Let me tell you, there is nothing new about household cleaning hacks. In fact, newspapers from over 100 years ago would cover at least one different cleaning hack in each issue. To not do so would be like publishing suicide because the women readers wanted to find new and ingenious ways to fix, clean, or better things around the home.
1. Dusting With Chamois
If you are just looking to get rid of the dust without bothering with polish or shine, one old dusting tip recommended that you take a chamois cloth, wet it in cold water, and wring it out dry. Use it for your dusting and rinse it clean afterwards.
2. Homemade Clothes Hangar
One newspaper from 1912 states that if you want to keep your dress nice after ironing it, get a clean stick, about 18 inches long, and inserted it into your dress. Tie a cord into a loop onto the center of the stick and hang up your dress on a hook.
3. Get Rid Of Lime In Kettle
To get rid of the lime buildup inside a tea kettle, fill it with vinegar and bring it to a boil. The vinegar is said to break down the lime and will make it easier to scrub off.
4. Filling Cracks With Soap
I’ve heard of a lot of different items used by people to kill in cracks in walls, inside and out to keep out possible bugs and rodents, but I never heard of using soap before. One hack from over 100 years ago tells people to warm up a bit of soap until it is soft, form it into balls, and press it into cracks along the inside walls. The hack claims that it will help keep unwanted pests from gaining entry into the home.
5. Spool Hooks
Back in the day, closets were filled with hooks for hanging up clothing. When people ran out of hooks, they got inventive. One little tidbit suggested that when you ran out of hooks in the closet, you should drive a nail through empty thread spools (they were wooden spools back then) and into the wall. It wasn’t a hoot, but they did make a nice spot to hang up sweaters and jackets.
6. Rid Ants
There used to be many ways to get rid of ants in the early 1900s, but most of those methods involved deadly poisons. Here is one method that is still used by people today: mix together borax with a little bit of sugar and sprinkle it wherever you are having an ant problem. The ants will carry off the sugar grains that have been coated in the borax and it will kill them.
7. Keep Silver Shiny
Back when silverware was made from actual silver metal, the silverware would need to be shined with cloth to keep it from tarnishing. One method to hold off on the tarnishing was to put “a camphor ball in each corner of the buffet drawer where the silver is kept.” It was said to prevent the silver from tarnishing. Camphor, being poisonous, is not recommended for use near food or anything that you would put in your mouth, such as silverware.
8. Toughen Natural Brooms
Before plastic bristle brooms, brooms were made from the broom plant. To toughen a new broom’s bristles, the housewife would soak the bristles in a bucket of hot salt water. It was believed to make the new broom last much longer.
