• What household items just turn into water when they pass their expiration dates?
What plastic household item can expire in just a few days?
These are 15 items that are probably expired in your house right now.
15 – Pillows • You might think that washing your pillowcase
makes your pillow last forever.
But nope!
• The whole point of a pillow is to support your head while you sleep.
Old pillows flatten out over time, making them effectively worthless for support.
• Try this test: fluff your pillow up and fold it in half.
If it bounces back into its normal shape, you’re good.
If it stays folded, you may as well be sleeping on a stone slab.
14 – Spices • Spices don’t spoil, in the sense that
they grow mold and make you sick.
But they do lose their potency over time.
• Most ground spices have aged to the point of being completely flavorless after about
2-3 years.
Culinary experts tend to throw their spices out every 6-12 months.
• Whole spices – like cinnamon sticks or peppercorns – last a couple years longer.
13 – Fire Extinguishers • Fire extinguishers should generally be
replaced every 5 to 15 years.
• Rechargable fire extinguishers can be recharged every 10 years, while disposables
can last up to 12, but it varies from unit to unit.
• Hopefully you never have to use one, but if you do, you’ll want it to do a little
more than just cough at the fire.
12 – Flour • Most flour does actually have a printed
expiration date, but that’s just a general guideline.
After all, it’s just harmless white powder.
How bad can it be?
• That depends on how much you like eating bugs.
Old flour is a well-known breeding ground for mealworms, especially when it hasn’t
been sealed properly.
• Even if it isn’t infested, flour deteriorates after about 6-8 months.
Luckily, you’ll know when it’s truly gone bad – you’ll be able to smell it.
11 – Power Strips • Surge protectors and power strips will
absolutely go bad.
Problem is, their lifespans aren’t measured in time.
They’re measured by how much power they’ve https://pixabay.com/en/belkin-surge-protector-2202185/
absorbed.
• Since there’s no real way for you to measure how much power they’ve absorbed,
you kind of just have to chance it.
• The older they are, the more at risk they are.
But if you know you’ve recently had a major power surge, they may not be effective for
much longer.
A power strip you bought last week could already be past its expiration if you’ve had a couple
of bad lightning storms. 10 – Bras
• Like pillows, bras are all about providing support.
And once they’ve worn out their elastic or lost their shape, they’re just not worth
it anymore.
• The average answer for bra lifespan is 6-9 months, but a lot of factors go into that,
like how often they get worn, whether they’re machine washed and dried, and cup size.
9 – Sunscreen • Sunscreen is regulated in the same way
over-the-counter drugs are, so their expiration dates are serious.
• Some say that sunscreen is only good for the season you buy it in, but the Mayo Clinic
says it should be fine for up to three years.
After that, the chemical agents start to break down, offering little to no protection.
8 – Bleach • Bleach doesn’t last as long as you might
think.
Clorox says its bleach retains its effectiveness for a year from the date it’s bottled.
• Actually, chlorine bleach will start to lose its potency after 6 months.
After that, it starts to degrade at a rate of about 20% per month.
• After about a year, your bottle of bleach is basically just salt water.
7 – Makeup • Your face has germs and bacteria on it.
And when you apply makeup to your face, some of that bacteria goes with it.
• Most makeup isn’t made to last more than about a year or two, because after a
while, it’s a breeding ground for bacteria.
• Lipstick might stay good for up to two years, for instance, but mascara may only
last 3 months.
6 – Car Seats • Car seats are made from materials that
expand and shrink as the temperature changes.
And obviously, it can get hot and cold in your car.
• After about 6 to 10 years, car seats often lose their shape, and any protection they
may have offered goes with it.
• And that’s why you don’t buy a used car seat.
5 – Tea • Tea follows basically the same rule as
spices – they’re both just dried plants.
• Tea can get moldy over time, especially if stored in humid areas.
But the bigger problem is that it just loses potency.
• In short, old tea just doesn’t taste good.
4 – Toothpaste • Old toothpaste may not taste good or work
as well, but it isn’t dangerous.
• However, Colgate actually says its toothpaste works just fine up to 18 months past its expiration
date.
After that, the fluoride becomes unstable, and the stuff just doesn’t do its job anymore.
3 – Bug Repellent • SC Johnson says the OFF!
Bug spray doesn’t have an “expiration date,” but it does have a “shelf life.”
• What that basically means to you is that it’ll be crap after a while.
• However, bug spray does last for several years before it starts to break down, assuming
it hasn’t been stored in extremely hot or cold temperatures.
After that, it won’t really hurt anything to use – but it won’t really keep bugs
away, either.
2 – Hydrogen Peroxide • It’s commonly thought that hydrogen
peroxide doesn’t expire.
But it does expire, and it expires quickly.
• Once you open a bottle, you have only about 30-to-45 days of using it at maximum
effectiveness.
After that, it will quickly begin to deteriorate.
• Once you’ve had the stuff open for about 6 months, it will barely be more effective
than regular water.
1 – Canned Soda • Come on, it’s sealed, canned, and full
of sugar and preservatives.
Surely it’s good forever, right?
• Actually, soda usually has an expiration date of about 6-9 months.
• Diet soda can be consumed up about four months after its expiration date, while regular,
high-sugar soda is good for about 9 months afterwards.
• But they do expire.
They’ll go flat, lose their color, and taste awful.
There are even some health risks associated with chugging down that three-year-old can
of Coke.
Now fess up, how many of these expired things do you have sitting around your house right
now?
Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll pin our favorite comment to the top.