Home remedies

By Corner Post

In a previous issue we shared several remedies to problem situations that were used by past generations, but may not be well known today. Here are a few more submissions that readers wanted to share. If you want to add more, send them to us at cornerpost@newspressnow.com.

Kids often fight taking medicine because “it tastes yucky” (even if it’s flavored for kids). Have them suck on an ice cube before taking the medicine. That numbs tastebuds.

Anytime one of us got stung by a wasp or bee, my side of the family tried to find a bit of tobacco to moisten and put it on the sting spot. Relief was quick. (Almost none in my family smoked, but when I was a kid, somebody nearby was bound to have a cigarette, it seemed. Not so much now.) My wife’s family, on the other hand, used a slice of onion with similar results.

If you burn yourself, hold an ice cube on it for a while. It will soothe the pain, but more importantly, it will prevent or lessen the blistering.

This isn’t a health-related remedy, but an effective solution to pesky fruit flies and houseflies in your home is hairspray (preferably water-soluble). I sometimes have trouble swatting the quick ones and those that never seem to land, but even they go down when they fly through the aerosol mist.