All these new trends that are cropping up today really aren’t so new after all. If you think somebody on TikTok or Instagram has invented an insane natural cleaning hack, you can guarantee that this hack actually existed 100 years ago.
In the early years of last century, people didn’t have access to the hoards of commercial products we have today. That meant they had to go back to basics, using easily-accessible materials found in their own kitchen cupboards. Oftentimes, the hacks they used were so effective that they were better than any commercial solution we could use for the same purpose today.
While we’re lucky to have seen important advances in technology in recent years, there’s plenty that hasn’t changed. We face very similar problems to those that our ancestors faced – whether that’s dealing with an ankle sprain, an accidental glass-smash, or impossibly muddy clothes. So you can guarantee that these life hacks from 100 years ago are still very relevant to us today, even after so much time has passed.
1. Take care of a sprain at home.
There’s no doubt that sprains are annoying and painful, but thankfully, they’re not usually serious. To take care of them, elevate the sprained limb on a pillow and wrap in cool, wet bandages. Keep them consistently wet by running a bandage from the limb to a pitcher of water. Then let gravity do the trick of moving the water down to the sprain.
2. Pull out a nasty splinter with this handy-dandy trick.
The next time you get a splinter, don’t try to go after it with tweezers or a needle. Instead, try this life hack from our great grandparents’ day: fill a bottle with hot water almost to the top. Press the splinter down on the mouth of the bottle and let the steam and suction pull the wood out of your skin.
3. Keep your furniture shining with this DIY furniture polish.
If you have a lot of wood furniture or other wood surfaces in your house, it’s nice to shine them up every once in a while. You can make your own furniture polish by combining paraffin wax with vinegar in a 50-50 solution. Add a couple of drops of scented oil if you like for a fragrant solution.
It’s super annoying when drinking glasses get stuck together, and separating them can be a disaster. Just employ a little bit of science to get them apart. Place the bottom glass in a bowl of warm water and fill the upper glass with cold water. They’ll pop apart right away.
Have you ever had a pen explode on your favorite shirt and thought it was the end? You can easily save that shirt by placing it in a bowl of milk as soon as you can. Milk will lift the stain out of the fabric, leaving a clean, stain-free spot. Then, just throw the article into a regular wash cycle.
6. Keep your glasses from steaming up with a simple daily routine.
If you get annoyed with your glasses steaming up in the bathroom or when going into a warm house, make a simple DIY lens protectant with a regular bar of soap. Just rub the soap onto your glasses and gently wipe with a cloth. Repeat daily to keep for optimum effectiveness.
7. Keep yourself safe when cleaning up broken glass.
When glass breaks, it’s important to make sure you get every piece up to protect yourself and others. Don’t use a broom, which only pushes the glass around the floor. Instead, use a damp cloth to wipe all the fragments up, preferably one that you can toss into the trash.
When nails get stuck in the wall, it can be a long and frustrating process to get them out. Using pliers isn’t always effective, either. To maximize the strength of pliers, fit a small block of wood or another object under the pliers as support when pulling out the nail.
It can be frustrating to try to light a match when you’re outside and the wind is blowing. Luckily, there’s a simple trick to make it easier. Just shave a couple of small strips in the wood closest to the head of the match, leaving the ends attached. Once the head lights, all the shavings will light, too, making for a more robust flame that’s harder to extinguish.
Anybody who lives in a cold climate will tell you that winter roads and streets can wreak havoc on your clothing. Road salt leaves annoying stains that can devastate boots and other items. Remove the stains with a bit of baking soda and two tablespoons of hot milk. Rub a little polish on to get your shoes shining again.
11. Get eyelashes out of your eye the old-fashioned way.
Getting an eyelash or piece of grit in your eye can not only ruin your day, but it can actually be dangerous. Foreign objects in the eye mean the possibility of a scratched cornea or an infection. To get the object out, place a small drop of oil into the corner of your eye. The object will stick to the oil and give you some relief.
It can be tough to try to cut a loaf of bread, especially if you want thin slices. But there’s no need to struggle! Just run your knife under very hot water and then cut quickly while the metal is still warm.
If you want to improve your potatoes, try this easy hack. Just add a bit of sugar to the water while boiling (not too much!). When the potatoes are soft, drain the water and return the pot to the stove for a few minutes, occasionally shaking slightly. Voila — perfectly textured potatoes!
