Did you know that salt is good for so much more than just sprinkling on your food? Those tiny white grains of salt are small indeed, but each one can be quite powerful and help you around the house in a great deal of ways. In fact, the kitchen is just one of the places salt can come in handy in your home. Take a look below at 20 Frugal Ways to Use Salt, and see some of the other ways salt can be your best friend.
20 Frugal Ways to Use Salt
1. Soothe a sore throat. A teaspoon of salt mixed with warm water and gargled can provide some instant and soothing sore throat relief. It can also help kill nasty germs.
2. Kill germs on sponges. Soak your sponges in a mixture of salt and hot water for several hours. Rinse and use as usual.
3. Kill weeds. Many people like to kill weeds naturally by mixing a few tablesopons of salt with a gallon of hot or even boiling water and then pouring it over the offending plant. Repeat as needed daily until the weed is dead.
4. Clean your chimney. Toss a handful of salt into your next fireplace fire as it is said to loosen up soot as it burns.
5. Take the bitterness out of coffee. Add a small pinch of salt to the coffee grounds in your next brew and it will help get rid of any bitterness that may be present.
6. Banish blood stains. Pour salt over a blood stain and allow it to set for several minutes. It will absorb a great deal of the blood. Then, dust away the salt and wash as usual.
7. Reduce facial puffiness. If you are experiencing facial puffiness or swelling, just make a mixture of salt and warm water and dab it on with a cotton ball. Be careful around the eyes.
8. Make your own salt scrubs. Add one tablespoon of salt to two tablespoons of olive oil to make your own face scrub. Massage it gently onto your skin then rinse with cool water and pat dry.
9. Whiten and brighten your socks. You can boil your socks in a large pot of water, baking soda, and salt to bring out their brightness and banish any stains.
10. Keep wicker furniture clean. Dip a scrub brush in a warm water and salt mixture and clean your wicker well. This will keep it bright and keep it from yellowing.
11. Strengthen your broom bristles. Fill a bucket with salt water and soak the end of your broom in it for an hour. It will strengthen the bristles and keep them sweeping up debris like new.
12. Treat wine stains in carpet. To treat a nasty wine stain on the carpet, dilute the stain with club soda. Then, cover the stain with salt and allow it to soak up as much as possible. Once it is dry, vacuum the salt up.
13. Treat poison ivy. Make a paste of salt and water and apply it to the affected area. You may also want to add a little salt to your bath to help ease the itching and promote healing.
14. Prevent ice build up on your windows. Scrape your windows less this winter when you wipe them first with a sponge that has been soaked in a mixture of salt and water, then dried. It will prevent the ice from sticking to your windows which means less scraping for you.
15. Remove mineral deposits. Remove mineral stains on vases or aquariums by swishing some salt water around in them and then rinsing clean.
16. Clean copper. A simple paste made from salt and water can be applied to copper to make it shine. Just apply, rub gently, and rinse.
17. Keep lettuce crunchy. Add some salt (just a sprinkling) to your chopped lettuce and it will stay crisp longer. This trick is perfect for dinner parties where you prepare the salad ahead of time.
18. Clean lipstick marks from glass. If you have wine glasses or drinking glasses with lipstick marks on them, just rub a little salt onto the mark and watch it disappear.
19. Make eggs easier to peel. Add a pinch of salt to the water when boiling eggs and it will make them easier to peel. No more crumbly shells and wasted eggs.
20. Clean up oven spills. Pour salt over oven spills before they have the chance to dry and harden. It will make it so much easier to clean the spills up once the oven cools off.
So grab your salt shaker and start giving some of these frugal ways to use salt a try. Who knew those tiny grains could have so many huge uses?
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