.
Flush, and marvel at your shiny, white toilet bowl.
9. Treat your hair
Feeling bold? Adventurous? Coke can help you change your style.Soaking your hair with coke tends to make it naturally curly.
If you've dyed your hair, soaking it with the soda will also tone down the color.
That means if you ever make a mistake and get a shocking, bright color, a soak in coke will fix it.
10. Remove stuck-on gum
Whether it's stuck on your shoe, in your hair, or under a table, soaking gum in coke loosens it up.Some combination of the acids in this drink and the carbonation from the bubbles just peels the chewed gum off any surface.
Wipe it down with a rag and some Coca-Cola. A few minutes later it should pull off easily.
11. Wipe away oil stains
These nasty marks that form underneath your car are basically just grease, and we know coke can handle that.
Rinse the stain with coke, let it soak in, then rinse off. It may take a can or two for a particularly tough stain.
12. Shine metal and remove rust
Phosphoric acid and a little elbow grease will leave anything metal shining like new.Copper cleans up especially well, so soak your copper pans in a soda bath.
For rust, dip a ball of aluminium foil in coke, then use it to scour the rust off.
This is especially useful on rusty, jammed bolts. Pour a little coke on and they should start turning.
Coca-Cola will even clean scale out of a kettle or coffeemaker.
13. Defrost a windshield
Yes, coke is strong enough to break apart the ice that forms on your windshield overnight, letting you scrape it off easily.Just be careful about getting any soda on your car's paint, because it might leave a mark.
14. Neutralize bad odors
Use this tip at your own risk, but some coke-lovers swear by it.
Wiping down your kitchen floor with soda and then rinsing it off again seems to clear away any lingering odors in the room.
Some people even use coke to counteract skunk spray, bathing in the soda like some people do with tomato juice or ketchup.
15. Soothe an insect bite
Bee stings and mosquito bites can all be treated with coke. Caffeine relieves pain as a (very) mild anesthetic, and the light acids might clean out irritating bacteria.Some people even recommend coke to treat jellyfish stings - but I don't want to know firsthand if that works or not.
16. Make your garden grow
Coke is surprisingly effective when it comes to gardening.For one thing, pouring it on your soil helps produce acidity, which flowers like azaleas, gardenias, rhododendrons, and camellias love.
Farmers in India also use coke to keep bugs off their crops.
The science is out, but the sugary drink may help boost a plant's "immunity" to invasive bugs.
The carbonated bubbles even help aerate soil so roots can take hold.
17. Make a plastic bag holder
Now that you have so much coke lying around, you probably have some empty two-liter bottles.
Just a few cuts make a nifty plastic bag dispenser for your kitchen.
There are all sorts of ways to recycle these containers. And you were probably just throwing them out, right?
