People Share 47 Old Wives' Tales They Thought Were Nonsense Until They Tried Them As A Last Resort

When I was around 21-22 -there were a lot of reasons to own a tuxedo... fancy 21st bdays, uni graduation balls etc.... one day I am staying at a mates place, have the tux in a suit bag for the big night. When I go to get my shirt out to iron it, there is an old, dried ink stain, like a pen leaked on it last time I had worn it.
I freaked out , white shirt, huge blue ink stain.... he says " no worries I'll call mum".... 2 mins later he comes back and says "spray it with hair spray and then rinse it... Will be all good".....
And holy s**t, it was! The hairspray just made the ink run away out of the shirt and it just rinsed off perfectly clean...this was 30 years ago and I am still freaked out about how well it worked.

Clove oil for toothache. Just dab a bit on with a cotton bud. Even chewing on a clove will help!


This one is so effective that dentists will recommend it, along with salt water as a basic disinfectant.

Salt for bloodstains. Ideally when the stain is still wet, keep it damp and pile a s**t ton of salt on it. The salt draws liquid, and the blood particles with it. I’ve also had some success by rewetting dried blood too, although it’s not as effective.

Just to clarify, I got that from years of having periods, not … any other reasons.

If you break glass and it splinters everywhere, you can use a slice of bread to pick it up safely.

If you’re sweeping up or use a cleaning cloth, the little tiny splinters of glass will all end up caught in the broom or the fabric and you end up spreading them further. If you make a little cushion out of a fresh slice of bread, you can use it to collect all of the splinters and keep your fingers safe.

You can mix this low tech solution with a high-tech one. Use the torch on your phone at a very low angle to check you’ve got it all. If the phone is effectively on the floor, shining sideways, anything you need to pick up will show up easily.

If you've lost an earring, or other small piece of jewellery in the carpet, stretch some tights over the hose and hoover the area. Just make sure you don't split the tights, or you'll be fishing hoover dust to find it again! 🙀

(Yes, I learned that one the hard way, I make mistakes so you don't have to! 😹).

Local honey helps Hay-fever.

I have tried every medication under the sun (I sneeze well in to triple figures on a really bad day), and nothing helps manage the allergies like local honey. A spoonful in my cereal or porridge every morning is a game changer. Takes a while to build the immunity but give it a couple weeks - night and day difference.

If you want more birds in your garden... brush cat, dog, rabbits etc in garden and leave it hanging on a bush somewhere. Birds will use it for nests.

If you want to keep squirrels, rats etc out of your bird food, mix it with the hottest chilli flakes you can find. Hotter the better.

Also good more natural way of keeping rats away from anywhere. Bird seed with chilli flakes/seeds. Have rat problem around block I live in... not round my patio doors!

Science bit... Birds don't have the taste receptors to taste the chilli. The chilli passes straight through them, seeds complete with a little package of wet fertiliser. Mammals like squirrels and rats do have taste receptors. The feel temporary pain eating the chilli laced bird food and get a remimder when they poop a bit later.

Rats and squirrels are intelligent and will quickly associate pain with eating at location and will then stop eating there.

Dunno if these are old wives tales but they are things that have personally worked for me AND others I have recommend them to.

Razor burn on your legs? Put on a pair of tights/ leggings/ long socks. Don’t know why it works but does. Saved me many times till I just stopped shaving and switch to hair removal cream.

Nappy cream (zinc based emollient like sudocrem) on/ around the nose when you have a cold that requires you to wipe your nose a lot. Helps to keep the area hydrated without getting irritated by the snot and frequent wiping.

Hot and sweaty? Can’t change/shower (work or whatever) baby wipe, then hand sanitizer, then fresh deodorant. You will feel and smell like you just showered. (Wipes off the sweat, kills off all the bacteria and dries out the area, renews your protection)

Also, if you’re larger set or part of the tig biddy gang, you can use that same nappy cream on your underboob to prevent sweat rash.