14. Revitalize your faded flowers with almost no effort.
If you have a vase of flowers that’s started to grow stale, there’s an easy way to perk them up. Put them in hot water and let them sit until it’s cooled. Then trim the ends and replace in cold water again. They’ll look fresh within minutes.
15. Make your candle the perfect size for any holder.
In this day and age, candles are usually for decoration, not for light. But that doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating when they’re too big to fit in their holders. To pare a candle down to size, just soak it in some hot water until the wax grows soft, then push it into the holder for a secure fit.
By now, we’ve all perfected the grocery store egg check: opening the carton and turning over each egg to make sure there are no cracks. Thankfully, if you do have a cracked egg, there’s no need to throw it away. To keep cracked eggs from leaking in a boiling pot, add a little vinegar to the water. Presto — hard-boiled eggs without any waste.
17. Keep the strain off your wrist when carrying a full pitcher.
Carrying a pitcher of water or other liquid the wrong way can injure your wrist and lead to a messy spill, or worse, broken glass. To carry pitchers securely, use the old trick that’s still used by waiters and waitresses. Just hold the handle at the top and hook your thumb over the lip of the pitcher to support the weight.
Plenty of people reuse or upcycle bottles these days, but you’ll want to make sure they’re completely clean before you do. To rinse out any sticky residue from the inside of a bottle, fill it with water, soap, and some sand, then give it a couple of swirls. The sand will scrape the goo from the interior, leaving it clean and ready for reuse.
In a pinch, safety pins can replace certain kinds of needles (usually the big kind used for sewing yarn or elastic). Just fasten the pin through the material that you’ll be threading and push the whole thing through the fabric. It’s an easy way to get a sewing job done in an emergency.
20. We’ve all needed this trick ever since rings were invented.
This one might be a little more well-known, but it’s still useful. If you ever try to take your ring off and find out that it’s stuck, just grease your hand up with some soap. Once the soap gets between the ring and your skin, it should slide right off.
If you need to cool wine down in a rush, just wrap it in some thick cloth like flannel and put it in a tub of cold water. In about ten minutes, you’ll have icy cold wine ready for drinking. By the way, the modern college version of this is to wrap it in wet paper towels and stick it in the freezer.
22. Prop pot lids open with a clothespin and a tack.
If you need to keep a pot lid cracked while you’re cooking, take a tip from your grandmother. Use a wooden clothespin (not plastic — it will melt!) and a tack to prop the lid. Push the tack into one side of the clothespin and clip it onto the pot lid, tack side down.
There’s nothing more annoying than a door that rattles with every passing air current. To cut back on the noise, attach a couple of wine corks to any gaps in the door frame. Use some super glue to keep them in place, then close the door until they dry. Now you’ll have some peace and quiet (and a use for your extra corks).
Modern washing machines are a little more sensitive than the ones people used back in the day, but there’s still the potential of brightly-colored fabrics running. This is especially true for anything that’s been dyed or colored at home, including T-shirts designed with markers or tie-dye items. To keep colors from bleeding in the wash, soak them in water with two large handfuls of salt for 24 hours.
If you need to get a fire going at a campsite but don’t have any wood, paper is a good alternative. Twist the paper around itself into long sticks or tubes. It will help you get a blaze going even if your woodpile is a little bare.
26. Get mud stains out of clothes with raw potatoes.
Mud stains are the worst: they’re hard to get out, and you can’t throw muddy clothes into the wash without the risk of damaging your machine. To get the worst of the mud off before you wash, rub the stains with raw, peeled potatoes. Then throw in the wash … and toss the potato out to be safe.
Sometimes a cork goes missing and you need to substitute a spare one you have on hand. After all, you don’t want your wine to go bad. If your spare cork is too big for your bottle, just compress it by rolling it under your shoe. If you’re paranoid about germs, try doing it on a table under a cutting board instead.
We’re a little healthily skeptical of this one, but we’re game for anything. This old cure for catarrh (mucus buildup in the throat) involves snorting salt up your nose. Yes, you heard us, snorting salt up your nose. Follow it up with a quick gargle with warm water.
