I have been dodging the “cold” bullet for weeks now, with symptoms surfacing and then disappearing before they ever really amount too much. However, this afternoon, I could feel that impending blanket of congestion settling in as the afternoon progressed. I am one of those people who can go from feeling healthy and fine to full-blown cold within 20 minutes. So, as I sit here forcing myself to get something posted for tomorrow, I have tissue shoved-up my nostrils to prevent my nose from dripping on my laptop.  Ugh!!

So, I needed a quick post without having to put too much effort into figuring out what to write about. It only took me a moment to think about this fabulous cold busting tip. When I was growing up, my mom used to do one of two things to help fight the cold symptoms. We didn’t have cold medicine in our house. We would occasionally take cough syrup for a very sore throat, but never for stuffy nose, cough or congestion. When the symptoms struck, my mom did one of two things:

1. Made her famous “Mustard Plaster” ~ a homemade mustard paste that was spread on a paper bag and then set on your chest. This always helped, but you had to be careful because it could cause blistering if not watched closely.
2. Vicks VapoRub ~ when it wasn’t a mustard plaster, my mom would rub Vicks on our chest to help alleviate the symptoms

I am not saying these remedies didn’t work, but recently, a friend shared that her mom always applied the Vicks to the soles of their feet and then had them put socks on over the Vicks before bed.  She said it worked like a charm. Of course, when she told me this I was in the midst of fighting off a nasty cold. I went home that night and tried it and could not believe how effective it was. Since then, we use this simple remedy all the time. Most often, we don’t have to take any night-time cold medication as this seems to relieve all of the symptoms without the need of drugs. I am already dreaming of a cozy sleep with my trusty Vicks remedy.

I decided to do a bit of research to see if I could find out any info about this cold remedy and I found this post on about.com. Check it out if you are interested in reading more about it. I love that this can effectively help to relieve congestion and help you to have a good night sleep without loading up with cold medicine.