Nauseous? Salted crackers. Literally just a nibble on one or two just to put something in the stomach can help greatly. Good for morning sickness, hangovers, anxiety.

If there’s something you can’t wash - spray it with vodka or rubbing alcohol. Widely used for costumes in theatre that can’t be washed, but it’s also useful for those items that you want to freshen up after being in the wardrobe for a while.

Someone is sick in the house? Circulation is key. You need a “cross breeze”. My go to is opening a few windows and having a fan pointing from one to the other to draw fresh air in and push old air out. Best practice to be done while giving everything a good clean. Especially in bedrooms.

Use a bath mat as a kitchen rug - very absorbent if you’re like me and manage to splash a lot when washing up. But can also be shoved into the washing machine with no issues.

Got bursitis in my already arthritic knee, really swollen and painful. Friend suggested rubbing castor oil into it which I’d never heard of but I was desperate enough to give it a try. Within 24 hours it was far less swollen and after 36 hours I was in the least pain for months. Been doing it twice a day for a couple of weeks now, I’m back at the gym, I’m a complete convert.

Also had great success with rubbing Vicks on the soles of my feet at bedtime to help subdue a cough.

Witch Hazel on a cyst.

I was in my teens, battling a golf ball on my face; determined quitting school and moving country was my only option to survive. Out come the dear matriarchs of the family with a bottle of which hazel and I was right as rain (well still 14, but we can't have everything) by the end of the weekend. No operations. No pain. Absolutely brilliant.

You can tell if an egg has gone bad by putting it in a saucepan or jug full of water and seeing if it floats. If it sinks or stands upright on its end it’s fine as long as it’s touching the bottom. If it floats and doesn’t touch the bottom it’s gone bad. The older the egg, the more upright it will go until it floats completely.

Something to do with gases being produced that make the egg more buoyant as it ages I think.

My Nanna would get a bar of soap, cover it in cloth and use it as a pin cushion. She said the needles would glide through the fabric better because of the pointy end being stuck in the bar of soap. No one sews much anymore but that one worked. 


She also swore by apple cider vinegar for keeping you healthy. All her family had arthritis except her. She'd have a teaspoon in a glass of water every morning and said it prevented her from getting arthritis. Not sure about that one but I doubt it did any harm. .

Vinegar is amazing. Water stains on a glass bottle? Vinegar and some water and it's gone. Drain blocked? Vinegar and baking soda and it's gone. Got rust? Vinegar. Smeary mirror? Vinegar and water. Rubbish bin smells? Vinegar and water. Sticky labels stuck on something? Vinegar and water.

A fairly well known one but ginger for nausea. Warm saltwater gargle for a sore throat. .

I got a veruca, I lived with it for a month or so and mentioned it to my grandma as you do, anyway she said to tape a square of banana skin to it each night. I thought it was bollocks but I did it anyway and it actually worked really well, was gone with after 2 weeks!

Mosquito Bites. I get absolutely eaten alive and the only thing that's ever worked for me is extra strength deet. But if I do get bitten, a spoon in a mug of hot water, wait until it gets hot then apply for as long as you can stand to the bite. I don't know why it works, I guess the heat draws the venom out or maybe it just tricks the brain but I've tried everything else and a hot spoon is the only relief.

When you’re doing plaster work or dusty work, clean up the dust using damp sawdust. Saves clogging up a vacuum and doesn’t let the dust up into the air. Top tip from my dad who learned it from the old lady who used to clean his dad’s bike shop in the 1950s. Best DIY tip I’ve ever learned.

To stop a mirror steaming up, get a bit of soap on a cloth or towel, rub it on the mirror to cover it. Then buff it up so you can see in it again. Voila!

Rubbing dock leaves on a sting nettle sting. They also appear to grow near each other.

I used to have warts on my fingers by the fingernails. Was told to dab them with sap from a dandelion and cover the, with plasters. Was gone within a fortnight.