It’s a drink, it’s a cleaner…it’s Coca-Cola! No longer just a sweet tasting carbonated beverage, its uses have become much more widespread from cleaning rust stains to tenderizing steaks. Now I’m sure as a kid you heard all the reasons why drinking cola was bad for you. ‘It’ll rot your teeth’, my mother said. ‘It’s poisonous’, my friend once told me. So, let’s examine the Coke hacks for cleaning that have appeared over the past few years.

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Driveway Oil Stains

Has your driveway become ridden with oil spills over the years? Well here’s a quick and easy fix for you that requires no effort. Pour a bottle of coke on your oil spill and let it soak for a few hours. After you’ve left it for a few hours, take a hose (ideally one that has strong pressure) and rinse the no longer stained area.\

Got Skunked?

Let’s admit it- the smell of skunk is gross and almost impossible to forget. For those of you who live in an area where skunk smells are an issue, take one can of coke and add it to a bucket of water with detergent. By simply being present, the cauldron of Coke helps to break the odor down and make it less nauseating! If you (or likely your cat/dog) ever get skunked, here’s an easy cleanup tip. Forget mama’s tomato sauce tip and get into the shower instead. Cover yourself (or your pet) from head to toe with coke and wait a few minutes before rinsing off. Lucky for you, cola makes for an excellent hair treatment so you just got two tips for the price of one!

Rust Remover

Are your old golf clubs getting a little rusty? Considering buying new ones? Save yourself big bucks and invest $1.25 in a can of coke instead. Coca-Cola is an excellent rust buster because of its citric acid. Soak your old clubs in a container of coke for 24 hours. Remove and rinse with water to wash away any stickiness. Use this technique on anything from golf clubs to pennies. The properties of coke help break down rust particles and make them easier to clean.

 

Stinky Slacks?

Gone fishin’? If your clothing smells and you fear the lingering odor, worry not. Grab a can of Coke of course and add to the wash with your regular detergent! One can will help break down and neutralize odors, getting rid of the even the worst odor culprits.

Grout Out

Ever spilt Coca Cola on the floor and realized its cleaning potential? Little did you know that cola is great for cleaning tile grout! If you have dirty, dingy grout, pour a bit of cola onto the area, let it sit for a few minutes, and wipe clean. For tough stains, use a cleaning toothbrush to scrub the grout before wiping the area clean. Cola Cola can also be used on carpet stains. Pour cola onto the area, let it sit for a few minutes then scrub to remove the stain using a scrub brush. Finish by using soapy water to wipe over the area once you’re done.

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Clothing Stains

If you have any clothes with grease, asphalt or creosote stains, you know how difficult they can be to remove. Grease stains are famously difficult to remove from clothing and we all know how expensive stain removers can be. So put your inefficient stain removers aside and join the bandwagon for a cheaper, alternative stain remover. Pour a can of cola into the wash with water and detergent as you usually would and run it through a normal cycle. Once finished, let it dry and enjoy wearing your now stain-free clothes! This method is also quite effective for removing blood and it helps to deodorize smelly clothes.

Ready-Set: Connect!

We’ve all been there. You’re repeatedly cranking your key in the ignition and your car just doesn’t want to start. It could be as a result of your car’s battery connections. If there is excess built-up corrosion, it makes it difficult for your car to start. A quick fix is to pour a can of coke onto your battery connections (when the car is off) to remove cruddy corrosion. It may seem pretty obvious, but a clean connection makes it easier to start the car!

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Melissa Maker
Melissa Maker is an entrepreneur, cleaning expert, founder of Toronto’s most popular boutique cleaning service, and star of the Clean My Space channel on YouTube (but she still hates to clean!). Every week, Melissa delivers new videos dishing expert advice on cleaning products, tools, DIY substitutes, and practical, timesaving solutions to everyday problems. Melissa has appeared on the Today Show, and has been featured in InStyle, Real Simple, and Better Homes and Gardens.

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38 COMMENTS

  3. Thanks for the great post on things you can clean with Coke. I was really surprised at how many different items it works on!

