I Just Discovered an Ingenious $1 Trick for Cleaning Nail Polish Off Hard Surfaces

Caring for children comes with so many messes. I remember hanging out with a friend who had just had her second baby and she told me that the early days of babyhood were full of “fluid management.” I learned this to be true when I had my own babies. 

The messes that go along with kids cause parents to find out more than they ever thought they’d need to know about effective stain removers for baby poop, how to remove grass stains on clothing, chocolate stains on clothes, dirt stains on white sneakers, how to clean car seats, and more.

Some messes, though, are a little tougher. Although I’ve collected quite a few cleaning tips and tricks in my 16 years as a mother (like sprinkling vomit with baking soda before trying to clean it up, for example), I recently came across a helpful hack that I’d never seen before: cleaning up spilled nail polish with salt or sugar, which I discovered on LaShana Diaz’s Instagram.

I think it’s almost a right of passage for kids to get into the nail polish and, almost inevitably, have a little oopsie. I’ve seen more than one picture of a kid showing off their surprise manicure, beaming, with puddles of polish on the counter and floor! Even on hard surfaces, nail polish isn’t easy to clean up – unless you know the salt trick. 

1. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt (or sugar) onto the spilled nail polish. Make sure to cover the entire spill. 
2. Allow it to sit for a few moments so the salt crystals can absorb the polish. 
3. Mush (that’s the technical term) the salt around on the the polish to help get any residual polish. 
4. Vacuum up the mess or brush it off the surface and toss it. 
5. Wipe up any stains that are left behind. 

This is definitely a cleaning hack I’m tucking away for when I need it.