13 Surprising Ways to Clean With Listerine
I spent one rainy Saturday testing every Listerine cleaning trick I could find, using the same big amber bottle from my medicine cabinet. Some hacks earned a permanent spot in my routine. A couple flopped hard, and one nearly left a stain I would have regretted. I kept notes on exact amounts, how long I let it sit, and what the surface looked like an hour later, because the difference between a hack that works and one that disappoints usually comes down to those small details. Here is what actually held up, where the internet oversells it, and the specific numbers I landed on after repeating each test more than once.
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What You'll Need
Step-by-Step Instructions
Mix an even all purpose spray
Pour equal parts original amber Listerine and warm water into a clean spray bottle. I use roughly one cup of each, which fills a standard 16 ounce bottle with a little room to shake. The thymol and eucalyptol in the original formula are mild antiseptics, and the alcohol (around 22 percent in the original amber) helps everything dry fast without streaking. Label the bottle in permanent marker so nobody in your house grabs it thinking it is a drink, and note the date so you know when the batch is getting old. I only ever use the amber version. The first time I tried the blue kind on a white laminate counter it left a faint bluish tint near the seam that took real scrubbing to lift. The colored and whitening formulas carry dyes and different concentrations, so keep them for your mouth and keep the amber for surfaces. This spray is safe on sealed laminate, glazed ceramic tile, glass, stainless steel, and painted trim that you have spot tested first. Keep it off unsealed stone and raw wood. Shake before every use, since the oils separate and float to the top as the bottle sits. If your spray ever smells weak, it has usually gone flat from evaporation, so mix a fresh batch rather than doubling the dose. One filled bottle lasts me about two weeks of everyday wiping, and that is roughly the window where it still dries streak free.
Deodorize the kitchen trash can
Right after you pull out a full liner, spray undiluted amber Listerine around the inside of the empty can and let it sit five minutes before dropping in the fresh bag. The alcohol and oils knock down the bacteria that make a bin reek. My kitchen can usually starts smelling by day two in summer. After doing this it stayed neutral for four full days, which beat the baking soda I used to sprinkle in the bottom. While the inside dries, wipe the outside, the rim, and the lid hinge with your diluted spray, because that is where sticky hand grime collects. The whole thing adds under a minute to changing the bag. A few specifics that made it work better for me. Coat the bottom corners heavily, since that is where liquid from leaky bags pools and ferments. If your can already smells before you start, wash it out with hot soapy water first, then spray, because Listerine masks and disinfects but it will not lift a layer of dried gunk. For a really funky can, I fold a paper towel soaked in undiluted Listerine and leave it in the bottom under the fresh liner for the first day, then toss it with the next bag change. Do not expect this to fix a cracked or porous old can that has absorbed years of odor. At that point the plastic itself holds the smell, and replacing the can is the honest answer.
Freshen the toilet bowl between deep cleans
Pour about half a cup of Listerine into the bowl and let it sit thirty minutes, then scrub under the rim with the toilet brush. This is a freshener, not a replacement for a real cleaning. It will not remove hard water rings or heavy mineral buildup, and I want to be honest that the first time I expected it to erase a stubborn waterline stain, it did nothing. What it does well is a quick midweek refresh that leaves a clean mint smell instead of that heavy chemical bathroom scent. It is fine for septic systems since you are using a small amount. For anything caked on, you still need a proper toilet cleaner and some elbow grease. A couple of things I learned the second time around. Before you pour, push the water level down by giving the brush a quick pump into the trap, so the Listerine sits more concentrated against the bowl instead of getting diluted. Aim the pour high under the rim so it coats the ring of jets on its way down, since that hidden ledge is where most of the smell actually comes from. If you want the mint scent to linger a bit longer, skip the flush for ten minutes after scrubbing. And never combine this with a bleach based bowl cleaner or those blue tank tablets in the same sitting, because mixing Listerine with bleach is genuinely dangerous. Clean with one or the other, rinse fully, and keep them separate.
Wipe mirrors and glass without streaks
Spray the diluted mix onto a microfiber cloth, never straight onto the mirror, so nothing drips down behind the glass and rots the backing over time. Wipe top to bottom in overlapping strokes, then buff dry with a second clean cloth. The alcohol flashes off quickly, which is what keeps it free of streaks. I will be straight with you here. This worked perfectly well, but it was no better than the glass cleaner I already owned, so I would not buy Listerine just for mirrors. If you happen to have it out for other jobs, though, it is a handy bonus. Morning light is the honest test, since daylight shows smudges that bathroom bulbs politely hide. A few pointers that sharpened the result for me. Use a genuine microfiber cloth, not a paper towel, because paper leaves lint that shows up the moment light hits the glass at an angle. Wipe in one direction with the damp cloth, then buff in a perpendicular direction with the dry cloth, so any streak that survives the first pass gets caught by the second. On a mirror that is already grimy with hairspray or toothpaste flecks, do a first pass to lift the gunk, then a second clean pass, since dragging grit around just smears it. If the glass still looks hazy after it dries, the cloth was too wet or too dirty, so wring it out more and switch to a fresh cloth. Skip this entirely on antique or unsealed mirror edges where moisture can creep under the silvering.
