Homemakers Thread

little hints that you've discovered or invented or have been passed down.

i sometimes put dryer sheets in my central air vent where the filter is to get that april fresh scent all over my house.

i discovered that white toothpaste is awesome to cover up nick's in walls, leave it white or if you have touch up paint, you can paint it.

i have a ceramic top stove with a warming element at the back/middle of it. scented candles, after the wick burns away, are placed there to spend their final days. any candle that a child of mine has seen fit to throw/drop, gets put into a cereal bowl and also goes on there. works great on low and last for HOURS. whole house smells yummy

my step-mom showed me that to remove the core of lettuce, just slam the head, core down, onto a counter top. when you flip the lettuce over the core just pops right out.

also, put a damp paper towel in your ziploc or sealed container that you are putting your lettuce in and it lasts a super long time. i've even changed my paper towel out after a week and my lettuce stayed extremley well preserved for DAYS after.

if you have a bag utilizing vaccuum cleaner....put a puppy flea collar in it. it will kill all the lil buggies you pull up out of your carpet. and trust, they're in there.

now, somebody tell me how they get their laundry to smell extra good for extra long. i think i've gotten accustomed to the smell of mine and i just can't smell the "good" unless they're coming fresh outta the dryer.

share your household hints people, i know we'll have some good ones.

:D

Put a dryer sheet in your drawers -- or in your closets -- I even put them in my car under the seat to make it smell good in there. Just be careful because they are a little oily and can leave a spot if you're not careful :)

If you have wax build-up all you do is spray the floor down with windex and the wax will come right up in little clumps!
You may have to do this a few times in certain areas like little dents and nicks in the floor. You'll know because you will have yellow streaks where some was left behind.
Works awesome.
I use GAIN laundry soap and I still have not grown used to the smell. Also I use bleach for unbleacables in my dark loads and the smell is woooOOonderful:D hope that helps.

~Jenna

Here is some tips that really work by Martha Stewart and some funny comments.

MARTHA STEWART: If you accidentally over salt a dish while its still cooking, drop in a peeled potatoe and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix me up"

READ WOMEN: If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that is too dang bad. Please recite with me "I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes"

MARTHA STEWART: Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

REAL WOMEN: Take a lime, mix it with tequlia, etc., chill and drink. You might still have the headache, but you won't care.

MARTHA STEWART: Stuff a minature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

REAL WOMEN: Just suck the ice cream out the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake!! You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway!

MARTHA S: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

REAL W: Buy Hungry Jack mix potatoes, they last for a year on your shelf.

MARTHA S: When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of dry cake mix instead and you won't have the white mess on the outside of the cake.

REAL W: Got to the bakery and get a cake, they even decorate it for you.

Hope yall can use some of those tips!!

lol, i love those marie

and first time i encountered the dryer sheet in the car was with a vehicle i bought about 3 years ago.....kept sniffing and asking myself "what is that SMELL?"

it was about 1/2 a year later when i FINALLY cleaned it, lol, that i discovered the culprit dryer sheet :D

awesome ideas !

i think i got one of those mr. clean things as a free sample...does it look like a sponge with a blue side? if so, i am SO guilty of not using it. i will now tho

and i put a dryer sheet in my boys' ditty bag when they spend the night with "it" cuz i know he's gonna put some dirty something in there with the clean and it helps me from having to wash the clean stuff that's not directly touching the dirty something.

i also vacuum out my central air filter instead of constantly buying new ones. my puppy should be bald by now with the amount of hair that's in the filter and that comes up off my carpet.

Aside from all its normal uses...

WD-40 will get CRAYON marks OFF your wall!!! WITHOUT STAINING. Even on FLAT paint.

:D

~phosphorescent

You can use newspapers to dry mirrors and windows after washing for a lint free shine. My mother taught me this.

I clean houses on the side for extra money, and one lady I work for always has the freshes laundry I've ever smelled, and so clean. She only washes small loads, never large, with plenty of water. Kind of hard to do in my machine though. It's a Maytag frontloader and the water level is automatic depending on the load size.

Originally posted by Nessa
so will those wonderful mr clean sponges and hair spray...

The Mr. Clean sponges, I've used, but they take a LOT more time than WD-40. It seems EVERY time I paint a room, my kids follow behind me with crayons. LOL.

Hair spray stains flat paint.

~phosphorescent

Originally posted by greeneyedgirl
[B]i discovered that white toothpaste is awesome to cover up nick's in walls, leave it white or if you have touch up paint, you can paint it.

If you did that in my house, I'd slap you upside the head. Seriously. It's JUST as easy to dab a bit of drywall mud (you can get and KEEP tiny containers of it for years) and do the same. Toothpaste, when it gets much older, will age and crack and sometimes even fall out. It's a 'slum lord' tactic, right along side fixing drywall holes with duct tape or scotch tape and painting over it and a NIGHTMARE for whoever moves in after you. I HIGHLY recommend you don't go that route.

Otherwise, your other hints ROCKED. ;)

~phosphorescent

Originally posted by lovey6975
If you have wax build-up all you do is spray the floor down with windex and the wax will come right up in little clumps!

