7 Uses Of Olive Oil For Cleaning & Other Household Tasks

Look in your pantry and you'll probably find some olive oil. You most likely have it in there for cooking and eating, but did you know there are even more uses of olive oil around your home?

Below I've listed seven different ways you can use this commonly found ingredient in your home.

What Type Of Olive Oil Should You Use?

Before I begin sharing all these household uses though, I want to make sure we all know what type of olive oil should be used for these purposes.

Nothing beats extra virgin olive oil for cooking and consumption, but this type is also more expensive. Therefore, for household purposes, with almost all the uses listed below, if you'd like to use a lower grade olive oil that will be just fine (I've noted the only exception).

After all, for these uses below you're not consuming it, so no need to use the best stuff! Instead, save the good stuff for what you'll feed your family.

Household Olive Oil Uses

1. Homemade furniture polish.

I started with what is perhaps my favorite use for olive oil around the house. It works great and smells wonderful -- homemeade furniture polish.

The polish combines olive oil and lemon juice together. You can get the recipe and full instructions here.

Add the mixture to a spray bottle and shake up, and then spray a small amount onto a microfiber cloth and use this to polish your wood furniture. Then, use a clean microfiber cloth to buff the wood.

Remember that while lemon juice will smell much more pleasant, you can substitute white vinegar if you wish, instead.

2. Buff out streaks on stainless steel appliances.

Many people love the look of stainless steel appliances until they see all the streaks that occur with this surface.

To fix those streaks apply a small amount of olive oil to a microfiber cloth and buff away streaks, and then buff the stainless steel again with a clean cloth to remove excess oil residue.

You can get more tips for cleaning stainless steel here.

3. Lubricate squeaky hinges.

Olive oil is an oil, so apply just a bit to a squeaky hinge to silence it.

4. Unstick a zipper.

If your zipper is getting stuck take a cotton swab with a drop of olive oil on it, and rub it over the teeth of the zipper and unstick it.

You can get quite a few ideas for how to unstick zippers here.

5. Remove chewing gum from surfaces.

If you notice gum stuck somewhere, such as the bottom of your shoe, on a table, or even in your hair, you can use olive oil to help soften and loosen it, so you can remove it.

Soak the chewed stuck gum in a small amount of this oil, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and then scrape it off using a butter knife.

You can get even more tips for chewing gum removal here.

6. Remove stickers and sticker residue.

Olive oil can also help you unstick stickers. To do it put a couple of drops of oil onto a cloth and rub onto the sticker, letting it soak in. The oil will cause the sticky part of the sticker to lose its stickiness, and then you can pull and wipe away the sticker and any residue that it left behind.

You can check out more adhesive removal product reviews here.

7. Lubricate measuring spoons and cups.

Finally, When you pour or measure sticky stuff, like honey or syrup, it can easily stick to the measuring spoons or cups you use. Olive oil will help you keep that from happening, and it will be such a small amount of oil that you won't taste it in your food.

Before measuring something sticky wipe the inside of the measuring cup or spoon with just a bit of olive oil and the normally sticky stuff will slide right out once measured.

(Since this one does involve eating you may want to use extra virgin olive oil for this use.)

So what ways do you use olive oil in your home? I'd love to know, so, tell me your own tips below in the comments.

In addition, I've rounded up even more uses for olive oil here, from tips throughout the site.

Finally, would you like to find out more uses for common household items, for cleaning, laundry and stain removal? If so, check out these homemade cleaning products recipes here on the site.

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Lots Of Homemade Cleaners Recipes

Helpful Household Hints For All Around Your Home

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CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains and messes just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some cleaning methods can harm your item, so if what you want to clean or launder is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.