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Essential Multi-Purpose Ingredients to Always Stock

Learning to live with less, and to live more simply, involves finding items that are multi-purpose. Three of these to always keep on hand are vinegar, baking soda, and salt. There are numerous ways to put these three ingredients to use, individually or in combination, for household, personal, pet care, and healthcare solutions. These are 3 Essential Multi-Purpose Ingredients to Always Keep on Hand:

Distilled White Vinegar

Common uses for vinegar have been around for thousands of years. It can be used for pickling or preserving, as a deodorizer, as an antiseptic, and to treat infections and wounds. Use it to clean your coffee pot. To disinfect a wooden cutting board, spray vinegar onto the board after use and wipe it clean. The acetic acid in vinegar is a natural disinfectant. Other areas to use as a disinfectant include countertops and baby toys.

On the personal health side, vinegar serves as a treatment for athletes’ foot, wart remover, and as a foot odor remedy. For muscle ache relief, add three cups of apple cider vinegar to your bath water and soak away. You can even use vinegar outdoors to deter deer, raccoons, and the like. Soak rags in vinegar and place around your garden.

Good Old Baking Soda

Well known for its refrigerator odor killing abilities, baking soda can be used for so much more. It serves as a cleaner for pots and pans, silver, and also fruits and vegetables. Keep it near your stove for when flames threaten to take over. On the personal side, baking soda can provide canker sore relief, whiten teeth, and serve as a bug bite remedy. Add a pinch of baking soda to beans while they are cooking to help reduce those unpleasant side effects. Baking soda can be used as a drain cleaner, and to maintain the septic tank. It can also control odors in the compost bin or cat box.

And Salt

Salt has long been a cherished product. Its value is well noted in not only cooking but also cleaning. When mixed with warm water, it soothes a sore throat and relieves sinus congestion. Other uses include using salt as a thermos or cooler deodorizer, as a rust remover, and as a flower pot cleaner. To kill poison ivy, add a half cup of salt to two quarts of soapy water and spray or pour onto the plant. Salt can be used to kill fleas in carpets as well.

Keep these 3 Essential Multi-Purpose Ingredients to Always Keep on Hand for natural remedies to everyday needs.