Tips for Thursday~Household

Newspaper weeds away Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil.  Wet newspapers. Put layers around the plants overlapping as you go.  Cover with mulch, and forget about weeds.  Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.  

Broken Glass Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily. 

Flexible vacuum To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge, add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.  

Measuring Cups Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup.  Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. No More Mosquitoes Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.  It will keep the mosquitoes away.  (Harold has put this under the back of his cap (when mowing the lawn) for years, and it works--so he says.

Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields?  Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car when the windows fog, rub with the eraser!  Works better than a cloth.

Reopening envelopes  If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. It unseals easily.  

 INFO ABOUT CLOTHES  DRYERS

Even if you always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes the wax from dryer sheets builds up. This keeps the air from properly flowing throught the filter's mesh material. That's what burns out the heating unit.  You can't SEE the film, but it's there.  It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your  clothes soft, smell good and static free. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box.  This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it!  The best way to keep your dryer working for a very longtime (and to keep your  electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.  He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!  How about that!?! I tried this trick and was surprised that everything above is true. Hopefully this little trick will extend our dryer's lifespan, since I've purchased two major appliances in the last 6 months.

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving  cream and leaves your legs really smooth.  It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair. or the stuff that's left over in the bottle when you run out of the coordinating shampoo. We always seem to use more shampoo than conditioner.

Reducing Static Cling Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress.  Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.  Place pin in seam of slacks and static is gone.


Conditioner
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants.  They eat it, take it "home", can't digest it so it kills them.  It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it  works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
Goodbye Fruit Flies To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it ½" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well.  You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!