Helpful hints/tips

[hisno1girl]

Post your helpful hints/tips about anything.

When using nonpareils for decorating cookies, put the cookies on a towel first. This will prevent them from bouncing all over your work surface and rolling to the floor.

I've been making cookies for 30 years and just discovered this tidbit last week.

[drrn04]

Plain, non-gel, toothpaste will take permanent marker off of your wood table without stripping the finish. Apply to a q-tip and blot blot blot.

[Ruby Gloom]

And also, vinegar gets those nasty pit stains out of light colored shirts. If you soak the shirt in vinegar, it dissolves the built-up deodorant which is actually the cause of the pit stains to begin with. Nifty.

ETA: spellcheck

[drrn04]

Dec 26, 2012 16:55:41 GMT -5 @cse1960 said:

Vinegar is the bomb, is my helpful hint. Use it to wash windows, take the mildew smell out of things, on the floors, rinse out cat boxes, you name it, it's incredible.

I have poured it into smelly sneakers, washed the sneakers in hot water and baking soda, and set them to dry in the sun, and omg. No more smell, at all. And very clean.

You can take it to the next level and use a newspaper to clean your windows with vinegar. The clarity is unreal with that combo.

[vicky]

Rubbing your hands on stainless steel will get funky smells off of your hands, i.e. garlic and onions.

[Ruby Gloom]

My sister told me this a few weeks ago. She swears by it.

[hisno1girl]

Want a good way to store christmas lights without them getting tangled?

Take old newspaper and roll them up and tape them into a tube/cylinder. Wrap your lights around the tube and then you can store them without having a tangled mess next season.

Also, baking soda is an amazing exfoliant for your face.

[flex]

To get rid of fishy smell on cutting boards or your hands, rub with salt and rinse.

[vicky]

Dec 26, 2012 17:00:40 GMT -5 kevin arnold said:

Tip: When applying cookie glaze with a craft brush, warn the cookie recipients ahead of time that if they find a hair in their penis cookie frosting, it's not a cat hair, or a pube (although that would be fitting) but perhaps an errant bristle from the brush.

:y:

[aprilludgate]

Dec 26, 2012 17:00:40 GMT -5 kevin arnold said:

Tip: When applying cookie glaze with a craft brush, warn the cookie recipients ahead of time that if they find a hair in their penis cookie frosting, it's not a cat hair, or a pube (although that would be fitting) but perhaps an errant bristle from the brush.

lol

[hisno1girl]

If your plastic containers get stained from the contents, leave it in the sun for a day. The stains will disappear. The sun's magic does the work.

[ThirdandLong]

If you pull out your dried clothes only to find that something has melted onto them in the dryer, I can help.

1- if it's gum, rub a dab of sunscreen into the gum spot then scrape it off with the side of your fingernail, a plastic knife, etc. The sunscreen will wash out without leaving a grease spot.

2- if it's crayon, try to rewash the load with a 1/2 cup oxyclean, 1/2 cup detergent, and hot water (if it's a really big load, use more oxyclean and detergent). If that doesn't get the crayon out, then make a pillow of paper towels and spray WD-40 on the crayon spot on both sides of the fabric on top of the paper towels. Let it sit for 5 minutes then rinse thoroughly with water. Put a dab of dishwasher liquid or dish liquid on a rag/cloth and rub it into the crayon spot. Again let it sit 5 minutes. Add some spot treatment like Spray N Wash to the crayon spot. Again let sit 5 minutes. Repeat the rewash with oxyclean, detergent, and hot water.

I've been through both of these and lived to tell the tale. They both work without ruining the clothes.

Edit - thought of another... E got dry erase marker on her tshirt this summer. Pretreat and wash once but don't dry in the dryer. Place a pillow of paper towels under the spot, moisten the tip of a rag/cloth in rubbing alcohol, dab on the dry erase marker spot. Continue to shift the spot around on the paper towels while dabbing with rubbing alcohol. Rinse the garment, pretreat again and rewash. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better.

[hisno1girl]

Dec 26, 2012 17:01:57 GMT -5 cjoy said:

Forwarding the link for this thread to the help.

You let them have the internets?

You're awesome

[Deleted]

i use vinegar on everything.

i line the inner rim of my pots with butter so what i'm cooking in them doesn't spill over.

[aprilludgate]

ummm.... If you put dirty dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on, sometimes it cleans them.

I'm not a very domestic person, but I'm really excited about all the things I just learned from this thread.

[Deleted]

Use an eraser to get pen marks off counter tops

[hisno1girl]

Rubbing butter on the sliced end of a block of cheese will keep it from getting hard.

[sonrisa]

Dec 26, 2012 17:01:03 GMT -5 hisno1girl said:

Want a good way to store christmas lights without them getting tangled?

Take old newspaper and roll them up and tape them into a tube/cylinder. Wrap your lights around the tube and then you can store them without having a tangled mess next season.

I do this with paper towel rolls. Then you can tuck the ends into the tube. Works great.

[scotty]

Don't ask someone without children when they're going to have children. It's really none of your business.

[macmars45]

Windex gets stains out of white/light carpet.

[Deleted]

mr clean magic eraser is the greatest cleaning product ever invented. i use it on everything. lol.

[Mrs.Beagle]

If it's yellow, let it mellow.
If it's brown, flush it down.

[Deleted]

Dec 26, 2012 17:27:12 GMT -5 lightyear said:

mr clean magic eraser is the greatest cleaning product ever invented. i use it on everything. lol.

2nd that

[sonrisa]

Dec 26, 2012 17:24:11 GMT -5 scotty said:

Don't ask someone without children when they're going to have children. It's really none of your business.

Or even those with kids. It stings less, but trust me that no one wants to answer that after a year of unsuccessful trying or when they are in the process of miscarrying. You'll know they have a kid when you hear the baby crying.

[speckledfrog]

When you soften a stick of butter save the wrapper (fold in half and stick in freezer) to use for later recipes that call for greasing a pan.

[scotty]

Dec 26, 2012 17:28:04 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Dec 26, 2012 17:24:11 GMT -5 scotty said:

Don't ask someone without children when they're going to have children. It's really none of your business.

Or even those with kids. It stings less, but trust me that no one wants to answer that after a year of unsuccessful trying or when they are in the process of miscarrying. You'll know they have a kid when you hear the baby crying.

:Y: :heart:

[pantsparty]

Sometimes you can sub sour cream for Greek yogurt.

Press N' Seal is your best friend.

[scotty]

Hold a piece of bread in your mouth when you cut onions and your eyes won't water.

[malibu]

Shoes with rubber soles take pet fur off upholstery better than any vacuum or lint brush I've ever seen.

[imoan]

Dec 26, 2012 17:27:12 GMT -5 lightyear said:

mr clean magic eraser is the greatest cleaning product ever invented. i use it on everything. lol.

This one... RIGHT HERE!

The Magic Eraser has changed my life.