Does it Work? DIY uses for SALT

Salt has so many uses.  Besides making those potato chips so irresistible, it can be a highly effective and chemical free way to approach many of your daily tasks around the home.  I recently left my high paying job in Seattle to find a different way to live so I could be available to raise my kids.  I have had to become clever both in my use of finances and resources.  When we first moved into our new home our stove didn’t work for a whole week!  I spent countless hours on-line trying to figure out how I could cook meals around the clock for my family in a crock pot until it was fixed.  Thankfully there is a never ending supply of crock pot recipes and we fared really well (and I am proud to say I can now bake a cake in a crock pot).

So now I am always researching new ways to improve my conditions, use what I have on hand, and stop paying for things I don’t need to.  I am surprised at what I find out there being touted as a DIY remedy for this and that, and I am also surprised when sadly some of them don’t work or at least don’t perform to my satisfaction ( I am kind of picky that way).  Today I am going to share my top uses for salt that I have personally used and was left impressed! (and the bogus ones too)

Laundry:  Keeping Colors Crisp: I hate when my colors fade in clothes and it seems to happen fast as more manufacturers are using unstable dyes to save money, leaving them dull and faded.  There are a slew of expensive color-fast products you can purchase, but seriously a ¼ cup of salt in your colored load works best.  (even on dark denim ladies)

Coffee Pot Cleaner: I don’t know why a dirty coffee pot makes me feel uggh, but it is high on the life is not right list.  I have done the vinegar brew thing, and usually always ended in scrubbing.  But you can actually put ice-cubes (leave room for swishing to happen) and ¾ cup of salt and swish it around for like 5 minutes (if that, and to get the top cleaned I flipped the pot upside down and swirled). Then rinse it out.  Crystal clean SO EASY. *Tip for the outside I took a washcloth wet it with cold water and about 2 TBS of salt and wiped around the outside and rim.

Weed Killer: Do you know how much a little bottle of Round-up is?  I now live where in the summer it feels like the weeds grow up  overnight.  I especially hate my fence line, where the mower doesn’t reach and I am afraid of whacking my fence all up with the weed eater.  Save a milk jug (or go bigger if you need to) and mix 3 cups of salt and hot water (I bring mine almost to a boil) and then get out there fast and pour it where you don’t want weeds.  *NOTE:  I learned the hard way, don’t think salt is smart and knows to only kill the weeds and not the dahlia’s you are pouring it next too.  So just use caution.  I have seen some people post to actually pour the salt on the area then pour hot water over.  Whatever works best for you (but that seemed like a lot of salt to use), key is the water has to be HOT.

Oven Spills: There may be nothing I hate more than cleaning an oven, I don’t care if you have a “self-cleaning†oven I still hate wiping it out.  So I try to minimize the spills, but occasionally that ooey-gooey caramel apple pie stuff is going to make a break for it and land on your pristine oven floor.  If you don’t kick it out, it will become part of your family by becoming a charred air freshener that ignites itself every time you turn on your oven.  When it happens pop the door open, douse it in salt (don’t hold back) and it can pretty much wipe it off after you pull that pie out.

Tried but NOT True:

I am putting a disclaimer here that maybe, just maybe I did something wrong…but I feel like it isn’t rocket science, so you know…

Pest Control: I tried SALT as an ant deterrent in my windows.  We have some small ants that like to come in during the spring and they are not welcome.  Salt…completely ineffective.  (you know what did work? A little bowl of cinnamon and whole cloves…and it smelled nice too, but you know-not to the ants they think it smelled icky)

Keeping your car windows frost free:  Yes after the first application it helped, but pretty much you have to do it every night for a minimal benefit.  Just use a credit card like the rest of us!

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