    I’m a big fan of saving time and money, so this is really helpful information.

  4. Thanks for the post! I was actually just looking for a new alternative to my current stain remover.

    I’m glad to hear that Coke can be used as a cheap and effective stain remover for clothes with grease, asphalt or creosote stains.

  9. During a downpour at night on a European trip our driver was having a terrible time keeping the windshield clear enough to see where he was going. We stopped at a gas station, got a bottle coke, & poured it on the windshield. No more problems!

  11. Coke is used to unclog a feeding tube. When someone I know had a clogged feeding tube the doctor advised to use coke. It worked fast and also made the tube spotless. Easy and cheap.

  14. Ever get musty smelling towels? I have tried baking soda, vinegar, bleach, nothing worked. I was going to buy all new towels and wash cloths and thought I would try coke since I know of its cleaning ability. So here is what I did… Put all my towels and cloths in the wash fill with warm water and add a 2 liter bottle of regular coke. Wait for the agitator cycle to begin, (to make sure it’s mixed in evenly), leave the washer lid up and let clothes sit for 1 hour. Finish the cycle. Then wash the clothes as you normally would. NO MORE SMELLS!!! I do this about once ever two months.

  15. I also know that you can use Coca Cola for cleaning toilets. If you are like me, you don’t drink all the Coca Cola. I just pour the rest of the bottles in and wait a while, then I flush!

  19. The acid in your stomach is so concentrated that if you were to place a drop on a piece of wood, it would eat right through it. This is why coke won’t eat your stomach away…….that and the fact that the stomach has it’s own way of protecting itself from it’s own acid which is a lot stronger than the acid in coke.

  21. Ive used and reccomended the CocaCola for greasy work clothes for years….my BF….mentioned his golf clubs…so I decided to investigate the concept….as to how much….how long…..etc…I was unaware of its numerous cleaning abilities…HA…..Im glad I bought an 18 pak….One for the driveway…..Two for me….lol
    Thanks for all the fabulous insight….”Happy Cola’ing”

  22. Why am I not surprised? This stuff shouldn’t be consumed. Just because you find it at a grocery store, doesn’t mean it is food. It is not for consumption! It is a cleaning product!

    • Baking soda is a cleaner and deodorizer as well as useful for baking… are you as prejudicial with every substance with more than one use?

  23. I used it on my clogged bathtub drain after trying everything else on the market. I had resigned to calling a plumber when I thought I would try Coke cola as a last resort not expecting much to happen. I was shocked and amazed it really worked! Saved myself at least a hundred dollars!

  26. Any phosphoric acid containing beverage will do all of the above. There was a reply about concern over the dark colored caramel staining the shirt worse – I don’t have a can to look at, but if Sprite or 7-Up have phosphoric acid on it’s ingredient label, it’s just as good. Tonic/seltzer/club soda do not contain this chemical, so their use has to be limited to acute application immediately following a stain (the waiter running over with a bottle after you spill wine on yourself) and wouldn’t fit the above needs.

    Also, a much stronger source of phosphoric acid is available at the pharmacy labeled as an over the counter drug called “Emetrol.” It is an anti-emetic (nausea remedy) and available in an unflavored clear form. Ever wonder why they say to give ginger ale for upset stomach? Simple reason is because ginger ale predates Coke, Pepsi, etc by many decades. Following application of this you would only have to worry about cleaning out the syrup-sweetener residue left by this product.

  30. Fascinating! I didn’t know any of this stuff, not even the battery terminals thing (not that bein’ a guy makes me more auto-intuitive). I’m hoping you will tell me #8 is cleaning concrete – I mean other than oil stains. There’s some paint smears and drips, possibly stains from the berry bushes and grape vines nearby and some mysterious blobs of something. Using Coke might be just the thing for a guy with serious breathing difficulty. Pour, wait, rinse. Yeah.

    • My husband had cut his elbow and got blood on my white sheets. Washed them with coca cola and they came out brighter than before.

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