Add Some Flavour To Your Life With These Unexpected Salt Hacks
Increase the Lifespan of Your Flowers
Flowers look and smell great and can turn a dull room into a more lively, well-decorated place. However, flowers are not only expensive but also hard to sustain. After a couple of days, your beautiful orchids or roses will start withering and losing their beautiful properties.
Luckily, there’s a way around it. By adding a teaspoon of salt to the water in the vase, you can increase the lifespan of your flowers. This will mean fewer trips to the florist and a longer life for these natural beauties.
Dissolving Red Wine Stains
When a little bit of red wine falls in your carpet, it seems like there’s nothing you can do to get rid of it. The smell will last for days, and the stain will never entirely disappear. Or will it? Getting rid of red wine stains is a science in itself, but it’s a lot easier if you add a little bit of salt.
Start by applying some white wine to the stain, as this will neutralize it and also help with the odor. Then, use a sponge and wipe the area with water. Finally, put some salt on the smear and let it act for 20 minutes or so. Your friends might think you’re crazy, but the stain will disappear, as well as its red wine smell.
Ants Shall Not Pass!
Keeping hordes of ants out of your kitchen isn’t as easy as shutting the window and closing the door. They can get through almost anything to invade your cabinets and steal your sweet sugar. But they cannot get through salt!
Salt can be used as a sort of iron curtain to keep the ants away, and it’s an incredibly effective method. Just sprinkle some salt in strategic places around the house, and those hardworking ants will not even dare to pass through.
A Solution For Your Greasy Problems
There’s nothing worse than having to deal with relentlessly greasy plates and pans. Getting rid of the grease in the kitchen can be a challenge, especially considering grease is highly resistant to water.
When regular soap doesn’t do the trick, adding some salt to your greasy dishes is the perfect solution. It absorbs grease, and once it gets in contact with water, it dissolves, which results in a saline blend which is effective for cleaning.
Salt is Like a Lie Detector For Eggs
Eggs don’t lie, but they can hide a nasty surprise. Despite all the quality control that goes on nowadays, there’s a chance some of the eggs in your fridge may not be as fresh as you think. To test the freshness of your eggs, all you need is some salt mixed into a bowl of water.
Fresh and safe eggs will fall to the bottom, while bad eggs will float on the top. This ensures that you, your family, and friends don’t end up eating any rotten eggs. It’s an easy salt hack that can literally save you from a case of food poisoning.
Ice on the Car Window? Salt to the Rescue!
As if leaving your cozy bed to go out on a frosty morning wasn’t hard enough, you still have to deal with the fact that your car windows are completely frozen! If this is too much for you to bear, we have the perfect solution. And yes, it includes salt!
Salt acts as a very effective ice remover and is the perfect product to defrost your car windows. To prevent your car windows from getting frozen, just soak a sponge in salt and wipe the windows with it the previous evening. In the morning, your windows should be nice and transparent.
Fresh Drinks For Hours
We all know the drill: Fill a bowl with a lot of ice to help your expensive white wine and Champagne stay cold during parties, outdoor meals, and picnics. But how well does it really work? After some minutes, your ice will melt, and your drinks won’t stay as cold.
Unless you add some salt to the mix! Yes, this powerful mineral has some special properties that can help your drinks to stay chill for hours. Adding salt to ice lowers the freezing temperature so that it won’t melt as quickly. Try it out; it will be a life-saver during your next summer barbecue!
Increase the Lifetime of Your Sponges
Are you tired of buying new kitchen sponges all the time because your old ones get downright grimy? With the help of a little bit of salt, you can increase the lifetime of your sponges considerably, and it’s super easy to do!
Just leave your dirty sponge in a bowl full of salted water overnight. In the morning, your sponge will be as good as new! The key is to add enough salt. Usually, a quarter cup of salt per liter will do the trick.
A Natural Exfoliator
Sprinkling salt in your hair seems like something only a crazy person would do. But think about it: why should you spend a lot of money on expensive personal care products when salt can act as an effective natural exfoliator?
Due to its properties and grainy texture, salt is perfect for dealing with dandruff in a chemical-free way. It can also be used as an exfoliator for any other part of your body, helping your skin to become more clean and beautiful. Just make sure to hydrate your skin with a lotion or cream afterward.
To Add Salt, or Not to Add Salt
When you’re hungry, waiting for the water in the pan to boil can be frustrating. Time is money, and you’re probably tired of sitting around in the kitchen for what feels like hours, all because your cooking water is still not hot enough.
Some sources claim that adding salt to your water is an effective way of speeding up the process. However, adding salt, in fact, does the opposite because salted water has a higher boiling point and therefore makes it take longer to boil. You don’t need a time machine to make water boil faster. All it takes is the decision to add salt or not.
Ease the Pain With Some Salt
Salt is not often praised for its curative properties, but it can be beneficial to deal with mosquito bites and bee stings. The mineral can act as an anti-inflammatory, which means that it helps to relieve swelling, pain, and speed up the healing process. To use it, just apply a thick paste of salt and water to the sting.
