10 Household Crises You Can Solve With Salt

10 Household Crises You Can Solve With Salt

We knew salt could make food taste great, but we didn't know it could make our home a better place, too.

Turns out a simple dose of salt can solve a whole slew of home disasters, like cracked egg messes and wine spills. And not only are the fixes incredibly easy, but they're also usually cheaper than using other fancy cleaning products. We've gathered a few of HouseholdHacker's brilliant salt rescues, along with a few of our favorite ways to let salt save the day. For even more hacks, be sure to watch the video above.

1. Get sticky gunk off your iron.
Turn your iron on high, and sprinkle a generous amount of salt onto a piece of wax paper. Move the hot iron over the paper, and watch the salt cause your gunk to fall right off.
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2. Chill white wine in a snap.
Warm white wine? Never fear: Just put the bottle in an ice bucket with ice, water and a handful of salt. Twist the bottle to stir the salt around, and watch as the salt works its magic. Your bottle will be cold in no time.
white wine chill

3. Clean up a cracked egg.
There's no need for wads of paper towels. Cover the mess with salt, and wait 10 to 15 minutes. The salt will turn the eggy goo into a crumbly sand that's easy to wipe up.
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4. DIY dishwasher soap.
If you find yourself in a pinch, make your own dishwasher detergent from salt, baking soda and regular dish soap. It works like a charm!
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5. Get rid of caked-on pan grease.
Cover the greasy residue with a layer of salt, then add some water and wait 10 minutes. The solution will dissolve the grease, allowing you to easily wipe it away.
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6. Clear up a red wine stain.
Sprinkle salt on the fresh stain, and wait 5 minutes. Splash with cold water, and rub until the stain disappears.
red wine stain

7. Clean a grime-covered sponge.
Fill a container with 2 cups of water and a quarter cup of salt. Leave your greasy, blackened sponge in the mixture overnight, then watch the grime fall right off.
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8. Clean a grimy wood cutting board.
You shouldn't put wood cutting boards in the dishwasher, but you can disinfect them with hot water, salt and lemon juice.
clean wood cutting board

9. Clear up a hair clog in the drain.
Make a "natural Drano" by mixing 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1/4 cup of salt. Remove as much hair from the drain as you can with your (gloved!) hands, and then pour the mixture down the drain. Follow with 1/2 cup of white vinegar, and let sit for 15 minutes. Rinse everything down with a pot of boiling water. Voila!
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10. Get rid of mildew.
To banish mildew stains and smells from clothes or towels, make a paste from salt and lemon juice. Rub the paste on the stain, then let dry (ideally in the sun). Run clothes through the washing machine for good measure.
hanging to dry

Before You Go

Eat the Crusts for Curly Hair
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How many of us had a grandparent convince us to mow down on the undesirable brown bits of bread if we lusted over Shirley Temple’s locks? It may sound like a sneaky picky eating parenting trick, but historians relate the association to class as historically, both curly hair and bread were associated with prosperity. Ladies, go ahead and eat those delicious crusts right up, but we wouldn't toss your curling wands just yet.
Marshmallows for a Sore Throat
John Lamb via Getty Images
Sick of medicinal throat lozenges? Apparently a youthful round of Chubby Bunny is the tastier way to soothe a hoarse throat. While the sap from the marshmallow plant originally used to make the candies has been praised for its anti-inflammatory properties, people continue to believe that the gelatin-based sweets we see in stores today still offer relief. Sounds to us just like a sneaky excuse to make s’mores.
Bread & Milk for Boils
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Moistening bread with milk or water and slapping it on your skin seems like something only an infant could teach us to do. But seriously, there are full-grown educated people treating their boils this way today, too. Poultices (that is, any soft, moist substance used for healing) come from the word for “porridge,” which is likely where the idea to transform day-old bread into a skin remedy originated.
Hard-Boiled Egg for a Black Eye
Adam Gault via Getty Images
Bar fight? No problem. Asian tradition states that you should slip an old silver coin into a freshly peeled warm hardboiled egg, wrap it in a thin cloth and then rub it into the bruise until the coin “absorbs” the purple hue. No intell on the financial value of the smelly violet coin after the procedure, or how long your face will smell like a bad 90’s perm.
Wet Spinach Behind the Ears for Nosebleeds
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Regular sufferers of nose bleeds have likely been advised to up their intake of vitamin K-rich foods like spinach, due to the nutrient’s role in blood coagulation. But some families figure, why bother eating it when you can just hang it like a dangling pair of slimy spinach bangles behind your ear? Well, we all had plenty of opportunities as kids to hide our greens in unforeseen places, it’s probably time we stop pretending this magically could work.
Put Fresh Basil in Your Bottom for Constipation
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Basil has long been regarded as a natural laxative and home remedy for constipation, but most modern holistic websites just tell you to chew and eat the stuff. Some homemakers, on the other hand, swear you need to insert the fresh leaves up through the back door and let it sit there until something comes out. I can’t imagine how this awkward trick would work or who thought to test it out, but on the bright side, your bowel movements will smell like pesto!
Papaya Juice and Milk for Bigger Breasts
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Looking to perk up the girls? Forget the Wonderbra and just pour yourself a glass of fresh papaya juice and milk. For decades, women have sworn by this natural boob job — there are full blogs solely devoted to this technique! The theory: milk supplies a hit of protein, while papaya’s unique enzymes help digest and absorb that protein to help bulk up those pectoral muscles. All that sugar sounds like any other classic weight-gain cocktail to us, so you may get bigger boobs, but don’t be surprised if they comes with a matching belly.
Licorice for Calluses
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Athletes rejoice! You can apparently run off those calories and then keep yourself from eating them by rubbing your favourite licorice candy sticks onto your callused feet. The theory goes that licorice supposedly contains an estrogen-like substance that can soften tough skin, especially when mixed with a little oil or jelly.
Onion in Sock for a Cold or Flu
John Rizzo via Getty Images
Tradition holds that when your baby runs a fever, just slip a slice of onion into their socks and let the onion “absorb” the ailment through their little feet. This old wives' tale stems from the early 1900s when families claimed they survived the influenza by placing cut onions around the home. And while there is no doubt that onions have powerful health and nutritional properties when consumed, feet don’t have mouths and are putrid enough as is. Put your onions in your sandwich, not in your socks.
Gizzard Tea for Diarrhea
David Emmite via Getty Images
Well, doesn’t this sound appetizing. Apparently next time you have the runs, you just cut the lining out of a standard chicken gizzard and then let it dry out. After it’s dry, you can pop it into a pot of boiling water and drink the tea until your diarrhea disappears. Honestly, just the thought of gizzard tea makes us want to rush to the bathroom, so it may have the opposite effect.
Chocolate Coated Garlic to Boost Memory
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Apparently First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s routine to improve her memory included eating three chocolate-covered garlic cloves each day, assumedly related to the brain-supporting antioxidants in both foods.
Grated Onions and Ouzo for Sprain
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The Greeks know how to work a little booze into everything they do. After a nasty fall, the standard suggestion is to mix Ouzo and grated onion into a paste and bandage it onto the swollen area to sit overnight. The next morning — Opa! The swelling should have disappeared!
Coffee Potty to Induce Labour
MakiEni's photo via Getty Images
Impatient for the little bundle of joy to arrive? Moms have been abuzz about this natural induction method of years. Just pour a fresh pot of Joe into a bowl, sit it into the toilet and squat over it like you’re going to relieve yourself. Apparently, you may end up relieving yourself of something a lot bigger then your daily business.
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