Courtesy Modern*Simplicity
Coarse-grained kosher salt is additive-free, and is easy to use with your fingers straight out of a salt cellar. Salt (sodium chloride) has more than 14,000 known uses, according to The Salt Institute, and salt is the most common and readily available nonmetallic mineral in the world.
Our supply of salt is inexhaustible, and it's something most people keep around the house anyway, so here are just a few ways you can use salt around the house.
*Cover liquid spills such as wine or coffee on the tablecloth or carpet. The salt will absorb the liquid and lessen the stain.
*Use salt to smother small grease fires. Likewise, if food drops on the oven floor and begins smoking, cover it in salt to stop the smoke.
*If your hands are stained from beets or other colored foods, or if they smell from cutting onions or other aromatics, mix salt and vinegar together and clean your hands with the solution.
*Make an ant barricade by blocking any paths with lines of salt. The ants will not cross the salt lines, and the salt is much safer for kids and pets over toxic pesticides.
*Clean cast-iron skillets with salt and just a little cooking oil. Nonstick or uncoated pans can be cleaned with salt and lemon juice.
*Deodorize and remove stains from cutting boards by rubbing them with salt and lemon juice. For wooden boards, brush the salt away and let air dry.
*For beach-worthy hair, dissolve salt into water in a spray bottle, then spray into hair and scrunch.
*Make a bath scrub with equal parts salt and olive oil. Scrub skin gently, but make sure to avoid any open cuts or it will burn!
*Dissolve salt in warm water for a freshening mouth wash. It's also helpful for toothaches and sore mouths post-orthodontia work, as well as canker sores.
*Wipe down the inside of windows in your home and car with a sponge dipped in a salt water, then dry. This will help prevent ice forming during freezing weather. You can also take the salt to go and try rubbing a small cloth bag of moistend salt on your your car's windshield to help prevent ice from forming.
*Get rid of weeds in your yard by pouring a mixture of 1 part salt to 3 parts boiling water directly on the weeds.
*Use lightly salted water to keep cut apples and pears from turning brown.
*If you line dry your clothes, add salt to the final rinse to help keep clothes from freezing in cold weather.
*Get rid of excess suds by sprinkling salt on them.
*Soothe a bee sting by moistening it and covering it with salt. A salt water soak helps relieve itching due to mosquito bites and poison ivy.
*Repel fleas by sprinkling salt in carpets and letting it sit overnight before vacuuming.