Welcome to a Healthy Home – Cleaning Tips with SALT

Happy Saturday Everyone! I hope this post finds you well. Tonight I am focusing on some creative uses for salt, a commodity with a greater purpose that just a table condiment. It can be used in so many contexts: cleaning, cooking, soothing muscles, treating insect bites and more.

To clean greasy or food-crusted pans, use a mixture of salt and vinegar to scour away an unwanted material. Pour salt and white vinegar into the pan and stir it around until the food and grease come loose. Rinse the pan and then clean as normal. Tip: You can use a rough sponge to help scrub away any hard-to-clean food residue.

If your kitchen sink is clogged with food residue, pour 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup salt into a clogged drain, followed by 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes, then follow with a pot of boiling water. If the drain isn’t completely cleared after this, repeating the process should the produce the desired results.

If you spill a raw egg on the floor or kitchen counter while cooking, you can use salt to make the cleanup a little easier. Pouring salt on the egg before you wipe it up should make the egg coagulate, making the job easier and less messy.

Wash a dirty sponge: You can natural extend the life of a worn or dirty sponge by cleaning it with saltwater. Mix 1/4 cup salt in 2 cups of warm water and soak your sponge in it for several hours. Once you remove it from the water and wring it dry, it should be perfectly clean again and ready for use.

Sweat stains. To wash sweat stains or yellowing out of clothes, soak the fabric for several minutes in a solution of 4 tablespoons salt for every 1 quart of hot water. Let soak for several minutes and then wash as you otherwise would and all the discoloration should vanish.

Freshen up the coffepot. Add a cup of crushed ice, a tablespoon of water and a few teaspoons of coarse salt to a room-temperature glass coffee pot. Swirl and rinse. The salt scours the bottom of the pot while the ice helps to agitate it for a better scrub.

Come back this next week for the second part to my list of tips for using salt for health and wellness. Enjoy the weekend!