24. Cleaning methods from the 1940s can replace many household cleaners
In the 1940s, salt and vinegar were used for many of the applications later supplanted by expensive chemical cleaners. When items boiled over on the stove, salt was liberally applied to the overflow on the stove’s surface, soaking it up and preventing it from burning and smoking heavily. Later it was wiped away. Salt was used to perform the same function on the floor of the oven. A mixture of salt dissolved in vinegar was used to remove tea stains from china cups and saucers. Vinegar was also used to remove a dull finish in aluminum pans, or apple peels were boiled within, accomplishing the same purpose.
Cast iron skillets and pans, once properly seasoned, seldom had bits leftover which required scouring (which ruins the seasoning of the pan) but when they did 1940s cooks used the trick of adding a bit of salt in vinegar and bringing it to a boil, lifting the burnt-on bits from the surface. Cider vinegar was used to wash hands to remove the smell of onions, fish, and other undesirable odors. Stains on the hands from chopping vegetables such as beets were removed by rubbing them with a raw potato. And long before a box of baking soda was marketed for the purpose of deodorizing refrigerators, containers of vinegar occupied the appliance for similar reasons.