Acetone is a strong solvent which is used in paint thinners like lacquer thinner. It can be used to strip paint, but straight acetone or hardware store lacquer thinner won't take long to melt the plastic. However, some fingernail polish removers contain a tiny bit of acetone which is useful for spot stripping and smoothing out putty. You can technically make your own acetone using isopropyl alcohol, but I wouldn't try it at home.
I've heard about using vinegar and some kind of alcohol for decal solutions, but I've never tried them since I have full bottles of MicroSet and MicroSol.
Windex and Simple Green can also be used to strip chrome. They also work well to strip acrylic paint. A long enough bath in SG will even strip enamel with a good scrub.
You can use old style toothpaste for polishing.
Toothpicks go without saying.