Even though this is a great hack, please make sure to consult your doctor first in case of allergies. Additionally, some especially painful bites and stings may require some more potent medicine.
Salt is a Great Metal-Cleaner!
You don’t need to know the word verdigris to understand what we’re talking about. The term refers to that nasty greenness that affixes to your copper and brass objects (including small change), and it’s considered to be highly toxic.
Getting rid of verdigris would be a challenge if it wasn’t for our new best friend in the whole world. And yes, we’re talking about salt! A damp cotton cloth and a glob of salt are handy to deal with all kinds of dirty copper and metal objects. The final touch, however, is to add some ketchup to the mix. Your metal objects will be as clean as new!
Homemade Dishwasher Soap
Why buy expensive products in the store when you can make a pretty good replacement at home? Dishwasher soap can cost a lot of money, but there’s a way you can easily make your own with nothing but typical household ingredients.
For one wash, the recipe goes like this: a few drops of soap that you use to handwash your dishes, some baking soda (a large spoonful will do the trick), and finally, a sprinkle of salt. Sounds way too easy, right? But it will work as well as any dishwasher soap you’d buy in the store.
Cleaning the Drain Was Never This Easy
You don’t need to be an experienced chemist or buy expensive products to clean your drain effectively. All you need is our homemade solution to hack away all that drain dirt that seemed impossible to get rid of before.
One part salt, two parts baking soda, and four parts vinegar. That’s all it takes to have a powerful homemade drain cleaner that can help to raise the sanitation levels in your kitchen significantly. It works for any kind of drain, though.
Say Goodbye to Stinky Shoes
Nobody likes to have a pair of stinky shoes in the house. But sometimes, there’s no way around it. Sneakers and shoes just get smelly after a while, especially if you’re using them without any socks or for your sweaty workout routine. But can salt save us once again?
If you guessed yes, you guessed it right. Sprinkling some salt inside your odorous shoes will help to keep the smell away. Salt acts as an odor remover, and you will feel the difference after only a few hours. Your sneakers will feel like they’re brand-new!
Away with the Snails
Highly effective against ants, salt can also be used to keep snails away from your porch and kitchen. These little creatures can look kind of cute, but too many snails in your house are synonymous with trouble.
The best way to use salt against snails is by applying it as a prevention method. These shelled gastropods can die immediately when they come into contact with salt, so sprinkling some around strategic areas is a guaranteed way to keep them away.
Use Salt as a Lipstick Remover
There are tons of ways of getting lipstick off of your lips, but getting rid of these annoying lipstick stains on cups and glasses isn’t as easy. If you’re tired of scrubbing your crystal after having friends over, this method will save you some precious time.
You see, salt is effective against the emollients designed to make lipstick resistant and hard to clean. This means that by scrubbing the stain with some salt before cleaning, the lipstick mark will vanish almost immediately.
Beautiful, Colorful Towels For Longer
There’s nothing like the feeling of having a bunch of new, colorful towels in your bathroom. But like most good things, this feeling goes away after just a couple of washes. The colors fade, and your once-bright towels end up losing all their magic.
Unless… Well, do we really have to say it? Salt never stops being amazing! Adding a little bit of salt to your wash can ensure the colors of your new towels stay brighter for longer and increase the lifetime of your expensive bathroom towels.
Save Your Cut Fruit From Certain Death
The rule has it that, if you cut an apple, you better eat the entire thing to not waste any food. But does it really have to be like that? Not if you’re aware of the miraculous power of salted water.
If you want to save your half-cut apple from going brown, all you have to do is to dunk it briefly in a bowl with a mix of salt and water. Later on, your apple will be good as new, and you will save a lot of fruit from ending up in the trash.
Salt, the Great Soaker
As we continue to explore the wondrous properties of salt, you have probably realized by now that salt is excellent for combatting everything from grease to nasty odors. This salty super-power is also incredibly useful to deal with clean-up disasters, such as when an egg falls on the floor.
Cleaning up a broken egg is frustrating, mainly because the egg white will go all over the place. By dropping some salt on top of the broken egg, the white will become more solid and easier to clean. You can apply this method to all sorts of slippery liquids.
Stop Worrying About Your Fireplace
Few things are as heartwarming as a lit fireplace on a winter’s night. But fire is also dangerous. When you go to bed, you cannot stop worrying about whether you have extinguished it completely, or if there’s any chance an accident can happen.
To avoid these types of troubling thoughts, consider having a pot of salt right next to the fireplace. Every night, before going to bed, cover the coals with salt, and they will die a lot faster. Additionally, salt can help to reduce the number of ashes, allowing for a smoother clean-up the day after.
Stop Wasting Coffee With This Salty Hack
Freshly-made coffee is excellent, but we cannot say the same about old coffee. Sometimes, it takes only a couple of hours for your once-delicious pot of coffee to become sour and hard to drink. But salt can help you to make the most of it.
By adding a little bit of salt to your old coffee, you can get rid of its bitter flavor and actually drink it without gagging. Adding a little bit of water and sugar will also help to improve it.
