Cleaning with vodka

Although I am more of a gin girl myself, I think I am about to stock up on cheap vodka.

In my quest for a less toxic home, I am always on the lookout for new strategies.

For Christmas, my boss gave me a gift certificate to Tome on the Range, my local independent bookstore, and I picked up Organic Housekeeping: In Which the Non-Toxic Avenger Shows You How to Improve Your Health and That of Your Family, While You Save Time, Money, and, Perhaps, Your Sanity.

This is the kind of book I read for fun.

While browsing through it over lunch, I found several references to vodka as a cleaning agent.

Vodka can replace rubbing alcohol, which is extremely toxic, in home cleaner recipes such as glass cleaner. While vodka is technically drinkable and therefore non-toxic, it is also colorless and, once the alcohol evaporates, odorless. Apparently, it shines chrome and glass and is a good spot-remover for oily stains.

Now is the time to admit that my wise mom had already suggested vodka as a cleaning agent, but I had reacted skeptically. She puts a concoction of vodka, lavender essential oil (and water?) into her iron's water-for-steam reservoir, and it makes ironed clothes smell great.

Secrets of the Spas: Pamper and Vitalize Yourself at Home (Life's Little Luxuries) has a great recipe for a spray room deodorizer, but it calls for rubbing alcohol. I am about to mix some up with the vodka that has been in my cabinet for three years.

And if it doesn't work? I guess I'll just have to make a Chocolate Martini.