Household tips for easier living

Do you have any tips or hints for easier living, or less time intensive labor in the house?

Today I picked a rubberband up out of the washing machine that went through the load and instead of putting it where it belonged, I put it around the liquid laundry detergent lid, out of laziness.... It was so much easier to open when I went to start the next load. It drives me crazy when I have to stop and dry my hands to open the bottle, because I can't get a grip on the lid. For anyone with arthritis or weak hands this would be a great help. Maybe I'll try it on the door knob in the kitchen...

 

I had my husband build me waist high shelves/table the depth of a laundry basket along the walls of the laundry room. He installed a bar at my reaching height above the washer and dryer so I can easily hang things to dry. Being able to fold clothes with everything within easy reach has been so easy on the back.

 

cleaning glass of any kind

I also found that Jet Dry(for the dishwasher) makes an excellent window cleaner. a drop in a spray bottle is all it takes. No more streaks and it is instantly dry. I use a squeegee for all my windows and mirrors (and a towel just to wipe the very edge of the window).

 

fixing a garden hose

Okay... I'm stealing this thread.... I am also double posting.... SORRY.

Do you ever have to fix a hose because someone drove over it and crushed the fitting? I found that using my hand pruners to cut the hose made the job much easier and safer. the blade is curved and "cradles" the hose so it doesn't keep sliding away while you are trying to cut off the fitting. I constantly am fixing fittings and have found this to really help.

 

Keep them coming Carolyn!
[edited to add an idea]

Just thought of one.
If you use a charcoal BBQ grill... place an aluminum pan under the charcoal (or wood). This adds life to the bottom of the grill... plus when you're done, just take out the pan and dump the ashes. They can be used multiple times.

 

Tongs! I have three pairs--long, medium and short. I love them for fishing things from behind the couch (cat toys), for holding dust rags to do the fan blades (saves getting out the ladder) and oh, yes, for cooking (I wash them first). If you think the tongs may slip and drop something, wrap a rubber band a couple of times around the grabber end.

 

I had to use tongs the other day when Ollie got here. The engine of their car was making a funny smell.... He popped the hood and there was a mouse nest being built in the engine. so I came in and got a pair of tongs and reached way down in to pull out the bedding, which was a freshly chewed up mattress from their garage. I guess it knew just what kind of materials would work best. Thanks for the great idea Jane.

ANOTHER IDEA....(since I'm not supposed to post 2x on a row)

Any bottle of liquid that comes with a plastic seal under the lid.... I POKE a hole in the foil/plastic instead of pulling the whole thing off, so I can control the amount of liquid coming out better. things such as rubbing alcohol or ammonia, etc. I find that I don't waste as much of the product this way.

 

I put used dryer sheets in the bottom of pots when repotting plants. The water can drain through but the soil can't.

 

Toothpaste..... it's an awesome mild abrasive. did you accidentally squirt too much on your toothbrush or did you have a leak from an uncapped tube? use it to clean the sink instead of washing it down the drain. It also cleans dirty (garden dirty, not greasy dirty) hands very well. scrub your cuticles and knuckles with an old toothbrush and they come much cleaner and your hands feel great when you dry them.

 

Mint flavored toothpaste also deodorizes hands after cleaning fish or peeling garlic, onions ect.

 

Calvinjane, since I dry clothes on the line (and the dryer sheets just blow off the line ) I use coffee filters in the bottom of pots. I even cut them into quarters to use in 4" pots when up-potting transplants.
Dryer sheets are good deodorizers for musty smelling drawers. When I was restoring antiques we got a lot of things in that had been stored in barns and basements, and dryer sheets made the drawers smell better, especially after we removed the dissicated mice.

 

Hubby smokes... and the truck stinks to high heaven. So we stick a dryer sheet in the AC vent. It does help alot!
Also freshens up a room if it you place one in the AC vent.

 

Speaking of dryer sheets... I heard that Bounce dryer sheets repel mice. put them where you don't want the mice at, such as RVs and basements or the garage. I have heard that it really does work, but it has to be Bounce.

 

Does your TOILET PAPER get spun off the roll really fast? accidentally or the kids just pulling too hard on the paper and using it too fast...resulting in plugged toilets on occasion, squish the roll so the cardboard tube is creased, and not round, on the dispenser any more. this makes it harder to waste as much when the paper doesn't rip for them.

 

Today I had to reposition a cassette rack from the study to the kitchen. All our cassette players is out of service due to age. We took down the cassette rack because we had not touch the cassettes for years and we wanted to put in a new book case.

After some thoughts, we managed to find a new use for the cassette rack in the kitchen as a spice and herb rack. To mount the rack in the kitchen, I had to reposition the foil dispenser too and that means a total of 4 rawlplug had to go in the wall to anchor these 2 items. If you had used a hammer drill to make a hole in a concrete wall, I am sure you'll know how much fine dirt it will produce.


Dust Trap ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden )
Just make a square box out of a piece of waste paper. On one side paste it to the wall just below where the drilling is going to done. Make sure that the tape used can come off the wall easily, I find that either cellophane or masking tape works perfectly.


The dust ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden )
Most of the dust will be collected in the paper box because of the high density of the concrete. In the photo you can notice that part of the cellophane tape was coming out because it was the last hole I was drilling and I was a little lazy to change the tape


New Job ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden )
Done with the dust situation hardly noticeable.


Spice & Herb Rack ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden )
This is the final result after Becky put in the final touches. This rack was made by me about 30 years ago from tangerine packing boxes.