Cuts, bumps, bruises, insect bites and stings, minor burns…these are all just a part of daily life. Stuff happens. Some minor injuries, or maybe even most minor injuries, could be avoided by applying simple safety precautions, of course. But still some minor injuries occur in households all across America every day of the week.

Having a first aid kit inside the home and handy is just good sense. You don’t want to have to look for what you need when you or a family member has a minor accident.

Home remedies for the minor injuries that are bound to occur are:

Cuts: Wash the wound under clean running water and allow it to bleed some. Then use table sugar to stanch the blood flow.

Try to get the cut finger or other body part elevated above the heart.

Apply table sugar several times to slow the flow of blood. Once the flow of blood has been stopped, use an antiseptic on the wound to kill any germs — alcohol in some form is best.

Minor Burns: These should first be held under cold running water to stop the burning process and to prevent the burn from going deeper.

Then the next thing to do is — nothing. Ice will only make matters worse, and butter will, as well.

Just cover the burn with a clean but porous material and leave it alone for a full day. The next day you can begin applying the gel found in the leaves of the aloe vera plant to the burned area.

Bee Stings: These are painful. Bees don’t really go looking for trouble, but when one is stung by a bee, a few things need to be done.

The first thing is to remove the stinger. Stingers cannot be pulled out — they must be scraped out.

Once the stinger has been removed, the next thing is to apply some white willow bark. If you don’t have it, use an aspirin crushed and dissolved in a few drops of water.

The Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies: What to Do For The Most Common Health Problems