Potato- A House Cleanser

Potatoes are multifaceted things. On the one hand, they’re humble little lumps you dig out of the dirt. On the other, they’re the versatile superstars of the cooking world, delicious in everything from fast food french fries to classics.

1. Rust Free
To remove rust, simply cut into the potato and rub the raw flesh on the rusty area. Potatoes contain oxalic acid, an ingredient in commercial rust removers. The coarse surface of the cut potato will also help remove rust as it’s mildly abrasive.

2. Clean Silver
Boil a few potatoes in water just as if you were cooking them to eat. After you’ve boiled the potatoes, remove them from the water, set them aside for another use, and turn off the stove. Place your tarnished silver in the potato water and let it soak for about 20 minutes. After it’s soaked, you should have shiny silver.

3. Glass
Rub a raw potato over the surface of the glass. It will clean the glass and leave a film that will prevent condensation later. If while you’re cleaning, the potato cross-section gets too dirty to use, just cut off a slice of the potato and use the new clean surface. Let the glass dry without touching it.

4. Stain Remover
This may not be effective on heavy-duty stains, but can work for lighter blemishes. You can try just dabbing a raw potato or potato cooking water on the spot. You can also rub raw potato on the stained fabric, then put it in a pan with some water and bring this to a boil. After “cooking” for a minute, remove the fabric. Either rub on more potato and repeat, or go ahead and steep the fabric in cold water for an hour. Then rinse.