Jenna, there is this stuff you can get at the grocery store called "strippette" which works much better, and usually in ONE go it gets all the wax up.

Also good for other things... (in my college days, I found it really good for cleaning anything plastic ~ like water filtration tobacco pipes... *ahem* just rinse REAL good. LOL)

~phosphorescent

:p Where is your head women?:p You know I can not use certain things in the house on account of the breathing issues!
Windex is a good and safe product and I thought it was interesting that is does lift wax and is still safe.

I do have to say that the wd-40 is a good product for alot more than lube! I have used it on the walls on occasion and almost caused masive coronaries to the hubby the first time he saw me do it. :D

I have since discovered the magic erasers and I love em' took out stains from years ago that I couldn't get out. I had to suffer them since they were in my sons b-room and I can't go spraying stuff in his haven.

Off to wade through the lake of laundry floating in the laundry room!
~Jenna

LOL Nessa! I use these things called "Painters Swipes." They are like little baby wipes, but the get dried paint off, too. EXCELLENT stuff... even gets the black crap off your keyboard. ;)

Jenna: Strippette is nowhere near as toxic smelling as a LOT of items I've encountered...

~phosphorescent

You all know how home made cookies can tend to be crunchy instead of soft by the next day... if you prefer a chewier cookie, put a piece of bread crust on top of them in the cookie jar overnight and by the next morning the cookies will be soft and the bread crust dried out. Toss the bread crust and enjoy the cookies.

Originally posted by fos4snt
If you did that in my house, I'd slap you upside the head. Seriously. It's JUST as easy to dab a bit of drywall mud (you can get and KEEP tiny containers of it for years) and do the same. Toothpaste, when it gets much older, will age and crack and sometimes even fall out. It's a 'slum lord' tactic, right along side fixing drywall holes with duct tape or scotch tape and painting over it and a NIGHTMARE for whoever moves in after you. I HIGHLY recommend you don't go that route.

Otherwise, your other hints ROCKED. ;)

~phosphorescent

slap me upside my head? aw heck mel, that's how i discovered that in the first place, lol.

i had to "be careful" not to draw attention to the lil nicks that "it" put in the walls during one of his temper tantrums. i couldn't of bought that stuff cuz if he'd found it, oh lordy, well, ya dig? so i did the the only thing i could think of to continue my enabling. TOOFPASTE ! :D

and i love hairspray for getting ink stains out, works like a charm almost everytime

:)

Originally posted by greeneyedgirl
slap me upside my head? aw heck mel, that's how i discovered that in the first place, lol.

i had to "be careful" not to draw attention to the lil nicks that "it" put in the walls during one of his temper tantrums. i couldn't of bought that stuff cuz if he'd found it, oh lordy, well, ya dig? so i did the the only thing i could think of to continue my enabling. TOOFPASTE ! :D

and i love hairspray for getting ink stains out, works like a charm almost everytime

:)

Tracy...

You go on and use your toothpaste girl! I got your back!:p Besides that, this is YOUR thread, use tp if ya want to!

Originally posted by greeneyedgirl
and i love hairspray for getting ink stains out, works like a charm almost everytime

:)


Another trick I learned as a nurse (always getting ink all over my uniform) for getting ink out is to use isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol). Works like a charm.

I love this thread. So many wonderful tips I had not heard about.

This one is dedicated to Tracy....

I use toothpaste to clean my aquamarine and gold ring and it makes it shine like crazy!:)

Originally posted by 1love
Tracy...

You go on and use your toothpaste girl! I got your back!:p Besides that, this is YOUR thread, use tp if ya want to!

lol, melissa, i don't ever have to worry about that petty bs again. but while you're back there, i got an itch juuuust under my shoulder blade :D

and nessa, eww, lol wet tp only brings ONE thing to mind. i can just see company in my home thinking to themselves, "WHAT is that smell???"

def. no cookies the next day and def. hurrah for cookie dough

if anybody has iron skillets, instead of washing them everytime, my grandma taught me to just sprinkle salt in them with a lil oil or shortening after you've cooked with them, heat them up, then take a bunch of paper towels and over your sink, rub the skillet clean. this is part of the "seasoning" process. i balked at first but i've been doing this for about 8 years now. she's done it for about 50 years and has some of the most beautiful iron skillets you ever did want to see.

more hints, these are great, keep em coming :)

speaking of oven cleaner.....i use it to clean my 4 year old ceramic top stove AND my pots, pans, baking sheets.

Originally posted by greeneyedgirl

i sometimes put dryer sheets in my central air vent where the filter is to get that april fresh scent all over my house.


:D

I could do that on the boat.

But, that is a known tactic of drug smugglers. So I just let the boat smell of dog;), or whatever is cooking on the stove..... lol

LOL - Amina you are too funny!! I am a huge fan of any cleaning product that has multi-purposes!!

Although, I had heard of the iron trick. When 'C' spilt candle wax on his snow white soccer jersey, I was able to take a piece of paper and lay it over the wax and then iron over the top of it, the wax came off like magic!! The wax was red by the way. :-)