This one might have a niche audience these days, but it’s still a useful tip. If you have a bolt that’s a little bit loose, drill a hole in it and insert a bent pin. It will keep the bolt nice and tight.
30. Ditch the weather app for some good old-fashioned prediction.
We’re a little spoiled by smartphones these days. With a quick tap, we can find out the weather forecast for the next week. The next time you’re without cell service, take a look at the sky to see what weather lies ahead. Just look at the clouds on the horizon: if they gradually get bigger, rain is probably on its way, but if they get smaller, expect a sunny day.
If you have fragile objects around the house like vases, you probably don’t want them to get knocked over in a careless moment. Add some sand to better distribute the weight and keep them weighted down. In this day and age, you could also use false gemstones or marbles.
If you have an injury on your foot, you’ll need a bandage that stays firmly in place. Use a roll of gauze or cotton bandaging to wind around your foot and ankle, looping alternatively around each in a figure eight pattern. Then fasten in place on the ankle with a safety pin.
33. Use a pillowcase to remove dust from the ceiling fan.
You probably don’t look up at your ceiling fan very often, but once you do, you’ll immediately see the thick layer of grit and dirt that accumulated on the blades. Rather than struggle with a duster, throw a pillowcase over the blades and pull downward. You might have to dodge out of the way to avoid getting caught in a dirt storm.
Boiling water or even steaming-hot water from the faucet will make those ugly weeds in your driveway shrivel up and die. For even better results, add a tablespoon of salt. It’s easy, effective, and there’s no need to go buy any products.
If you have gold jewelry that’s starting to get grimy, combine seltzer water with a little dish soap in a glass. Pop your gold in and let it soak for five minutes. The seltzer breaks down dirt and will make your jewelry shine.
Want to challenge your friends or impress the kiddos? Show them this fun trick. Tell them you can draw a duck without ever having your pen or pencil leave the paper. Just follow this fun diagram.
More and more people are looking into urban farming and living off the land. That includes having chickens for eggs! If you or someone you know has chickens, use a wine glass and some wire loops to create a water fountain. Just make sure the mouth of the bottle is about half an inch away from the bottom of the catch pan.
38. Make a simple gate latch
No need to spend money on buying a pre-made gate latch for your yard. Just make your own! Just use a wedge or piece of wood and secure it to the swinging gate with a loose screw. Move it up or down when you want it in the secured position.
Are your shoes just a little loose or maybe half a size too big for you? Remedy this problem by adhering a piece of velveteen or soft, plush fabric on the inside of the heel. The shoes will fit better and they’ll be comfortable!
Cooking a large dinner on the stove top? Save some money on your gas bill with this easy hack. Just place a large cookie or baking sheet on top of the stove. Now, you only need to use one burner to heat up a large area.
Nothing is better than finding a great pair of new boots! But nothing is worse when they start to get dirty and scuffed. Keep them looking like new by rubbing a lemon over them, letting them dry, then buffing with a soft cloth.
Whether you’re painting a wall or a canvas, keep the handle from getting paint on it with this old yet handy trick. Make a hole in an index card and push it onto the handle up to the bristles. Now, any paint will drip onto the card instead of your hands.
Happen to own a light-colored straw hat for vacations or the Kentucky Derby perhaps? Keep it bright with this old trick. As the same with boots on the previous slide, just wipe the hat clean of any dust then rub with half a lemon. Any smudges or scuffs will come right off!
100-year-old secret hacks from our parents and grandparents that are still effective today
Laura Shallcross
02.04.21
All these new trends that are cropping up today really aren’t so new after all. If you think somebody on TikTok or Instagram has invented an insane natural cleaning hack, you can guarantee that this hack actually existed 100 years ago.
In the early years of last century, people didn’t have access to the hoards of commercial products we have today. That meant they had to go back to basics, using easily-accessible materials found in their own kitchen cupboards. Oftentimes, the hacks they used were so effective that they were better than any commercial solution we could use for the same purpose today.
While we’re lucky to have seen important advances in technology in recent years, there’s plenty that hasn’t changed. We face very similar problems to those that our ancestors faced – whether that’s dealing with an ankle sprain, an accidental glass-smash, or impossibly muddy clothes. So you can guarantee that these life hacks from 100 years ago are still very relevant to us today, even after so much time has passed.
