9 Highly Useful Things You Can Do With Salt

Oh and also warm sea salt water rinses for babies with yeasty diaper rashes or other yeast rashes and for adults with yeast problems “down there” or wherever!

If you use the salt scrub for BRASS make sure it is not the newer brass that has a thin plastic or varnish COATING on it—the brass will scratch that and it will peel off. For older unsealed brass this will work.

To remove BLOOD from anything–especialy fabric—either soak in a strong solution of salt and COLD water or make a paste of the salt directly on the fabric with COLD water (hot water will make the protein in blood set and cling forever) and then rinse well in COLD water –make sure the stain is OUT before you heat dry. You can repeat as needed–if this is on white fabric you can also use Peroxide to get any lingering shadow out. This also works on EGG YOLK STAINS and MILK spills–any protein stain should come clean with this actually! .

To brighten up a dingy carpet or natural fiber (sisal) rugs—either spray with a salt water solution or sprinkle with salt; let sit, and either rinse or brush or shake the remaining salt out. (For a flat weave rug old used tea leaves can also be used—sprinkle, let dry, brush off with stiff broom)

The reason salt will allow you to “set” dye is it acts as a MORDANT and changes the chemical bonds between the dye and the fabric.

To “Dry Clean” artificial flowers…place them in a bag or container and add salt and some corn starch. Gently shake or roll back and forth–this will get in all the little nooks n crannies and remove dust and grease etc. You will be amazed at the difference in the color of the salt when you remove them! You can also use this on a much larger scale for DELICATE FABRICS such as sheer lace or sheer curtain fabric. Use a garbage bag or old pillow case and add a bunch of salt and shake rattle and roll. Shake out well to get the salt out. This will remove the grungy dust that clings to these things but won’t “clean” as in laundering them–but it will brighten them a lot and avoid damaging them in the washer or even hand washing. You can also use this on any fabric you have hanging on the wall like decorative embroideries–even if they are flat. Cover with salt, let sit. Use a soft paint brush to swish the salt around and dump it off. If you have lingering salt use a vacuum on exhaust or a hair dryer on COOL to BLOW OFF the remaining salt–this avoids damage to the fabric from suction. Can be used for fabric lampshades–use pillow case and a bunch of—well you get it!

For those of us who live in the Far North–I have read that you can wipe your wiper blades before a snow is expected or heavy frost/ice storm is coming with a strong solution of salt water to prevent the dreaded sticking to the windshield in the morning. I have never done this but seems like it would be worth it.

IF you break an egg on the counter or floor –you know how hard it is to clean up!!!—sprinkle heavily with salt and let sit for a minute and the whole thing will be much easier to scoop into a dust pan or use a spatula. Clean with a de-greasing cleaner.

For a boil that you want to “draw” out–use a “poultice” of salt worked to a paste with Fels Naptha Soap. Apply to boil and cover. Should bring to a drainage in a few hours. Old remedy that really works!

IF you spill something in your oven–sprinkle salt on it to make it easier to scrape out and scrub clean with out smelly oven cleaner.

To “toughen up” hands that will be doing manual work soak in heavy solution of salt and warm -to- hot water. Old guitar players trick. Also can soak natural drum skins in salt water to tighten them up.

Salt also works in absorbing pet “accidents” on the carpet or sofa. Liberally cover the area with salt and leave it for a day or two, then brush it off! Works amazingly well.

Rub your hands with salt after cutting an onion. It gets rid of the smell of the onion.

Working in he food industry years ago, I learned a neat trick. To clean coffee stains out of the glass coffee pots, pour in a generous amount if salt (1/3 of a cup?) and add 1/4 of a pot of CRUSHED ice. NOTE: only do this when the pot is cooled off. Do NOT put ice in a hot pot, it will shatter!!!! Swirl it around vigorously for a few minutes until the glass is clear again. The ice and salt scrub away all the stains and burned coffee that accumulates over time. They look brand new! We even used it to save pots that were “ruined” by being left on the warmer too long.

