I know that eating a lot of salt is not good for your blood pressure or your health, but let’s talk about some really good uses for it.

-- Add 1 cup of crushed ice, 1 tablespoon of water, and 4 teaspoons of salt to the glass pot or automatic drip coffee maker. Make sure the coffee pot is at room temperature, and then gently swirl the mixture around for a few seconds. Then, all you do is rinse the mixture out and wash the pot as usual.

-- In order to remove tea or coffee stains from light colored cups or mugs, rub the stained areas with salt and a little water, then wash as usual.

-- If fruit pies or some other sugary item boils over in your oven, sprinkle the sticky spill with salt. Let it sit until the spilled area becomes dry and crisp. Then, when the oven cools off, lift the spill up with a spatula.

-- In order to clean or refresh the inside of your refrigerator, sprinkle equal amounts of salt and baking soda on a clean, damp sponge and wipe the surfaces.

-- Any spill on your stovetop can be cleaned up more easily if sprinkled with salt first. Salt has a mildly abrasive quality, and will remove stuck-on food and won’t mar the surface.

-- To clean burned-on food from stovetop burners, sprinkle a mixture of salt and cinnamon on the burners and wipe immediately. This mixture gives off a pleasant smell and covers up any burnt odor the next time your turn on the burner.

-- You can also soak up a liquid spill on a stovetop burner by sprinkling it with salt and cinnamon. Just leave it on the spill for at least five minutes in order to absorb the excess liquid, then wipe away.

These are inexpensive ways to clean up, not to mention easy to do!

My thought for the month is: There is no need to have the best of everything, but to make the best of everything.