My family has been using home remedies for years. Many of the ones I use have been passed down to me from my grandmother, who learned them from her grandmother. I’m sure some of them are familiar to you. Below are 7 cool home remedies you should know and hopefully some of them are new to you. Feel free to pass them on to friends and family members who might also be able to benefit from them.
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It seems the science has finally confirmed what my family already knew; almonds are great for headaches. Scientific studies actually show that 15 almonds equal one aspirin, so eating 30 of these will help get rid of most minor headaches. I personally think these are better tasting than aspirin and my stomach likes the snack too. Almonds contain salicylates, which are the ingredient in aspirin that relieve headaches.
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For getting rid of hiccups, try taking a tea towel and placing it over the top of a glass of water. Drink the water through the tea towel. This has always helped me get rid of hiccups. I think it’s a combination of concentrating on something else and slowing your breathing. Hiccups occur because the diaphragm starts to spasm. When I try to hurry through something, I get the hiccups. Drinking the tea towel water calms me down and eases the tension that caused the spasms in the first place.
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Thankfully, I don’t have toothaches regularly. I have used this remedy once and was thrilled that it worked so well. You can put some clove oil on a cotton ball and place this on the area where the tooth ache is. Clove oil lasts for ages, so one tiny bottle will provide you with years of toothache relief! My husband goes between using this and a clove of garlic, but I’ve never thought to ask which one works best for him. He will place a clove of garlic between the outer gum and his cheek and keep it there until he decides to spit it out. You can slice the clove in half if you need it to be smaller, just be sure to place the freshly sliced side against your gum.
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Get a big jug of cider vinegar and pour it all over the sunburned area. Don’t rinse it off or pat it dry. Just let it air dry for a while. I usually do this after a shower. Sure, I might smell funny for a bit, but it’s amazing at how much the cider vinegar helps. The heat is instantly gone. My mom shared this one with me when I was just a little kid and I’ve passed it onto my own kids as well.
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This might be one of the oldest remedies around. I take a small glass of very cold water and put a pinch of baking soda in it. The glass might hold a quarter cup of water, that’s how small it is. I drink this entire glass immediately and my upset stomach is usually better in a few minutes. I’ve tried using warm water too, but the warm water seems to make my stomach feel a bit nauseous.
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My dad has always used this remedy and it seems to work every time. If you notice a rash from poison ivy or oak, take a banana peel and place it gooey side down on top of the rash. Rub it around a bit and then leave it for a few minutes. Make sure some of the inside of the peel is actually coming off and getting onto your arm. When you remove it, be sure to do it gently. You don’t want to scrub off any of the peel from the rash site. Leave this on your arm until you take a shower. This can also be done after a shower and then cover the rash area with a thin bandage to keep the goo from ending up on your bed sheets as you sleep.
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Chop up some onions as fine as possible. I usually use a quarter of an onion for one batch of gargle mixture. For this small batch, I put the onions in a small bowl and add enough honey to cover the onions. Then I add enough lemon juice to make this mixture sort of runny. You can add some hot water if you want to make it even runnier. Stir everything together and put it in a small jar or bottle. I use a tall narrow jar that can double as a glass. This way I can keep a lid on it and take a drink whenever necessary. If my throat feels scratchy or I start coughing a lot, then I gargle with this stuff and swallow it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these 7 cool home remedies you should know and can put at least some of them to good use. Do you have some home remedies your family uses all the time? Have you come up with a new and improved version of something I’ve mentioned that you like better? Please share any remedies you have!
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