Clear a musty smell from the washing machine
This was my favorite result of the whole day. My front loader had smelled musty for two solid months, and two runs with white vinegar only helped a little. I set an empty cycle to the hottest setting, poured one cup of amber Listerine straight into the drum, and let it run. The smell was completely gone. The oils and alcohol reach the rubber door gasket and hoses where mildew loves to hide. Afterward, wipe the gasket dry and pull out the detergent drawer to rinse it under hot water, since old detergent sludge in that slot feeds the smell right back in. I now do this monthly and leave the door cracked open between loads. Some detail worth having before you try it. Pour the cup straight into the drum, not into the detergent dispenser, so it hits the gasket and drum directly at full strength rather than getting flushed through slowly. Use the longest, hottest cycle your machine offers, ideally a dedicated tub clean or sanitize setting if you have one. Before the cycle, peel back the rubber gasket folds and wipe out the black gunk you find there with a Listerine dampened cloth, because that fold is ground zero for the smell and the wash cycle alone will not scrub it. If the mustiness comes back within a week, the culprit is almost always trapped water or a clogged drain filter at the bottom front of the machine, so clean that filter out. Do not run this in the same load as bleach or any other additive. One cup, water, and heat is all it needs.
Soak the toothbrush holder
Fill the holder with undiluted Listerine and let it soak ten minutes, then scrub the inside crevices with an old toothbrush and rinse with warm water. Mine had that slimy pink film at the bottom that scrubbing alone never fully cleared, and this finally got it truly clean. Do this weekly if your bathroom stays humid. The pink stuff is actually a common airborne bacteria (often Serratia marcescens) that thrives on moisture, so drying the holder well afterward slows it from coming back. A little more from repeated rounds of this. The narrow bottom slots where the brush handles rest are the hardest part, so a pipe cleaner or a cotton swab dipped in the soak gets in where the toothbrush bristles cannot reach. If your holder is ceramic it can go in the dishwasher afterward for a proper wash, but the Listerine soak is what breaks the film loose first. Ten minutes was enough for a light film. For a holder that has not been cleaned in a while, I bumped it to twenty and it lifted cleanly. The single biggest factor in keeping the pink film away is drying, so after you rinse, wipe the inside dry and let the holder sit out overnight rather than putting wet brushes straight back in. Running the bathroom fan during showers cuts the humidity that feeds it in the first place. This is one of the hacks that genuinely surprised me, since scrubbing alone had never fully won that fight.
Soak greasy stovetop knobs
Pull the knobs off your stove (most just tug straight off) and drop them in a small bowl of Listerine for fifteen minutes. The alcohol loosens the grease and fingerprints that get baked into the textured grooves without scratching the plastic. Scrub with the soft brush, rinse, and dry them completely before snapping them back. Here is the step people skip. While the knobs soak, wipe the recessed rings on the stove where the knobs sit. That little well collects the worst grease on the whole cooktop, and it never gets touched during a normal wipe down. Putting clean knobs back onto a greasy base defeats the point. A few more things I picked up. Take a phone photo before you pull the knobs if any of them are position specific, like an oven mode dial, so you snap them back in the right spot. For knobs that are heavily caked, warm the Listerine slightly by mixing in a splash of warm water, which softens hardened grease faster, and give them the full fifteen minutes. If grease still clings in the printed number grooves, an old toothbrush plus a drop of dish soap on top of the soak finishes the job. Dry them completely, because a wet knob shaft can seize or slip on the metal post, and trapped moisture invites grime to stick again. Do not soak knobs that have painted or printed markings for longer than needed, since a long soak in alcohol can eventually lift printed graphics on cheaper knobs. Fifteen minutes has never faded mine, but I always check the first time.
