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9. salt


Salt causes rust, but it can also help remove it. While this may seem unreasonable, mixing salt with lemon juice produces a paste that helps restore shine to rusty metals around your home.

10. olive oil


Think twice before throwing our your cast-iron skillet. It might just need a quick clean with olive oil. For the best results, make a cleaning paste by combining olive oil with salt.

7. cucumber


They’re great in salads, but cucumbers can also double as erasers. Take advantage of this quality to help remove marks from your walls or use them to polish any stainless steel items.

6. coffee grounds


Coffee grounds’ odor-absorbing qualities are surprisingly versatile. Place them at the bottom of your trash bag to soak up unwanted smells or neutralize odors in your refrigerator by storing a bowl of dried grounds with the rest of your food.

8. stale bread


Use stale bread pieces to clean coffee grinders. They quickly soak up any leftover smells and residues. A bonus? They’re perfect for cleaning up tiny pieces of broken glass after an accident.

5. cornstarch


When it comes to carpet spills, rely on no other food than corn starch. Cover the entire stain with corn starch, let it rest for half an hour, and vacuum away the starch. This is cleaning magic at its finest.

4. walnuts


Scratched wooden surfaces aren’t a problem when you have walnuts handy. Simply remove a walnut from its shell, rub it diagonally into the scratch, and voilà! The walnut’s natural oils will do the rest.

3. tea bags


Next time you have a cup of tea, save your used tea bags. When cooled, they add major polish to wooden surfaces like hardwood floors.

Food goes a long way, and some foods are no longer just for eating. Reach for these multi-functional foods when you’re shopping for cleaning supplies. They’re cheaper and greener cleaning alternatives to the chemically-filled cleaning products sitting on the shelves at the store. And we thought we couldn’t love food any more.

1. lemons


Deodorize your sink by placing half of a lemon in your garbage disposal. The other half can be used to cut down lime scale from your kitchen faucet and sink. With this much power, they truly are the superstars of your pantry.

2. banana peels


Think banana peels should go straight to the trash bin? Think again. Create a polishing paste to clean your silverware by mixing water with a pureed peel.