Are you or your family suffering from colds lately?  Mine is!  It seems like all of us have some symptom of the common cold- sneezing, coughing, sore throat, tired, runny nose, and even the “cold voice”.  Unfortunately for my husband he’s suffering from all of the symptoms, but as for the rest of us we only have 1 or 2 of them.  So what really does cure or at lest help with the common cold?  Well here’s a few tricks we’ve tried and found effective over the years.

1: Onions- cut up an onion into quarters, place each quarter in a bowl and place them around your house in different rooms.  The onions will absorb the bacteria in the air and help keep them from circulating and keeping everyone sick.  It sounds funny, but ever since my brother in law suggested it to us years ago we do it every time someone gets sick and the sickness doesn’t spread to everyone in the house and/or goes away a lot faster!  Plus onions are relatively cheap- so you don’t have much investment.  (an onion costs much less than medicine for a few more days)

2: Clorox wipes- we use the clorox wipes all the time anyway, but I found that making sure to wipe down door knobs, door frames, and other surface areas that get touched frequently helps.

3: Vicks Vapor Rub- typically we put this on the neck/chest and a little under the nose of the person with a cough or congestion right before bed.  We recently learned a cool trick from pinterest that works wonders, take a spoonful of the Vicks and put it into a candle warmer (one that takes the wax bricks) with a couple tablespoons of water.  Turn it on and it will work like a defuser for your room at night.  You can also apply the Vicks onto the bottom of the foot and cover with a sock before going to bed.

4: Peppermint essential oil- for the severe coughs that wont go away, dab a little bit of peppermint essential oil on your tongue, it will keep the cough at bay for about 15 minutes at a time.  It may not be the best long term solution but I’ve found it was a life saver especially at night when you’re coughing so hard you can’t go to sleep.

5: Hot drinks- hot cocoa, apple cider, or if you like tea, a warm drink helps “melt” the mucus in your sinuses and helps to relax your chest muscles from all the coughing and congestion.  It’s a surefire way to help soothe the symptoms.

6: Garlic- not just for vampires!  Eating garlic can help your body fight off a virus.  The most effective way is to chop up one clove, put a mouthful of water in your mouth, tip your head back and add the chopped garlic into your mouth with the water and swallow it all together.  If you can’t take it that direct then adding fresh garlic to anything you eat is better than nothing.

7: Salt- Sodium is one of the major 4 elements in your body.  Increasing your sodium intake (along with increasing your water intake) will help kill the virus.  Chicken noodle soup is packed with sodium, which is one of the main reasons it has the reputation for being good for colds.  Be sure to drink plenty of water so that your body will flush out the virus.  Sodium can also dehydrate you if you’re not drinking enough water.

Hope that helps!