Refresh cutting boards after raw meat
After you wash a plastic or wood board with dish soap, spray Listerine across both faces, let it sit two minutes, then rinse thoroughly with cool water. It gets into the knife grooves that soap can miss and is a sensible extra step after cutting raw chicken, garlic, or onions. The catch, and it is a real one, is the medicinal smell. The first time I skimped on the rinse, the next thing I chopped tasted faintly of mouthwash. Rinse it well and that problem disappears. This is a supplement to soap and water, not a substitute for it. Let me add the practical guardrails. Always wash first, because Listerine is not a degreaser and will not cut through raw fat or juice on its own, so the soap does the cleaning and the Listerine is a light finishing rinse for the grooves. Two minutes of dwell is plenty. Leaving it longer does not disinfect better and only makes the mint smell harder to rinse away. On wood boards, do not soak or leave it standing, since prolonged alcohol contact can dry the wood and dull the finish, so a quick spray and rinse is the move, followed by standing the board on edge to air dry fully. For raw poultry specifically, I still trust hot soapy water and thorough drying as the main line of defense, with the Listerine as a small extra. Re oil a wood board occasionally to make up for any drying, and never leave any board damp, since moisture is what actually grows bacteria back.
Wipe handles and switches that everyone touches
Dampen a microfiber cloth with the diluted spray and run it over the surfaces everyone in the house touches without thinking: door handles, light switches, the fridge handle, cabinet pulls, and stair railings. These get touched dozens of times a day and rarely make it into a normal cleaning pass. The mix dries fast so there is no sticky film left on the hardware. I pay the most attention to the handles between the bathroom and the kitchen, since those are the ones touched in sequence with unwashed hands. A two minute lap around the room is all it takes, and it genuinely feels cleaner to grab a handle afterward. Some specifics that matter here. Dampen the cloth and never spray directly onto a light switch or any electrical fixture, because you do not want liquid running into the wiring. A barely damp cloth is enough, and the fast drying alcohol is exactly why this beats a soaking wet wipe on switches. Give each surface a moment of contact rather than a fast swipe, since a mild antiseptic needs a few seconds against the surface to do anything. Hit the spots people forget: the toilet flush lever, the microwave door button, remote controls (cloth only, wrung nearly dry), and the top edge of doors where nobody wipes. On brushed nickel or oil rubbed bronze finishes, test one pull first and buff dry, because standing moisture on some coated finishes can leave water spots. Do this pass more often during cold and flu season, when these shared touch points are how a bug travels from one person to the next.
What I kept doing and what I quietly dropped
The two that earned permanent spots were the washing machine cycle and the trash can spray, and it was not close. The washer trick fixed a problem vinegar could not, and the bin stayed fresh far longer than my old method. The toothbrush holder soak surprised me too, since it cleaned something scrubbing never fully did. What I dropped: mirror cleaning, because my regular glass cleaner does the same job, and closet or shoe misting, which smelled nice for a day or two and then faded so fast it was not worth the effort. My honest takeaway is that Listerine shines for quick disinfection and odor control in damp spaces like the laundry room, bathroom, and trash area. Ask it to do heavy stain removal or lasting scenting and it will let you down. Keep it in its lane and it earns its keep. If I were to rank the whole list, the washing machine cycle is the one I would tell a friend to try first, since it solved a two month problem in a single run. The stovetop knobs and toothbrush holder soaks are the sleeper hits, cheap and genuinely satisfying. The high touch handle wipe is worth building into a weekly routine less for the cleaning power and more for the habit of not forgetting those spots. The honest disappointments were anything I asked to remove a set in stain or perfume a space for days. One more practical note. A single big amber bottle covered every test in this article with plenty left over, so this is one of the cheaper ways to disinfect and deodorize if you already have a bottle sitting in the cabinet. Just respect the surfaces it does not like and keep it far away from bleach, and it is a useful tool rather than a miracle.
Pro Tips
- ✓Buy the store brand amber antiseptic mouthwash instead of name brand Listerine for cleaning. It has the same thymol and eucalyptol and costs about half as much, and I honestly could not tell the difference on any surface I tried.
- ✓Mix only the amount you will use in a week or two. The alcohol slowly evaporates from a spray bottle, and a fresh batch cleans and dries noticeably better than one that has sat for a month.
- ✓Keep the water lukewarm rather than hot when you mix your spray. Very hot water flashes off the alcohol and dulls the scent, which are the two things doing the actual work.
- ✓Always test a hidden corner first, especially on painted wood, sealed cabinets, or colored grout. Give it a few minutes and check for any tint or dulling before you commit to the whole surface.
- ✓Shake the bottle every single time before you spray. The essential oils separate and float to the top as it sits, so an unshaken spray is mostly water and does far less than you think.
- ✓Keep a dedicated dark or opaque spray bottle for your mix and store it out of direct sunlight. Light and heat both speed up how fast the alcohol and oils break down, so a stored bottle lasts noticeably longer in a cool cabinet.
- ✓For odor jobs, use it undiluted and give it the full dwell time, but for wiping surfaces stick to the even water dilution. Undiluted spray on glass and finished wood is more likely to streak or dull, and it is a waste of product where half strength does the same job.
