Some ingredients used in the kitchen to enhance the taste of dishes can have other unsuspected uses. This is the case with salt and bay leaves. Among other things, they make it possible to maintain the house or take care of the laundry, at a lower cost. Discover their little-known uses in the home.
Salt and bay leaves have several strings to their bow, especially to take care of your home or your laundry. How to use them for this purpose?
What are the unsuspected uses of salt and bay leaf in the home?
Salt and bay leaves can be used in different ways to maintain your home.
-
Unknown uses of salt in the home
Coarse salt – Source: spm
-
Salt to fix the colors of clothes and linens
To protect the colors of your new clothes, and prevent them from rubbing off, you can use coarse salt. For this, before washing your colored clothes in the machine for the first time, first soak them in a basin of lukewarm water, then add 5 tablespoons of coarse salt. This will allow the colors to hold up better in the machine wash. Note that coarse salt can also be used to revive the colors of your clothes that have started to tarnish. To do this, simply soak the garment in question in a basin of cold water with coarse salt. You will need of a tablespoon of salt for each half liter of water. You can also soak your white tablecloths and other white linens in salt water to revive their whiteness. and restore their shine.
-
Salt to remove limescale from the house
Salt is a natural scale remover, effective in removing traces of limescale. To descale joints and taps, you can mix the juice of half a lemon with a little salt. Cover the scaled surfaces with this paste, leave to act for a few minutes, then rub and rinse. You can also pour a glass of salt into the toilet bowl, let it sit for 10 minutes, before scrubbing the walls with a toilet brush. This will allow you to remove the traces of limestone and stains that cover the bowl. Thanks to its anti-limestone action, coarse salt is also a natural softener, which softens the water in the washing machine in order to soften the laundry.
-
Unsuspected uses of bay leaves in the home
Bay leaves – Source: spm
The laurel sauce is a shrub with aromatic leaves very popular in the kitchen to flavor sauces and marinades. Laurel is also known for its antifungal, antiseptic and antibacterial properties. In addition to their culinary and medicinal virtues, bay leaves have other unsuspected uses, especially in home maintenance.
-
Bay leaves to keep pests away from the house
The smell of bay leaves is very effective in repelling certain pests and pests that invade the kitchen and the pantry, such as ants, cockroaches, flies or mice. To do this, simply scatter a few dried leaves around the kitchen, on the shelves in the pantry or around the containers in which food is stored. You can also place a bay leaf or two inside the jar of flour or cereal to protect them from moths that lay their eggs in the seeds.
-
Bay leaves to deodorize the house
Bay leaves are effective in combating bad smells in the house or cooking odors. To do this, just put a few bay leaves in a saucepan with water, and boil the mixture for 15 minutes. Spread this fragrant vapor in all the rooms of the house to deodorize them. An effective trick to diffuse a very pleasant soft and subtle fragrance.
To effectively keep pests away from the house, it is advisable to use these two condiments together. To do this, simply mix in a bowl of water, a little coarse salt with a bay leaf. The smell emitted by this mixture will serve as a natural insect repellent. You can also soak cotton balls in this solution and place them on window sills, so you can air your home, without fear of an invasion of flying insects.
That said, thanks to these two ingredients, you will be able, among other things, to keep insects away from your home, remove bad odors, and maintain your laundry.
Read also The risk of burglary increases in December – how to protect your home this Christmas?
Via SPM