Oh and also warm sea salt water rinses for babies with yeasty diaper rashes or other yeast rashes and for adults with yeast problems “down there” or wherever!

If you use the salt scrub for BRASS make sure it is not the newer brass that has a thin plastic or varnish COATING on it—the brass will scratch that and it will peel off. For older unsealed brass this will work.

To remove BLOOD from anything–especialy fabric—either soak in a strong solution of salt and COLD water or make a paste of the salt directly on the fabric with COLD water (hot water will make the protein in blood set and cling forever) and then rinse well in COLD water –make sure the stain is OUT before you heat dry. You can repeat as needed–if this is on white fabric you can also use Peroxide to get any lingering shadow out. This also works on EGG YOLK STAINS and MILK spills–any protein stain should come clean with this actually! .

To brighten up a dingy carpet or natural fiber (sisal) rugs—either spray with a salt water solution or sprinkle with salt; let sit, and either rinse or brush or shake the remaining salt out. (For a flat weave rug old used tea leaves can also be used—sprinkle, let dry, brush off with stiff broom)

The reason salt will allow you to “set” dye is it acts as a MORDANT and changes the chemical bonds between the dye and the fabric.

To “Dry Clean” artificial flowers…place them in a bag or container and add salt and some corn starch. Gently shake or roll back and forth–this will get in all the little nooks n crannies and remove dust and grease etc. You will be amazed at the difference in the color of the salt when you remove them! You can also use this on a much larger scale for DELICATE FABRICS such as sheer lace or sheer curtain fabric. Use a garbage bag or old pillow case and add a bunch of salt and shake rattle and roll. Shake out well to get the salt out. This will remove the grungy dust that clings to these things but won’t “clean” as in laundering them–but it will brighten them a lot and avoid damaging them in the washer or even hand washing. You can also use this on any fabric you have hanging on the wall like decorative embroideries–even if they are flat. Cover with salt, let sit. Use a soft paint brush to swish the salt around and dump it off. If you have lingering salt use a vacuum on exhaust or a hair dryer on COOL to BLOW OFF the remaining salt–this avoids damage to the fabric from suction. Can be used for fabric lampshades–use pillow case and a bunch of—well you get it!

For those of us who live in the Far North–I have read that you can wipe your wiper blades before a snow is expected or heavy frost/ice storm is coming with a strong solution of salt water to prevent the dreaded sticking to the windshield in the morning. I have never done this but seems like it would be worth it.

IF you break an egg on the counter or floor –you know how hard it is to clean up!!!—sprinkle heavily with salt and let sit for a minute and the whole thing will be much easier to scoop into a dust pan or use a spatula. Clean with a de-greasing cleaner.

For a boil that you want to “draw” out–use a “poultice” of salt worked to a paste with Fels Naptha Soap. Apply to boil and cover. Should bring to a drainage in a few hours. Old remedy that really works!

IF you spill something in your oven–sprinkle salt on it to make it easier to scrape out and scrub clean with out smelly oven cleaner.

To “toughen up” hands that will be doing manual work soak in heavy solution of salt and warm -to- hot water. Old guitar players trick. Also can soak natural drum skins in salt water to tighten them up.

Salt also works in absorbing pet “accidents” on the carpet or sofa. Liberally cover the area with salt and leave it for a day or two, then brush it off! Works amazingly well.

Rub your hands with salt after cutting an onion. It gets rid of the smell of the onion.

Working in he food industry years ago, I learned a neat trick. To clean coffee stains out of the glass coffee pots, pour in a generous amount if salt (1/3 of a cup?) and add 1/4 of a pot of CRUSHED ice. NOTE: only do this when the pot is cooled off. Do NOT put ice in a hot pot, it will shatter!!!! Swirl it around vigorously for a few minutes until the glass is clear again. The ice and salt scrub away all the stains and burned coffee that accumulates over time. They look brand new! We even used it to save pots that were “ruined” by being left on the warmer too long.