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I love collecting, recording and sharing household hints and tips! Lots of times, my eyes just open wide and all I can say is: “Oh – really???” and then go a try the helpful information I just found. And here I am sharing 50 hints I like – and I promise to keep more coming!
Top 50 Household Hints:
1. Save money by buying the least expensive dishwasher soap, then add a few teaspoons of vinegar to the dishwasher. The vinegar cuts the grease and leaves the dishes spot-free and sparkling.n
2. Keep an empty soda bottles handy, in case you need a hot water bottle. Jusat fill it up with hot water, wrap in a towel and there you go!
3. To slow the tarnishing process of silver, place a piece of chalk in your silver chest or drawer. The chalk will absorb moisture and your silver will not tarnish so quickly.
4. If you place bay leaves in all your kitchen drawers and in the flour and sugar containers, you will keep any crawling critters away.
5. Nice can’t stand the smell of fresh peppermint – so plant it around your house or put some oil of peppermint on a piece of cloth and place it in locations you suspect the mice may be visiting.
6. For a quick ant kill, mix 2 cups of borax with one cup of sugar in a quart jar. Punch holes in the lid and sprinkle around the outside of your house.
7. Another way to get rid of ants is to pour Ivory Liquid Soap around where they are. The apparently is the only soap that works.
8. Empty ketchup of mustard containers are great for decorating cakes or cookies.
9. To unclog plugged drain, try using a cup of salt mixed with a cup of baking soda – no liquid. Pour the dry solution into the drain, followed by a pot of boiling water.
10. To raise the nap of carpeting after heavy furniture has matted it down, place one or two ice cubes on the area overnight. In the morning the carpet should be back up.
11. To remove most coffee stains from fabric, mix egg yolk with warm water and apply until the stain is gone.
12. Corningware cookware can be cleaned by filling them with water and dropping in couple of denture cleaning tablets. Let stand for 30-45 minutes.
13. When postage stamps have stuck together, try placing them them into the freezer for about 10 minutes – they should come apart without damaging the glue.
14. Any cloth material that has chewing gum stuck to it can be placed into the freezer. After about an hour the gum should break off easily.
15. If your white socks are getting dingy, place them into a pot of water, add 2 pieces of lemon or a teaspoon of lemon juice and soak for about 10 minutes. Then wash as you normally would.
16. To keep your pizza crust crispy, try placing the cheese on before the sauce.
17. To save leftover wines, freeze them in ice cube trays. They can be used for any dish you would season with wine or can be also used in coolers.
18. Cottage cheese can be used in place of sour cream when making dips. Just place it in the blender until it is creamed.
19. Cream cheese can be coloured with liquid food colouring as a filler for dainty rolled sandwiches. Try a different colour for each layer and slice as you would a jelly roll.
20. Freeze red and green maraschino cherries in ice cubes. You can also do this with cocktail onions, mint leaves or green olives for martinis.
21. To remove a cork from inside of empty wine bottle, pour some ammonia into the bottle, set in well ventilated location. In a few days, the cork will be gone.
22. You can make your own Easter egg dyes – boil the eggs with grass for green, onion skins for yellow and beets for read.
23. For attractive individual butter servings, squeeze butter through a pastry bag or plastic beg onto a cookie sheet, set in refrigerator to harden.
24. If red wine is spilled on a carpet, it can be cleaned with shaving cream, then sponged off with water. Club soda also works.
25. To fancy up the top of a cake, cookies or pie, try placing a wide-patterned doily on top, then sprinkle powdered sugar over it and remove.
26. To peel thin skin fruits and vegetables easily, place in a bowl and cover with boiling water, let stand for one minute then peel with sharp paring knife.
27. For an easy dressing for fruit salad, try a grated orange rind and orange juice added to sour cream.
28. Raisins won’t stick to the food chopper of they are soaked in cold water for a short period of time.
29. Cream won’t curdle when pour over fruits if you add a pinch of baking soda with the cream before serving.
30. If you add a small pat of butter when cooking fruit for jams and jellies, you won’t have any foam to skim off the top.
31. If you have a problem with fruit jellies not setting, place the jars in a shallow pan half filled with cold water, then bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes.
32. To make ripe olives taste better, soak them overnight in olives, place them in a brown be oil with a clove of garlic added.
33. To ripen fruit, place it in a brown bag in a dark place for a few days.
34. If citrus fruits are warmed in the microwave or warm oven for a few minutes, they will yield more juice.
35. Toss freshly cut fruit in lemon juice and it won’t darken. The juice of half lemon is enough for a quart or two of cut fruit.
36. Cook cranberries only until they “pop”- further cooking will make them bitter. And always use a teaspoon of butter to each pound of cranberries – it will eliminate overboiling and excess foam.
37. If you allow grapefruit to stand in boiling water for a few minutes, it will be easier to peel.
38. Salt will make grapefruit taste sweeter.
39. If you sprinkle lemons with water and refrigerate them in a plastic bag, they will last a month or more.
40. Oranges that need to be peeled for dishes should be soaked in boiling water for at least 5-7 minutes before peeling. This will make it easier to peel and remove all the white pulp.
41. To ripen a pineapple, cut off top, remove skin and slice. Place in a pot and cover with water, sweeten to taste, boil for 5 minutes, cool and refrigerate.
42. To prevent soggy salads, place an inverted saucer in the bottom of the salad bowl. The excess liquid will drain off under the saucer and the salad stays fresh and crisp.
43. When cooking onions or cabbage, boil a small amount of vinegar in a pan to remove the odours.
44. If you sprinkle salt into the water when you are washing vegetables, it will draw out insects.
45. If you cook your vegetables with a small amount of milk, it will bring out more colour
46. Use a well-greased muffin tins to bake tomatoes, apples or peppers. They will keep their shape better.
47. When making pickles, cut off ¼ inch from each end. The ends contain enzymes that may cause the pickles to soften.
48. Pickle juice should be saved and used for making coleslaw, potato salad, etc.
49. To revive limp asparagus, try placing them in a tall pot with ice water in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
50. To ripen avocados quickly, place them in a wool sock and set in a dark place.
Hope you have enjoyed reading these tips and as always – your comments, suggestions and experiences are most welcomed and very much appreciated!
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First day of school can be quite stressful – for the child and for parents. Especially if we are talking about a younger child changing schools. Here are a few simple tips that are easy to follow and will for sure help to avoid uncomfortable and stressful situations:
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I don’t really understand why people do it, but for a lack of better words, I will tack it to tradition. Yes – New Year’s resolutions are definitely a tradition – and maybe it just makes us feel better that we are actually doing something about things we would like to change.
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