10+ Old School Cleaning Tricks That Are Useful Even Today

Nowadays we’re used to searching for useful tips online that can make our lives easier, however, back in the day, our grannies used to invent ingenious hacks and pass on their experiences to each other verbally. These hacks are still useful even today!

We at Bright Side have tested our grannies’ advice ourselves and chose the ones that really work.

1. Using salt for easy cleaning

It’s much easier to clean the stove after cooking if you pour a thin layer of salt around the burners. It will make all drops and splashes stay on the surface. When the stove cools down, all you’ll have to do is to collect the salt with a wet wipe without having to scrub anything. In the modern world, a vacuum cleaner can be an even better help by sucking in the salt in just several seconds.

2. Sharpening a knife quickly

If you don’t have a knife sharpener at hand, you can make a blade sharp again by rubbing it against the bezel at the bottom of an ordinary porcelain plate.

3. Peeling carrots quickly

It’s easy to peel carrots with the help of a metal scrub. It speeds up the process and leaves less waste.

4. Making breadcrumbs

The easiest way to cook breadcrumbs is to freeze a piece of bread in the freezer and grate it.

5. Protecting a manicure

To prevent your nails from making holes in your rubber gloves and spoiling your manicure, make sure to put cotton balls in each rubber finger before you start the cleaning process.

6. Cleaning up a broken egg

It will be easier to remove a broken egg from the floor if you cover it with salt. The mixture will become dry in 5 minutes and it will be easier to sweep it into a dustpan.

7. Saving the taste

Garlic won’t become dry and will keep its taste if you keep it in a box or a container while it’s covered with coarse salt.

8. Fighting parasites

Keeping bay leaves in a sugar bowl, bread box, bags of flour, and flower pots will scare away ants, midges and other insects.

9. Drying woolen clothes correctly

The best way to dry a woolen sweater is to loop a pair of tights’ waist area through the throat cut of a sweater and its legs through the sweater’s sleeves. Hang it on a clothesline or air dryer like it’s shown in the picture above. It will prevent the sweater from becoming larger and will help it dry faster.

10. Using old things in new ways

If you have an old, small teapot (a cracked and glued one will work too), you can still put it to good use. For example, you can place rope or twine in the teapot and pull their ends through its “nose” whenever you need them at whichever length you need. It will prevent the rope from tangling and will keep it at hand.

11. Untangling knots

Pour some talc on a strongly tangled shoelace knot. It will help the laces to untangle easier.

Can you recollect any handy recommendations from your grandma? Please, tell us about them!