Household tips for easier living

Need a measuring stick in the garden while working? are you using a hoe.... mark the handle at 12-15-18-24-30--36". or in metric. saves much frustration at handling a tape measure or a yard stick while trying to do it all.

 

Wow, that is a super idea. I know what I will be doing to our hoe today. Thanks Carolyn.

 

It has saved much frustration for me this year. Go to it. Use my idea to make your life easier. I also added a 44" mark to make placing tomatoes faster. Move my hoe1/2 as often.

 

Another great kitchen hack... not sure if I have mentioned it... maybe I should write a book, huh? anyway... TACKY grease on baking pans? liquid dishwasher detergent.. squirt some in the water and let your pans soak a couple minutes... (do NOT do this with aluminum pans as it will discolor them) scrub them with a scrubby...... wa-la..gone. the tacky grease is dissolved.

 

Toni, I had to correct that above... it should have been the liquid dishwasher detergent... not dishwashing.

 

I will try jet dry for windows but it's going to have to be as amazing as what I use now on all glass, mirrors or chrome & stainless etc. which is pure alcohol the rubbing kind in a spray bottle. Also dryer sheets are great for stinky shoes that are not washable. And paper coffee filters are great in the bottom of flower pots as well. And did you know to keep bugs/weevils out of flour or any dry goods simply put a couple whole bay leaves in the bag or box, and so rice does not get buggy keep in the fridge.

 

If you take pencil and trace around the bottom of a toilet bowl, you can lift off the toilet and place a rope of plaster of paris around the inside of the outline and reset the toilet. This makes an impervious and durable but removable seal around the toilet base, preventing anything getting under toilet and it stops rocking if that's a problem.

 

oh, no thanks. not removing the toilet until I replace the floor. maybe a good solution for the problem though if your toilet isn't seated properly.

 

Been a while but this one is GREAT!
got a burn? .. especially a serious one? or I suppose even a sunburn...
use EGG WHITE on it. soak it, slather it, compress or poultice it.. on the burn as long as you can. it really works. I burned my hand on the oven a few weeks ago when baking cookies - the kind of burn the you hear it sizzle. I just used the egg white in the bottom of the egg shell and kept smoothing it on and the next day there was only a red streak and eventually a flat burn scab that just wore off. Last night I was starting the charcoal grill and accidentally touched a hot coal or something when I thought there wasn't any fire going yet... WOWSERS! that hurt! I immediately had a white patch burn on my index fingertip. I NEED THAT FINGER FOR BAKING TODAY! it is flat and painless today.

 

@carolyn I just read your post about burn care. Thank you!
I'll remember that.

We have a Roomba we call R2D2. I know this is s thread about tips....not an advertisement about gizmos but I love our R2D2. We set it off when we leave the house (so we don't have to hear it whine.... It's only drawback) & it works like a charm. Or almost. We do have to houseproof first as it can get itself into trouble with wires & such.

 

In general, I like different devices that make life easier. This is very convenient... My father taught me various life hacks from childhood, thanks to which any work can be facilitated. I still use them. Because I don't see any point in complicating the performance of any work if you can always make your life easier. My father always told me that it's not worth wasting your strength to do something manually. Because now it can be purchased ready-made. Recently, my license plate at home broke down. And all the delivery guys couldn't find my house. I thought to do everything manually, but it would take me a lot of time, so I purchased a ready-made plate. And I didn't regret at all that I didn't do it myself. After all, we do not live in the Stone Age...

 

Do you use SOS pads to scrub pots etc? You can keep them from rusting and able to be re-used numerous times if you keep them in the freezer!

I put them in a ziplock plastic bag and keep them in the front corner of my freezer, and every time I need to scrub a pot it takes but a second for the scrubber to melt under hot water.

 

An upstairs drain clogged up, so my hall bathtub and the master toilet would not drain. DW has a sister arriving in a couple weeks so the husbandly maintenance duties have notched up a level anyway, and naturally this happens on a Sunday which is the worst day possible since plumbing speciality trade stores are closed. This line is adjacent to the vent so my access was poor, and I did not want to reset a toilet or deal with a power snake anyway so I was hoping to find some draino or acid in the closet but no such luck. The only thing I had that was close to pro grade strength was a gallon of 30% agricultural vinager. I poured it in the toilet which was downline of the tub. Into the tub drain went the baking soda. You know the risks right? It could have been a sewage shower. Anyway the slowly draining vinager from the downstream toilet got hit from behind with the slowly draining tub water full of baking soda, and the action started. The toilet started a regular bubbling, but nothing really happened. I went into the bath and put a hand held shower wand to the tub drain to force more baking soda into the acid. That worked! Bloop! The drains all gurgled and everything went at once! I never got a chance to try the vinager on weeds! Definitely ordering more though, it works on drains! I got the idea from a youtube video. I am still laughing!

 

You can use mats, carpets, and rugs to improve the standard of living and make life easier.