Exterminate Mildew
Mildew is not only ugly, but it can also be a source of germs and bacteria. However, you don’t need to spend a small fortune on cleaning products to get rid of these horrible black spots effectively.
Instead, try to use our special, homemade mildew-remover. All you need is water, white vinegar, and salt. Put that mix inside a spray bottle, and you will get yourself an excellent mildew remover for the price of virtually nothing.
Need a New Iron? Not Anymore!
Irons are expensive and tend to get dirty. Cleaning them can be a challenge, and sometimes you’d rather buy a new one than continue to mess up your precious clothes. But there’s a way you can get rid of the brown stains that appear on your iron.
Get a piece of paper, sprinkle it with salt, and put it on your ironing board. Then iron it just as if it was a shirt. During the process, your iron will become as clean as new!
Poached Eggs Don’t Have to Be So Hard
Maybe you like your eggs fried, boiled, or scrambled. But when it comes to presenting your friends and family with a good-looking egg, there’s nothing like poaching. Poached eggs are considered somewhat hard to do, especially if you’re trying to make them look as nice as possible.
Well, to get a restaurant-level poached egg, there’s no better buddy than, you guessed it, salt! Add some salt to the boiling water before dropping the egg in, and we will guarantee improved poaching.
Salt & Salad Make a Dynamic Duo
There’s a good chance you already sprinkle your salad with some salt. Salt is not only perfect for adding some much-needed flavor to your salad, but it’s also handy for keeping it fresh.
This hack only lasts for an extra couple of hours, so make sure you’re not serving your friends some weeks-old lettuce. But if you’re preparing a salad in the morning to serve during the family dinner, this super simple trick can be a life-saver.
Clean Your Garden Walkway
After some time, your beautiful garden walkway can start to be invaded by annoying weeds that are very hard to get rid of. Most people would try to remove them one by one, which is extremely tiring and time-consuming.
But salt can, once more, save you some precious hours of work. By covering the holes in your garden walkway with salt, you can get rid of these unsightly weeds without having to break your back.
Fresh Cheese For Longer
The French have a liking for moldy cheese, but not everyone can live like they’re in Paris. If you like your cheese to stay fresh and firm, you need to start applying this salt hack to the dairy products in your fridge.
By soaking a napkin in salt and wrapping it around the cheese, you’re actively ensuring that it lasts longer and doesn’t get moldy overnight. And in the meantime, maybe you can save some money to buy some first-class French cheese!
Homemade Mouthwash
Our list of special homemade recipes wouldn’t be complete without our homemade mouthwash. Ever wondered about what people used to get fresh breath before Listerine and ACT hit the market? Well, it was probably this!
This recipe is super-cheap and easy. All you need is a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of baking soda. Mix both with water, and you’re ready to go! This mouthwash is not only incredibly inexpensive, but it’s also more natural than the stuff you buy in stores. It’s not minty, like your typical commercially-available mouthwash, but works nonetheless.
Get Some Super-Candles With a Lot of Salt
This hack takes a considerable amount of salt, but it’s worth it. The goal is to stop your candles from dripping, hence making sure your floor and furniture doesn’t get covered in hard-to-clean wax.
Start by soaking your candles in salted water for a couple of hours. The secret, though, is to make your water mix as salty as possible, which means you probably need to add extra salt. In the end, your candles will be more resistant and completely drip-free.
Fix Puffy Eyes
When you start working too hard and staying up for too long, your eyes will be impacted. Getting rid of puffy eyes is a matter of taking good care of yourself and being healthy, but there’s, of course, a salty hack that can help you to get around it.
Warm water and a teaspoon of salt are all you need to make your eyes look bright once again. Drop some cotton pads into the mix and apply them to your puffy eyes as you would do with a couple of cucumber slices. Are you feeling younger already?
Increase the Lifespan of Your Flowers
Flowers look and smell great and can turn a dull room into a more lively, well-decorated place. However, flowers are not only expensive but also hard to sustain. After a couple of days, your beautiful orchids or roses will start withering and losing their beautiful properties.
Luckily, there’s a way around it. By adding a teaspoon of salt to the water in the vase, you can increase the lifespan of your flowers. This will mean fewer trips to the florist and a longer life for these natural beauties.
A Weapon Against the Attackers!
Typically, plants are welcome and pleasant to look at. But when your garden shed starts getting all covered-up by poison ivy, it’s probably better to deal with the situation before it’s too late.
Plants and salt have a strange relationship. While salt in your flower vase can increase their lifetime, direct contact with salt is enough to kill other sorts of plants. Poison ivy is no exception. So, if you want to get rid of these intrusive plants, all you have to do is sprinkle them with some salted water.
Clean Your Piercings and Earrings
Piercing jewelry and earrings can help you to look beautiful and stylish. But they’re also very good at getting filled with hard-to-clean gunk. If you have no idea about what to do to make sure your piercings are sanitized, please follow our lead!
Salted water is, as we’ve seen, incredibly useful for all kinds of cleaning hacks, and it’s also beneficial for cleaning your jewelry. Soak your earrings and other piercing jewelry in water with salt overnight, and they will get cleaner, brighter, and germ-free.
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