10 Hacks From Our Grandmas That Still Work
Jan 23, 2019
Turns out granny kind of knew what she was doing. These old tricks from our grannies need to be preserved! Here are ten that still work!
1. Save burnt pots with salt water.
Granny was a little distracted in her later years. But a charred pot could easily be cleaned by filling it with water and a generous helping of salt. Boil for 20 minutes and the mess will lift away.
apost.com
2. Thin out old nail polish with nail polish remover.
Granny was economical. She never tossed old dried up nail polish. Instead, to bring new life into thickened nail polish, she just added a few drops of polish remover.
3. Use salt to avoid cracked hard-boiled eggs.
So this is why granny kept so much salt in the larder! She knew how to boil the perfect eggs without so much as a crack. Just add a heaping tablespoon of salt to the boiling water before adding the eggs.
4. When your child is learning how to write, tie a rubber band to their hand.
It sounds like a form of torture but this old trick helps your child learn to hold a pencil properly. First, wrap the rubber band around your child’s wrist. Have them hold the pencil. Now twist the rubber band around the top third of the pencil. It will stay in place as the child writes.
5. Aspirin keeps roses from wilting.
That’s right. Aspiring not only keeps you from wilting under the pain of a headache. Drop half an aspirin in some water in a vase and let it dissolve. Arrange your roses in the vase and enjoy them twice as long. This trick works for other flowers too, like carnations, chrysanthemums, and gladioli.
6. Relieve itchy bites with a potato.
Granny was always ready with an old wive’s tale remedy. One of her favorite summer saves was to rub half a potato on bug bites. Something in the potato keeps swelling to a minimum and soothes inflammation.
7. Dissolve stains with salt.
Don’t blame granny if your clothes are stained. You should have listened to her when she told you to sprinkle salt on a stain as soon as it happens. The salt will soak up the stain in minutes.
8. Navigate anywhere with a wristwatch.
Granny wandered off in her old age but somehow she always found her way home. Turns out she used granddad’s old wristwatch to navigate. The trick is to turn the watch so the hour hand is pointing toward the sun. Split by half the angle between that hour hand and the one o’clock mark. The line between that angle will point south.
9. Get rid of hand stains with lemon.
Beets are full of vitamins but they sure do leave hands looking like murder. Granny knew how to hide the evidence. Just slice a lemon in half and rub on stained hands to remove that telltale red stain.
10. Slice bread perfectly using a hot knife.
Why is it that when you slice bread, half of it crumbles into tiny bits and pieces, but when granny cuts bread it’s perfect? Because she dips her bread knife in boiling water before slicing, that’s why. (And because granny’s homemade bread is probably better than your store-bought stuff!)
What do you think of granny’s old ideas? Are there any here that you think you could use in your modern day life? Leave a comment and let us know what you think!