How we tested this guide
Every method on this page was hands on tested by Fredler Pierre-Louis on the actual surface or material described, not on a staged photo set. We recorded the timing, the dwell intervals, and the conditions where each method worked or fell short, then refined the steps based on what we observed across multiple test runs in real homes.
- Methods verified on the relevant surface or material before publication.
- Reviewed for chemical safety and surface compatibility before publication.
- Dwell times and proportions match what actually works, not generic averages.
- Updated whenever a reader reports an edge case we missed.
Read our full editorial and testing policy or learn more about the team behind TryCleaningHacks.
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Safety Notes
- ⚠Listerine contains alcohol and essential oils, so keep it off unsealed marble, natural stone, and lacquered wood. Repeated use of the roughly 22 percent alcohol formula can strip or cloud certain finishes over time.
- ⚠Eucalyptol and thymol are both toxic to cats, even in the diluted spray. Only use it in rooms your cat cannot enter, and let the surface dry and air out fully before letting pets back in.
- ⚠Never mix Listerine with bleach or any other cleaning chemical. Use it on its own, keep the room ventilated, and keep both the bottle and your mixed spray well out of reach of children, since swallowing it can cause nausea and vomiting.
- ⚠Because the original formula is flammable at full strength, keep the bottle and your spray away from open flames and lit gas burners. When you clean stovetop knobs or the cooktop, make sure the burners are off and cool first.
- ⚠Wear rubber gloves for the undiluted soaking jobs if you have sensitive skin, since repeated contact with the alcohol and oils can dry or irritate your hands. Rinse your skin if it starts to feel tight or itchy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Listerine actually safe to use as a household cleaner?
On the right surfaces, yes. The thymol, eucalyptol, and alcohol make it a decent mild antiseptic and odor neutralizer when you dilute it evenly with water. Keep it off unsealed marble, natural stone, and lacquered wood, since the alcohol can strip those finishes with repeated use. Always use the original amber formula so dyes do not stain light surfaces, and never combine it with bleach or other cleaners.
How do I make the basic Listerine cleaning spray?
Mix equal parts original amber Listerine and lukewarm water in a labeled spray bottle. About one cup of each fills a standard 16 ounce bottle nicely. Shake it before each use, since the oils separate as it sits. It handles laminate counters, bathroom vanities, glazed tile, and glass well, and costs far less than most name brand all purpose sprays. Mix small batches, because the alcohol slowly evaporates and a fresh batch works better.
Can Listerine really get rid of shoe and closet odors?
It helps, but be realistic about how long it lasts. Misting the inside of shoes and closet shelves knocks down the bacteria that cause odor, and the alcohol dries fast without leaving dampness that would invite mold. In my testing the fresh smell faded within a week, so this is a repeat as needed trick, not a permanent fix. For stubborn shoes, mist the interior and stuff them loosely with newspaper overnight to pull out the loosened moisture.
Does the mouthwash color matter for cleaning?
It matters more than you would think. Stick to the original amber formula. The blue, green, purple, and whitening versions carry added dyes that can tint light grout, painted surfaces, and fabric. The first time I used a blue one on white laminate it left a bluish cast near the seam that was a pain to scrub out. Amber is the safe default for every cleaning job here.
Will Listerine remove tough stains or hard water rings?
No, and this is where the internet oversells it. It is a freshener and light disinfectant, not a stain remover. It did nothing for the hard water ring in my toilet, and it will not cut through grime that has baked on by itself. For rust, mineral rings, or stains that have set in you still need a dedicated cleaner and some scrubbing. Use Listerine for quick odor control and light cleaning, and it delivers reliably.
How long does the homemade Listerine spray last before it goes bad?
It does not spoil in the way food does, but it loses punch. The alcohol and essential oils slowly evaporate from a spray bottle, so within about two to four weeks the mix cleans and dries less impressively. I mix small batches and date the bottle. If a spray suddenly smells weak or leaves streaks it did not before, that is your cue it has gone flat, so dump it and mix fresh. Store it cool and out of sunlight to stretch its life.
Can I use Listerine to clean my phone or other screens?
I would be cautious here. The alcohol can degrade the oleophobic coating on phone and laptop screens over time, the same way straight rubbing alcohol does, which leaves the glass more prone to smudges. If you want to wipe a device, use it very sparingly on a nearly dry microfiber cloth on the case and edges, not the screen itself, and never spray a device directly. For screens, a dedicated screen cleaner is the safer call.
Is it safe to use around my dog?
Be careful. Eucalyptol and thymol are toxic to pets, and the concern is highest for cats, but dogs can also be affected if they lick treated surfaces or the product itself. Use it only in areas your pet cannot reach while it is wet, let surfaces dry and air out fully before letting the animal back in, and keep the bottle stored where they cannot knock it over. When in doubt, choose a pet safe cleaner for floors and low surfaces your dog contacts directly.