How to Use Potatoes in Cleaning: 4 Foolproof Tricks

Potatoes are a versatile vegetable and a staple in many households. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to grow, and contain many nutrients, but they can also help you with cleaning on certain occasions.With a simple potato, you can perform quick tricks for some household tasks. From cleaning rusty knives to removing stains, here are some smart ways to use potatoes for cleaning jobs at home.Clean Rust from Metals Potatoes work very well when you want to remove rust from any metal, and you can clean rusty knives, scissors, pans, and other tools with them. This works because potatoes contain oxalic acid, which helps break down rust by converting insoluble components into soluble ones.To remove rust from metals with a potato, simply cut it in half, add a few drops of dish soap and baking soda to one half, and rub it on the rusty area of the utensil until it is free of rust. Then rinse well with clean water and dry.Polish Silver For this cleaning trick, you don't need the potato itself, but rather the water in which you boiled them. If you boiled potatoes for a meal, don't throw the water away! It contains a large amount of starch that can be used for polishing silverware. To do this, place the item you want to clean in the potato cooking water for at least an hour. Remove from the water and wipe with a polishing cloth when dry. The polishing will help remove tarnish from the silver piece and make it shine.Clean and De-fog Your Glasses With the use of face masks, glasses tend to fog up constantly, but you can rub them with the cut side of a raw potato, and the starch will help reduce fog buildup without obscuring your vision.Clean Small StainsWhile you couldn't clean the spill of an entire glass of red wine on a carpet with a potato, rubbing a piece of raw cut potato or even using a bit of potato water could remove a small stain.