Here are some simple yet useful tips for you to use around the home.
You can use lemon juice to clean old coins.
Just soak the coin in the lemon juice.
I have read that you can also soak an
old coin in Coca-Cola overnight to clean the coin.
You can clean the end of a ball point pen (Biro) with a cigarette filter.
Just stick the ball point into the filter and turn the pen a few times to clean it off.
If a dress or skirts hem has come undone you can stick the hem back up using sticky tape. You can use this idea in an emergency and when you get back home you can then sew the hem back up.
Baking Soda is helpful for removing smell from your carpet and mats etc.
If you have draws, cupboards, sliding door runners or doors that are sticking then you can rub wax against the surfaces that are sticking and this should help greatly.
You can use a candle for this purpose, just rub the candle wax against the surface.
To make soft mashed potatoes you can use a electric egg beater to mash the potatoes.
If a fuse blows in a car, the silver metallic cigarette paper can be used in an emergency.
All you need to do is tear off a piece of this cigarette paper and then put it across the fuse terminals and crimp it down at the side with your fingers or you can use the old blown fuse to hold the cigarette paper in place.
This should only be used in an emergency until you get to the service station..
When cutting diseased tree, shrub and plant branches and flowers do not put them in your compost bin. If you do put diseased foliage in your compost all your compose will become infected with the disease.
If you wear glasses or sunglasses and the little screws that hold the frame together keep unscrewing themselves you can use nail polish painted over the screws to hold them in place.
You shouldn't need much nail polish to achieve this.
If you have chewing gum on clothes you can put the clothes in a plastic bag and then put it in the freezer until the gum goes hard or freezes and then you can pull off the gum.
If your child gets chewing gum in their hair, instead of cutting the offending mess off simply rub the strands and gum with an oil based mixture.
This can be cooking oil, butter, and if
you really want to impress your kids - peanut butter. Its messy but
it works like a dream.
If you need to keep curtains down so they don't blow upwards in the wind you can sew into the hem something metal like a small steel rode (not sharp) or an old key etc.
You could possibly do this with the hem
of a dress or skirt as well.
You can keep a few gas welding rods in your car tool kit to hold up your cars exhaust pipe if it ever breaks. These rods can be helpful for other car on-the-road repairs as well.
You can use a woman's panty hose to replace a broken fan belt in a car.
You can use a lemon cut in half and rub it on the bottom of a cooking pot to help 'cut' off the grime. I have read the acid in the lemon helps do this.
A cotton swab is helpful for painting small chips in the paint work inside and outside of your house.
Fireplace glass can be wiped with a crumpled up piece of newspaper, just rub hard and most of the black soot will disappear.
If you have a pair of shoes or boots that are to small for your feet I have been told you can fill the shoes up with seeds and then add some water.
Leave overnight.
In theory the seeds will expand and the shoes will expand as well to a slightly larger size.
I have not tried this but I have been told it works.
For slippery concrete steps you can paint the steps and as soon as you have finished painting sprinkle sand over the steps.
When the paint dries the steps should have plenty of grip.
This could be done on other surfaces as well.
If you are painting the legs of a table or a chair you can put jar lids under the legs so that paint does not drip onto the floor.
When using a steel saw for cutting wood you can use a candle to stop the saw from jamming or sticking by rubbing the steel side of the blade on both sides..
To only reboot Windows and not your computer, you can hold the Shift key while selecting appropriate commands from the Start menu.
If you have some cloth or a car cover but it is not waterproof and you need it to cover a car or something like that in wet weather then you can smear grease on one side to make it waterproof.
If you are painting a chair or a set of shelves you can put four long screws in the bottom of the shelves to hold the shelves off the ground so you can paint the shelves without the bottom of the shelves touching the ground.
This could also be done with thin nails.
The bottom of the shelves will not normally
be seen so it isn't much of a problem having a few small holes in them,
you could fill them in after or if you are adding feet or rollers then
you can put them over the holes.
