Here is a terrific list, twelve in all, to get you started! It really is amazing what that small bottle you have in your pantry, in your medicine chest, or below the sink, can do for the entire family! Check out the list and learn a thing or two about rubbing alcohol; many of these uses may surprise you!

1) Dissolve frost on your windshield
One of the worst things about an icy cold morning is having to scrape off all that frost off the windows of your vehicle. It’s bad enough having to get yourself out from under those warm, cozy covers, right? Instead of scraping and freezing yourself in the process, you could be savoring your morning coffee. Well, now you can. Just fill up a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol, spray it onto the glass and that frost will come right off.
2) A homemade ice pack
An ice pack is great to have around. They can relieve pain, swelling, and inflammation from injuries and other conditions, such as arthritis. You can make your own ice pack easily by combining one part rubbing alcohol with two parts water in a Ziploc-style freezer bag. The rubbing alcohol prevents the bag from completely freezing into a solid block of ice.
3) Cleaning garden tools
If you’ve been using your garden tools to remove any rotting, diseased or dead plants, it’s important to completely disinfect those tools or harmful bacteria will remain on the tools and get transferred to healthy plants. While there are sanitizers available on the market specifically for this purpose, they typically cost more, and you’re more likely to have rubbing alcohol on hand anyway. To disinfect them, clean them off with soap and water first, and then allow each tool to soak in rubbing alcohol for a minute or so. After it’s soaked in the rubbing alcohol, wipe it down with a clean rag and let it dry.
4) Shoe deodorizer
If your athletic shoes or sneakers start to smell funky, you can use rubbing alcohol to eradicate that unpleasant odor. In this case, add rubbing alcohol to a spray bottle without mixing water in. Spray it into the inside of the shoes, concentrating on the smelly areas, making sure they’re totally saturated. Allow them to sit overnight before wearing. In the morning, they should be dry and the smell should be gone.
5) De-Greaser
Rubbing alcohol also makes a cheap and effective de-greaser. All you need to do is pour a bit onto a clean rag and wipe down your stove. Not only is it a lot less expensive than products designed to do the same thing, it may even work better. You can use it to wipe down all of your kitchen appliances, including chrome. They’ll be clean and almost as shiny as new. You don’t even have to rinse, as the rubbing alcohol dries almost immediately after you are done.
6) Say goodbye to fruit flies
Fruit flies can be so annoying, hovering right in front of your face, so close that you think you can easily swat them down, but that never seems to happen. Fortunately, the next time you see them, you’ll know just what to do. Have your spray bottle (fine mist is best) ready, filled with rubbing alcohol. Spray those little insects down, and they’ll immediately fall to the floor. All you have to do now is sweep them up. While it isn’t as effective as using an insecticide, it does the trick and it’s much safer than spraying poison around the kitchen.
7) Candle cleaner
If you have candles that just sit around most of the year, hanging around accumulating dust until it’s the holiday season or another special occasion, you know how bad they can get. In fact, you might have even thrown some out. But had you known that they’re easy to clean with rubbing alcohol, you could have saved the waste. Just dampen a clean rag with rubbing alcohol (before lighting them, of course as rubbing alcohol is highly flammable) and the dust wipes right off.
8) Repel bed bugs
Bed bugs can turn your home from a comfortable sanctuary into a place of misery. Worse yet, the creatures are becoming increasingly resistant to common pesticides. If you catch them in time, you may be able prevent on full-on infestation, which requires an exterminator. As rubbing alcohol is a solvent, it has the ability to kill bed bugs by dissolving their cells. And, as it’s also a drying agent, it can destroy the creature’s eggs by drying them out as well. Rubbing alcohol also helps to repel them as it discourages the insects from crawling or laying eggs on a surface that’s been treated with the substance.
To get rid of bed bugs, get out your trusty spray bottle filled with alcohol, and spray a light mist onto your bed or other furnishings. Allow it to dry (it usually doesn’t take more than a few minutes), and then vacuum.
9) Treating head lice
Rubbing alcohol can also effectively kill lice and nits, and while it’s a powerful disinfectant, it’s safe to use on your hair and scalp. Do use it bend your head over a sink and pour some rubbing alcohol on your scalp. Using your fingers, spread it around your scalp, and throughout your hair. Let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes, and then rub some leave-in conditioner onto your scalp. Now, use a long-toothed comb to brush out all lice before shampooing your hair as usual. Repeat this treatment once per week for a month to ensure all lice and nits are gone. Additionally, you may want to dip your comb into rubbing alcohol every time you use it on your hair for the best results.
10) Removing grass stains
Grass stains are particularly stubborn, they can be really challenging to get out, but rubbing alcohol can come to the rescue again. Just rub some into the grass stain and allow it to sit for 10 minutes before laundering as usual.
11) Emergency deodorant
If you find yourself out of deodorant, you can use rubbing alcohol and essential oil in a pinch instead. Add rubbing alcohol to a fine-mist spray bottle and then add 15 drops of essential oil – lavender is ideal if you have it on hand. Spray your armpits as you would normally with any deodorant, but be sure to avoid applying it right after shaving as it can be painful.
12) Remove ticks!
Ticks are not only annoying, they can spread diseases to both humans and animals. Fortunately, they hate alcohol, which means rubbing alcohol can help in the process of removing one. The idea is to use it to stun the tiny arachnid with the rubbing alcohol – it will then immediately lose its grip from the skin so that it can be more easily removed. To do so, douse a cotton ball with some rubbing alcohol and then gently rub it onto the area with the tick. Immediately afterward, remove it using a pair of tweezers and then spray rubbing alcohol on the wounded area to disinfect it. This can be used on animals as well as people.

If you’ve ever had ticks, for us it was on our pets especially during the summer months, you know how important the last item listed is!

There are many more things rubbing alcohol can be used for and you can find them on Natural Living Ideas. Not everything is survival related, which is what we tried to emphasize for the most part, above. Although the “emergency deodorant” just seemed a fun idea.

Rubbing alcohol is a God-send for preppers so keep a bottle or two stored away at all times. After all, you never know how often it will be used after the grid goes down!