Tried and tested home remedies

[brownwire]

What are some home remedies or tips and tricks you would swear by? Like I find chewing on raw ginger helps my sore throat. I clean my bathtub with shampoo (it gets sparkly clean). I use vinegar and soda bicarbonate to clean oil containers and so on.

I would like to hear about such stuff that others find helpful. (Tried and tested tips)

I make my own hot lemon and honey drinks when I have a cough or cold and I add raw ginger as it seems to help.

I drink rooibos tea and read that steeped tea bags can be used as a hair dye. I have tried it and found it quite effective on grey hairs if it is used daily (and left on for awhile). It's not a replacement for hair dye but does tint the hair. Obviously, the type of tea you use will be reflected in the colour of the hair.

I will try the shampoo trick with the bath, not heard of that before.

Great idea for a thread OP!

Chewing on fresh parsley to get rid of garlic breath.
Aloe Vera gel on (clean) wounds, especially burns.

Oh, this is my favourite: F10 (a vetinary disinfectant) is pet safe, skin safe, and doesn't smell.
I buy the concentrate and dilute to the right dilution for the purpose.
I've used it to clear up everything from ringworm, dandruff and thrush (it's a brilliant antifungal) as well as acne. I also use it as a household disinfectant and for cleaning out pet cages.

rinse strawberries with diluted vinegar to last longer
have a spoonful of honey with raw turmeric to stave off cold

Painting clear nail varnish over insect bites.
Stops the itching - it's something to do with what they inject you with to draw the blood out being an irritant. When you scratch your skin it spreads making you itch even more.

Whenever I cook new potatoes, I always add 4 eggs to the pan - that way I have lunch for the next day.

Cut foil with blunt scissors will resharpen them.

Always fasten the bottom of the duvet cover before washing it and you won't have to fish around in it for the washing when it's finished.

When you have a cold or chest infection. Add 3 teaspoons of Vics to 1/2 a mug of boiling water and pop it on the radiator in your room. Helps to loosen anything on your chest.

Want a cheap soothing bath after a day gardening? Take an old sock, add a mug of oats, a teaspoon of salt and a teabag. Tie the top of the sock and secure it under the hot tap. Run bath as normal, adding your bubble bath. This is my grandmother's recipe, just don't use the water to wash your hair!

Tea leaves are a great plant food for houseplants.

Dry skin on your feet? Warm your socks before covering your feet with Nivea facecream and wear them in bed. Do this for a week and you will have lovely soft feet. (Another grandmother recipe).

Use a candle to cover scratches in wood furniture.

Going to stop now but thank you OP for bringing back some really nice memories of my grandmother 😁😁💕.

@Dobbyatemysocks God this was awesome!!! Thanks for so many helpful tips

@brownwire you are very welcome!!

I have loads! My daughter calls me mummypidia!!

Another one is if you hang up clothes straight from the tumble dryer, you can get away without ironing most things.

Bicarbonate of soda, white vinegar, salt and elbow grease will clean most things.

Squish fairy washing up liquid into most stains before you put them in the wash - used to work a treat on school paint and spaghetti sauce when my kids were little.

Diluted fabric softener works just as well as most fabric and room sprays.

When we all got duvets, she sewed a piece of ribbon on the inside of each cover to create a tie. Then on the top corner of each of the duvet she would use her pinking shears to cut a hole. You tie the duvet cover to the duvet and it is easy to put it on and you don't loose the corners.

I will keep adding more but would love to add some new ones!

Another one is if you hang up clothes straight from the tumble dryer, you can get away without ironing most things.

@Dobbyatemysocks I did notice this one with my clothes I'll start doing this without being lazy to end up being lazy(not needing to iron my clothes)

Mustard foot bath if you're cold
Mustard powder and warm water, put feet in while drinking a brew
Go from cold to the bone to sweating in minutes

@Rebellious23 My grandmother used to mix mustard powder with goose fat and rub it on our chest and back, cover it with brown paper and the bandage it up. Then we would be put to bed with a hot water bottle on our feet.
She would then put orange squash, whiskey and sugar in a saucepan, heat it and make us drink it! It would knock us out for the day and I can remember the sweat pouring out of me.

Warmed olive oil and cotton wool used to go in our ears and then she would bandage another hot water bottle round our heads.

Haven’t used an iron in years. Everything is pegged out until nearly dried (or tumble dried until nearly dry) and then hung up on hangers.

bags are always packed and left by the front door the night before and the following days evening activities eg cubs left on desks ready from when they come home from school

if they ask for tv time usually a board game or a nice bath and a family read distracts them

audio books are great 👍 especially for the car. We choose them for all ages

our local am dram groups are awesome and 3 tickets was £35 and £12 for drinks, crisps and a large g and t for me

I always Chuck in extra cans of tomatoes and soup and beans even if they are not on the list

long life milk might not taste brill but always useful to have some in the middle

hot water bottles are fab and we use them to water the plants

don't forget libraries

I’ve made 4 friends randomly on the local WA group and we swap books regularly - one of us buys x4 in Tesco and we share the titles out and buy 16 books between us and rotate them happened organically but it’s fab - once they have cycled full circle we get new ones and the old ones go to the charity shop

pass on uniform and ask on local groups for uniform before buying

same with football boots, wet suits etc

we offer ours first and then ask

always carry a power bank and tissues and calpol

having spent years with laryngitis and tonsillitis every single year I eventually got my GP to give me some antibiotics for the cupboard and she replaces them - I don’t take them unless I really really need them and she knows this.
on the above point the other thing I have found to shorten a serious sore throat is hard tongue scrapping and disinfecting it and doing it again and disinfecting my toothbrush between cleans / if that fails antibiotics

period pants are a game changer I’m nearly 50 just got some - amazing

hug yourself and look after yourself - no one else will

my other pearls of wisdom - just like their are queen bee teenagers, there are a lot of sanctimonious women in little clusters - find your out tribe if you don’t fit in- highly recommend learning tennis and joining a club.