12 Household Uses for Sugar That Make Life a Little Sweeter

Skincare 

You may be familiar with the ever-popular sugar scrub. Sugar is a great exfoliant, especially when added to oils to penetrate into the skin and moisturize. Use ¼ cup sugar in a 1/2 cup of carrier oil of your choice like warmed coconut, olive, avocado, or jojoba oil, and use to exfoliate the skin in the shower. This simple recipe will leave you with soft, smooth skin! 

You can also make a personal lip scrub with sugar to slough off dead skin. Mix a teaspoon of oil with ¼ teaspoon sugar, then use to scrub your lips. For a lip-plumping bonus, add one drop of cinnamon essential oil. 

And for an at-home pedicure treatment, mix a spoon of sugar with a small amount of your regular body wash and use it to scrub the feet with a pumice stone!

Soothe a tongue burn.

Did you sip your latte before before it cooled down? Suck on a sugar cub or take a little white sugar onto your tongue to soothe the ache. You can also use this hack to relieve burning from spicy foods!

Keep flowers fresh.

You just got a lovely bouquet of flowers, and of course you want them to last as long as possible. A secret helpful trick is to feed them a little sugar. Add about a teaspoon of sugar to your plant water before putting your stems in, and watch how long they stay fresh and beautiful!

Heal wounds, bug bites, and stings.

Mixing a little bit of sugar with water and applying it to a fresh bug bite or bee sting can help relieve any itching or pain. Sugar is also an antiseptic and will help to keep a wound clean as well as aid the healing process.

Remove grass stains from clothing.

If your little one got a bit carried away playing outside, make a mixture of equal parts sugar and water and saturate the stain. Allow the mixture to sit for at least an hour, then wash as usual. The sugar will help to absorb and lift the green!

Help your baby relax before a doctor visit.

Interestingly enough, a study published in the journal Pediatrics showed that children who drank a 1:4 mixture of sugar and water before immunization shots had a better reaction to the pain than those given regular water. As Mary Poppins said, “A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down!”

Extend the life of your lipstick. 

Use sugar to make your bright, beautiful pout stay all day! Just sprinkle a little sugar onto your lips after applying lipstick, allow it to settle for 30 seconds, and give your lips a little lick. The sugar will help to set your lipstick by drawing moisture out from it and adhering it to your lips! 

Banish garden parasites.

When you notice knots at the roots of your plants and yellow or browning leaves, the culprit could be the insect parasitic nematodes. Sprinkle handfuls of sugar around the roots of your infested plants. The sugar feeds the natural microbes in the soil that kill the buggers and keep your plants alive and healthy.

Keep baked goods fresh.

Sugar can absorb mold-producing moisture, so keeping freshly baked goods like cakes, breads, and cookies in an airtight container with a few sugar cubes, will help them stay fresher for longer! 

Keep cheese fresh.

Just like with baked goods, you can keep a cube or two of sugar with sliced or blocks of cheese in your refrigerator to absorb moisture and prevent mold from forming. 

Clean your coffee or spice grinder.

Coffee beans and spices both give off natural plant oils that can accumulate in your grinder. Running some sugar through your machine will not only clean excess debris out, but it will also absorb any odor-causing oils and moisture, leaving you with a fresh vessel!

Make simple syrup. 

If you’re an iced coffee lover or like to try your hand at some fancy weekend cocktails, make your own simple syrup with 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar. Heat the mixture on the stover and let boil for about five minutes until sugar is dissolved completely. Cool and store in a mason jar in the fridge for later use.