Rocks on ice. Is your jewelry box overflowing? Instead of investing in a new one, take 60 seconds and organize the overflow in ice cube trays. Stack on top of each other and then store in a drawer. Chains stay untangled and earrings remain in pairs, ready to wear!
Freshen your humidifier. If your humidifier begins to smell musty, add a tablespoon of bleach to the water and let it run for a while. This should kill any germs the humidifier is harboring. Water vapor will be fresher once the bleach smell is gone.
To remove gum from garments, freeze the garment and then peel off the gum.
Don't throw away the wrapper after removing a bar of soap. Place it inside your shoe rack or shoe box. It's a cheap way of freshening your shoes and the air around them with a nice smell.
Are your shoes smelly? Here's a solution. Put some tea leaves into a pair of stockings and stuff each into a shoe. Leave for a day or two and the smell just vanishes!
To remove blood stains, wash the garment immediately in cold water, and then soak it in hydrogen peroxide solution.
To remove oil stains, rub the area with a piece of lime dipped in salt, and then wash with soap
Tips for stamp collectors: Place the envelope in the freezer for a few hours. You'll then be able to easily lift the stamps off with a pair of tweezers.
To keep buttons from dropping off dab a drop of clear nail polish onto the thread that secures the buttons. This will harden and make it more difficult for thread to break off.
To prevent garments from discoloring, soak the garments for 10 minutes in salt water prior to washing. An alternative is to add a few drops of vinegar to the wash cycle.
Soak dirty garments in plenty of water overnight, prior to washing them in machine. Water will remove most of the stains.
To remove hot candle wax on carpet, lay a newspaper or brown paper bag on the wax and run a medium hot iron over the paper. It will absorb the wax from the carpet.
To avoid hurting your fingers while hammering metal nails into the wall: Hold the nails with a wooden clothes peg instead. So even if you miss, you won't get hurt.
Egg shells can be used to clean glass bottles: Break the shells into pieces, drop them into the bottle with a few drops of detergent and a bit of water, and shake vigorously. Then rinse with water.
Use air-freshener to clean mirrors: It does a good job and better still, leave a lovely smell to the shine.
If you have problem with slippery shoelaces which refuse to stay tied: Rub them with a candle and make them less slippery so that knots stay put.
To keep lint and dust off glass top tables, wash them in a solution of warm water and fabric softener. Add one tablespoon of liquid fabric softener to one quart of warm water. The fabric softener will clean the glass inexpensively and will help keep lint from gathering on the glass; also great for computer screens and TV's.
To remove the smell of cigarette from lingering in the room, put half teaspoon of baking powder in the ashtray, or keep a cup of vinegar in the room to absorb the odor.
Keep battries in the refrigerator for longer life, and put them in sun for a day to power boost their energy.
To thread a needle easily, coat the thread with a little wax, or spray a bit of hair spray.
To sharpen a machine needle, stitch through a piece of sandpaper.
Don't throw away odd socks or socks with holes in them, use them to make a mop. Tie several socks (10-12 works best) to a mop or broom handle and use just like you would a regular mop. White cotton socks work best for this project and by the time the "sock mop" wears out, you'll probably have plenty more socks to make a new one.
Get rid of pet hair on upholstery effortlessly by wiping the furniture with a slightly dampened sponge.
When you need to touch up a scratch or other type of blemish on a painted wall, use a drop of paint on a cotton swab to fix the problem. You won't waste a bunch of paint and you won't have to waste time cleaning a paint brush.
To dustproof television screen, wipe it with a fabric softner. This will eliminate static cling, and dust will be repelled instead of adhering to the screen.
Polish brass items with few drops of mustard oil to make them shine.
Dull leather bags will get back its shine if rubbed with a slice of lemon.
To keep woolens from getting wet in snow, spray them with Scotchguard.
To help new or just cleaned drapes stay fresh and crisp looking, spray them with a few coats of unscented hair spay before hanging them up. Allow the hair spray to dry between applications.
Get rid of tarnish on silver the easy way, place a piece of aluminum foil (shiny side up) on the bottom of a glass bowl or pan. Fill the container with a solution made of 2 cups boiling water and 3 teaspoons of baking soda, and you've made an inexpensive "bath" to soak your silver in. Your silver will shine like new in no time.
To keep cut flowers fresher longer by mixing up a homemade formula. Mix 1 pint warm water, 1 pint lemonade or a lemon-lime soft drink. Pour enough into the vase to cover the lower three to four inches of the stem. Here's how this formula works: the sugar in the mixture supplies energy to the flowers and the citric acid in the lemon helps preserve them.
Add just a drop of Dawn dish liquid to 3 cups of water for an inexpensive window cleaner.
To polish shoes apply Cold Pressed Nut Oil, Olive Oil, Walnut Oil, or Beeswax. Apply oil to leather product and buff with a chamois cloth to a shine.
Lemon juice is good polish for black or tan leather shoes. Follow by buffing with a soft cloth.
Remove water stains on leather by rubbing with a cloth dipped in a vinegar and water solution.
A dab of petroleum jelly rubbed into patent leather gives a glistening shine and prevents cracking in the winter.
To shine patent leather, moisten a soft cloth with white vinegar and wipe clean all patent leather articles. The color of the leather may be slightly changed.
Paint Brush Renewer: Vinegar. Soften hard paintbrushes in hot vinegar for a few minutes. Then wash paintbrush in soap and warm water and set out to dry.
For pet urine, dab area with toweling, wash with suds of liquid dish detergent, and rinse with 1/2 cup vinegar diluted in 1 qt warm water. Lay towels or paper towels over the spot and weight down to absorb excess moisture. Let stand 4 to 6 hours, then remove toweling, brush up nap and allow to dry completely. You can speed drying by using an electric fan.
Windshield Wiper Frost Free Fluid: When you have to leave your car outside overnight in the winter, mix 3 parts vinegar to 1 part water and coat the windows with this solution. This vinegar and water combination will keep windshields ice and frost-free.
Place a few bay leaves in kitchen drawers to keep insects away.
Grind lemon peels to remove bad odor from garbage disposal.
To clean kitchen appliances and stainless steal kitchen sinks, use club soda, it cleans and polishes at the same time.
To remove food stains, cover the area with a paste made of baking soda and water, and leave it on for a few minutes, then wipe it off with a damp cloth or sponge.
To clean and remove soap film in the dishwasher, run a cup of white vinegar through the entire cycle of the empty dishwasher.
A box of baking soda left open on a refrigerator shelf absorbs odor. Some cleaning experts suggest placing a coffee can filled with charcoal in your fridge and replacing it every 6 weeks to two months.
Uses for Alka-SeltzerŪ
Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush, and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous china.
Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets.
Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.
Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four
Alka- Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).
Remove burned-on grease from a pot or pan. Fill the pot or pan with water, drop in six Alka-Seltzer tablets, let soak for one hour, then scrub as usual.
Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka- Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.
Get short-term relief from nicotine withdrawl symptoms. As long as you're not on a low-sodium diet or have peptic ulcers, drink two Alka- Seltzer tablets dissolved in a glass of water at every meal.
Soothe insect bites. Dissolve two Alka-Seltzer tablets in a glass of water, dip a cloth into the solution, and place the cloth on the bite for twenty minutes. |
