50 Uses For Salt, Besides Eating It

     The typical North American diet with our fast foods, fried foods, and snack foods contains way too much salt. I scoured the internet to find 50 uses for salt besides eating it. (Scouring the internet is one thing you cannot do with salt.)

•           Sprinkle salt on your shelves to keep ants away.

• Boil clothespins in salt water before using them and they will last longer.
   
•  Use a mixture of salt and lemon juice to clean piano keys.
   
• To fill plaster holes in your walls, use equal parts of salt and starch, with just enough water to make a stiff putty.
   
• Rinse a sore eye with a little salt water.
   
• Mildly salted water makes an effective mouthwash. Use it hot for a sore throat gargle.
   
• Use salt for killing weeds in your lawn.
   
• Sprinkle salt between sidewalk bricks where you don't want grass growing.
   
• Clean greasy pans with a paper towel and salt.
   
• Boil mismatched hose in salty water and they will come out matched.
   
• If a pie bubbles over in your oven, put a handful of salt on top of the spilled juice. The mess won't smell and will bake into a dry, light crust which will wipe off easily when the oven has cooled.
   
• Keep a box of salt handy at your stove and oven and if a grease fire flares up, cover the flames with salt. Do not use water on grease fires; it will splatter the burning grease. Also a handful of salt thrown on flames from meat dripping in barbecue grills will reduce the flames and deaden the smoke without cooling the coals as water does.
   
•  Rub the inside of fish tanks with salt to remove hard water deposits, then rinse well before returning the fish to the tank. Use only plain, not iodized, salt.
   
• Rub the inside of windows with a sponge dipped in a saltwater solution and rub dry; the windows will not frost up in sub-freezing weather. Rubbing a small cloth bag containing salt that has been moistened on your car's windshield will keep snow and ice from collecting. 
   
• Sprinkling a little salt in canvas shoes occasionally will take up the moisture and help remove odors.
   
• If an egg breaks on the kitchen floor, sprinkle salt on the mess and leave it there for 20 minutes. You'll be able to wipe it right up.
   
•   If a dye may run, soak the garment for an hour in 1/2 gallon of water to which you've added 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup salt. If rinse water shows color, repeat. This is good for a single-colored fabric or madras. If the item is multicolored, dry-clean it. (American-made fabrics are unlikely to run, but fabrics from abroad are sometimes risky.)
   
• Repel fleas. Wash the doghouse with it. Halt the mountain of suds from an overflowing washing machine. Sprinkle salt on the top.
• Clean artificial flowers. Put them in a bag of salt and shake the bag. Take a look at the color of the salt and you'll see what you've accomplished.  
   
• Clean a cutting board. Cover it with bleach and salt, scrub it with a stiff brush, then rinse with very hot water and wipe with a clean cloth. Repeat with each use. 
   
• Keep clothes bright — Add a half cup of salt to your wash water to prevent fading. 
   
• Remove odors — If your hands smell like onion or garlic after prepping vegetables, rub them with a paste made from salt and lemon.
   
• Shine silver — Shine tarnished silver by rubbing it with salt.
   
• Remove mildew — A mixture of salt and lemon juice will help to remove mildew from tubs, showers and tile.
   
• Ease mouth problems. For cankers, abscesses, and other mouth sores, rinse your mouth with a weak solution of warm saltwater several times a day. 
   
• Have an exfoliating massage. After bathing and while still wet give yourself a massage with dry salt. It freshens skin and boosts circulation.
   
• Mix a bit of salt with hand lotion to give cuticles a fresh manicured feel.  
• Drip-proof candles. If you soak new candles in a strong salt solution for a few hours, then dry them well, they will not drip as much when you burn them. 
   
• Tame a wild barbecue.Toss a bit of salt on flames from food dripping in barbecue grills to reduce the flames and calm the smoke without cooling the coals (like water does). 
   
• Remove water rings.Gently rub a thin paste of salt and vegetable oil on the white marks caused by beverage glasses and hot dishes on wooden tables.
   
• Cast-iron skillets can be cleaned with a good sprinkling of salt and paper towels. 
   
• Clean stained cups. Mix salt with a dab of dish soap to make a soft scrub for stubborn coffee and tea stains.
   
• Tackle mildew or rust stains. Moisten stained spots with a mixture of lemon juice and salt, then spread the item in the sun for bleaching -- then rinse and dry.
   
• Clean a gunky iron bottom. Sprinkle a little salt on a piece of paper and run the hot iron over it to remove rough, sticky spots. 
   
• Soak fish in salt water before descaling; the scales will come off easier.

• Soak toothbrushes in salt water before you first use them; they will last longer.
   
• Rinse a sore eye with a little salt water.

• Before using new glasses, soak them in warm salty water for awhile. 
   
• Rub any wicker furniture you may have with salt water to prevent yellowing.Test your eggs — If you're unsure of how fresh your eggs might be, try this experiment: fill a mug with water and add a pinch of salt. If the egg floats, consider it fresh. If the egg sinks, it's probably old. 

• Stain fighter — To remove wet ink stains from the carpet, cover the stain with salt. Let sit over night and vacuum. The salt should have absorbed all the ink.

• Hang clothes outside in the winter — If you add a little salt to your rinse cycle, your clothes won't freeze if hung outside on a cold day. In addition, a clothes line soaked in salt water doesn't freeze either. 
   
• Clean the bathroom — Mixed with turpentine, salt will help to remove the yellowed spots that appear on old white bathroom fixtures.
   
•  Easy peeling — By boiling eggs in salt water, the shells will be easier to peel.

Neutralize smelly pipes — Add salt to some boiling water and pour down the sink to eliminate stinky pipes.

High peaks — Add a dash of salt to egg white for stiff, high peaks when making meringue or other baked treats.

Enhance the flavor of coffee and tea — a pinch of salt in coffee grinds or added to a cup of tea is said to enhance the flavor of each of these beverages.    For chapped lips, rub a little bit of salt gently on lips to exfoliate.    Sprinkle on icy sidewalks to melt ice.

 Salt has been used for centuries to preserve meat or fish.