60 clever uses for salt – that don’t involve cooking

Uh, oh – your once-beautiful bouquet has wilted, leaving cloudy deposits of minerals on the vase interior. Reach inside the vase, rub the offending ring of deposits with salt, then wash with soapy water. If your hand won’t fit inside, fill the vase with a strong solution of salt and water, shake it or brush gently with a bottle brush. then wash. This should clear away the residue.

When poison ivy erupts, salt to the rescue! Relieve the itch caused by poison ivy by soaking in a hot salt water bath.

Wicker furniture tends to yellow with age and exposure to the sun and elements. To keep your wicker natural-looking, scrub it with a stiff brush dipped in warm salt water. Let the piece dry in the sun. Repeat this process every year or every other year for best results.

This homemade face mask requires just two pantry staples: salt and olive oil. Make a paste using 1/4 cup of salt and ½ cup of olive oil, and gently apply it to your skin in a circular motion. Leave the mask in place for five minutes before washing it off. The moisturizing olive oil and exfoliating salt will leave your face, hands, and even lips feeling soft and refreshed.

A homemade mask is great for your skin but here are some things dermatologists say you should never do.

Nothing distracts from a gorgeous candle display like messy wax drips, and believe it or not there is a right way to burn candles. To keep them from dripping, create a ‘shell’ around the wax and trap the drips inside by using this saltwater trick. Place your candles in a large, flat dish and soak them in a saltwater solution (2 cups water and 2 tbsp salt) for 24 hours, then dry them well. Now when you light the candles, they won’t make such a mess.

Some laundry products are a waste of money.  Before you splurge on pricy stain-lifters, try treating stubborn grass stains with lemon and salt first. Squeeze lemon juice over the stain, sprinkling on a thick layer of salt, and then rub the stain with a lemon rind and watch it fade away.

Stacking wood in a fireplace is a combination of art and science. But how do you safely put one out? Douse the flames with salt. The fire will burn out more quickly, so you’ll wind up with less soot than if you let it smoulder. Clean-up the next day will be easier, too, because the salt helps the ashes and residue gather into easy sweepings.

No time to hit the nail salon? No problem. At home, mix one teaspoon each of salt, baking soda, and lemon juice in 1/2 cup of hot water, and soak your fingertips in the mixture for 10 minutes. Then, scrub your nails to rinse them off. The treatment will soften your cuticles and strengthen your nails. Bonus: dig your nails into the rind of the lemon, and your nails will look brighter and healthier too.

To remove mineral deposits in a fish tank that were caused by hard water, rub the inside of the tank with salt, then rinse the tank well. Now your tank is ready for re-use. When choosing what type of salt to clean with, be sure to use plain, not iodised, salt to protect the health of the fish who will inhabit the tank.

Cracks in cement allow just enough space for pesky, unattractive grass or weeds to grow – and they are tough to treat with an average weed-whacker. Try sprinkling salt and pouring hot water over the area, instead. The weeds will shrivel, leaving behind a spotless sidewalk or driveway.

Here are more ways to keep garden weeds under control.