Helpful Hints ... add yours!

[pomtzu]

Old fashioned toothpaste - not the gel kind - will take the sting and itch out of insect stings, and a dab on a fever blister will dry one up pretty quick too. I imagine it would work just as well on poison ivy and the like, too.

Also cortizone ointment rather than benadryl, is much more effective at taking the itch out of bug bites, since it is a steroid and benadryl isn't.

[pomtzu]

BUMP

Come on everybody - there must be more useful ideas that you can share.

I heard this one on t.v. not too long ago - and it really is a good one - and very effective too. I've done this and I am so pleased that it actually works. Now that shoe (and no sandals) season is fast approaching, I'll be doing it much more frequently.

Do your feet sweat when you wear shoes??? No - you don't have to answer, but if they do, here's a great idea to keep them dry and your shoes stinky-free. Put a feminine panty liner in them, as you would an innersole. This works especially good for athletic shoes and for any that you might choose to not wear socks with. Obviously this does not apply to sandals. When you take the shoes off for the day, just toss the liner and put new ones in the next time you wear them. I find the longs work best for an average shoe size. Don't peel the backing off of the liner - it's too difficult to get them positioned correctly when the sticky adhesive is expose

[smokey the elder]

For a wax spill, place the article into a freezer. The wax will be very brittle and come off. If it has been absorbed there's some kind of trick with ironing the piece of clothing on top of a towel, getting the wax to melt and go onto the towel.

[Catty1]

For a wax spill, place the article into a freezer. The wax will be very brittle and come off. If it has been absorbed there's some kind of trick with ironing the piece of clothing on top of a towel, getting the wax to melt and go onto the towel.

You're right about the ironing of absorbed wax. I use paper toweling and sometimes have to press pretty hard on repeat passes with the iron, but it works wonders!

[sparks19]

When buttering corn on the cob just grab the heel of the bread (I don't know about your house... but no one in my house eats the heel) and smother the butter on it and then pick it up and wrap it around the cob and roll the corn around. perfect method for buttering corn and lots of it (and the dogs like it because we give them the heel after we are done LOL). I had never heard of this method until I met Brian.

[Moesha]

I have not personally tried this but heard it on the radio last week.

Fresh eggs are very hard to peel. Here is the solution that was given for the perfectly peeled egg, especially if it is fresh. Rather than boil it, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Cook the egg for 30 minutes. Run it under cold water. Should peel perfectly. It was also suggested that to prevent the egg from rolling around you could cook it in a muffin tin. It seemed like a lot of work to me, but I guess if one was making deviled eggs and needed to cook several of them and have the shell come off easily, this would be a good tip.

[Bonny]

Peanut Butter will take pine tree sap off of your skin. Years ago we were on a pack trip in the Rockies. I had gotten tree sap on my hands when tying my horse up. The cook on that trip gave me some peanut butter to rub on my hands & by gosh it came right off the sap it is & not my hand. So peanut butter is a good stand by for tree sap.

[RICHARD]

I use a soda box, the 12 pack that goes into the fridge, to keep plastic grocery bags.

I open up the end that is scored, take out the cans and stuff the bags in......I can pull one out if I need it and
if I get too many? I toss the whole box into the recycling can!

[sparks19]

I use a soda box, the 12 pack that goes into the fridge, to keep plastic grocery bags.

I open up the end that is scored, take out the cans and stuff the bags in......I can pull one out if I need it and
if I get too many? I toss the whole box into the recycling can!

Hmmm I like that idea. Right now I just have a plastic bag stuffed with plastic bags hanging up lol. I might have to try this

[Taz_Zoee]

I use a soda box, the 12 pack that goes into the fridge, to keep plastic grocery bags.

I open up the end that is scored, take out the cans and stuff the bags in......I can pull one out if I need it and
if I get too many? I toss the whole box into the recycling can!

This is a great idea! Only I don't drink soda anymore.
I have a bag I purchased at the shelter I volunteer at, made by ladies at the thrift store, specifically for plastic bags. But I have sooo many bags (I'm counting on our county to do away with plastic bags like the surrounding counties have) I am saving up.
I'll have to see if anyone at work has these soda boxes I can have.

[Karen]

From today, I made a batch of cookies for my dear friend's wedding reception. They were in rainbow colors to match the cake, and we set them on platters just behind the cake. It turned out to be a great idea, as there were kids at the reception, and they were drawn like moths to a flame to look at the wedding cake, and instead of the kids poking at the frosting, they could grab a pretty cookie or two, and scamper off. It worked for adult guests, too - so nobody got too antsy about waiting for the big cake cutting ceremony!

[snakemama]

Baking soda paste makes a decent spackle to cover pinholes in the wall in a pinch!

Edit: Toothpaste works too!

[Catty1]

I couldn't find the thread about handy-dandy tips, so I am posting this anew.

http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/at-h...181200212.html

Somewhere along the way, I failed to pick up on the fact that cleaning your washing machine should be done with some regularity - not, like, never. I figured that the soap in the detergents kept it squeaky clean, and why wouldn't anyone? Oops. The thing is, soap residue and minerals in commonly used detergents are apt to build up in the washing machine, and over time, you might notice that your clothes just don't seem to get as clean as they used to. My washer had just started to feel icky. And here I was just thinking that maybe I had been cramming too many garments in the same load and not letting the rinse cycle perform as efficiently.


I searched around and found about as many different approaches for cleaning a top-loading washer, but one tutorial, a two-step approach, seemed easy, inexpensive and do-able.


Getting your laundry back on track starts with just two items:

• 1 quart of bleach (many tutorials went without the bleach step, if you're concerned about using harsh agents in your laundry)
• 1 quart of white vinegar

Fill the empty washer with hot water, as if you're doing a large load of laundry. Add the quart of bleach, and let the full machine run for one minute to mix up the bleach with the water. Open the top of the machine and let it sit, all bleach-y and full, for an hour. At the end of the hour, shut the cover and let the machine run a complete cycle.
When it's done, start again. This time, when you fill the washer with hot water, add the quart of white vinegar to the water and down the bleach channel and let the machine run for a minute to agitate the water and vinegar. After that minute, open the top of the machine and again, let the hot water sit in the basin for an hour before you let the cycle complete.

Not only did the process make the basement smell so fresh, but I noticed a big difference in how the inside of the basin felt. Smooth and clean, like after you exfoliate your face, no longer rough to the touch with the hard water spots and soap build-ups. It also only took about 2 hours and less than $3.


I've never had a front-loading machine, but there is a different way of cleaning those. (Check out the tutorial on homeguides.sfgate.com if necessary.) Now you've got laundry on the brain, don't you? Here's some more inspiration for your laundry...
-By Emily Fazio for DIYNetwork.com

I have a coin front-loader in the building here, so will check that out.

[Karen]

Candace, I added your post to this thread.

[Catty1]

Thanks! Could this thread be stickied?