Did you know?

[BatmansWife]

A friend sent me this e-mail with some handy household tips. Maybe you've seen this or know some of these already. My comments are in purple (of course :001_smile: ).

 

You can flip a toaster on its side and grill an open faced grilled cheese sandwich; one in each bread slot. (ETA: this very first one probably doesn't work. Sis posted below that the toasters now days hold your bread. Bummer!)

 

Reynolds Wrap has lock in tabs on the sides to hold the roll in place. (my Great Value aluminum foil and plastic wrap also have this)

 

The color of the bread tab indicates what day the bread was baked so you know how fresh it is. Mon - Blue, Tues - Green, Thurs - Red, Fri - White, Sat - Yellow. The colors are in alphabetical order: B, G, R, W, Y. (apparently bread isn't ever baked on a Wednesday. :001_smile: )

 

If you place a wooden spoon over a pot of boiling water, it won't boil over.

 

Marshmallows can cure a sore throat. Perfect for kids who don't like medicine.

 

You can freeze cake batter for later use.

 

You can paint upholstery.

 

You can dye plastic buttons.

 

You can run a small paper bag through your printer.

 

A dry erase marker can be used on the tops of most desks. (I would recommend testing this first)

 

You can mail anything that will take an address and stamp that weighs less than 13 ounces without a box. (the picture in the e-mail for this showed a castle sand mold and a sand shovel, each with a address label on them)

 

If you break your blender jar, you can replace it with a mason jar.

 

Cereal canisters make the perfect garbage can for your car.

 

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster. (unless, of course, you want them to ripen faster for banana bread. ;) )

 

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! But you can scrape off any mold and still eat the cheese without changes in flavor.

 

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and stronger flavored.

 

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

 

To make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

 

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.

 

Reheat leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, on med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.

 

Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag, seal, mash, add remainder of ingredients, keep mashing, mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw the bag away!

 

Continued below.....

 

Edited June 4, 2012 by ~AprilMay~

[BatmansWife]

Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes for the same price. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

 

Reheating refrigerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

 

Newspaper weeds away: Plant your plants in the ground; work the nutrients in your soil. Then 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.

 

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant: squirrels won't come near it.

 

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.

 

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip or slacks to eliminate static cling. It works; you will not have a clingy skirt or dress, or slacks when wearing panty hose; ... Ta DA! .. Static is gone. (why does the word "slacks" sound funny to me?)

 

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

 

De-fog your windshield: 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!

 

Re-opening 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. Voila! It unseals easily. Only for old- fashioned lick-type mucilage envelopes! (I don't think I've ever heard of the word mucilage before. I wonder if it means spit?) (ETA: Just looked the word up. Nope. It's the adhesive. It sure sounded like it could mean spit though)

 

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. (I actually do this!! It does work really good and your legs feel super smooth)

 

Goodbye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" 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!

 

Get Rid of Ants: 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! (I'm going to try this inside the house)

 

Drop a small object on the carpet and can't find it. Place panty hose over the end of the vacuum hose and start vacuuming. The panty hose will keep it from getting sucked into the vacuum. (I thought this was very clever!)

 

Need to cut some corn off the cob? Use your Bundt pan. Place the ear on the opening in the center of the pan, and as you slide the knife down the ear, all the kernals will collect in the main part of the pan.

Edited June 4, 2012 by ~AprilMay~

[Slartibartfast]

 

You can flip a toaster on its side and grill an open faced grilled cheese sandwich; one in each bread slot.

 

 

I don't think that is so anymore, my toaster "holds" the bread. I did get excited there for a second :(

[clarkacademy]

Those are very clever and worth knowing!!

[BatmansWife]

I don't think that is so anymore, my toaster "holds" the bread. I did get excited there for a second :(

 

Hey, you are right! The picture showed a really old looking toaster. So, if you really wanted to try it, you'll need to keep an eye out at the thrift store or garage sales. Probably not worth the hassel. Sorry for the let down!

[SJ.]

I have one :) If you, or one of your children, "accidentally" write on a smooth, nonporous surface with a permanent marker trace over it with a dry erase marker. It will just wipe away, no scrubbing needed!

[Mélie]

I have one :) If you, or one of your children, "accidentally" write on a smooth, nonporous surface with a permanent marker trace over it with a dry erase marker. It will just wipe away, no scrubbing needed!

I've had to do this on whiteboards more often that I'd like to admit. :glare:

[BatmansWife]

I have one :) If you, or one of your children, "accidentally" write on a smooth, nonporous surface with a permanent marker trace over it with a dry erase marker. It will just wipe away, no scrubbing needed!

 

Awesome tip! Thank you!!

(at first I thought you meant you had an old toaster :lol: )

[fraidycat]

My question is - who would want to reheat pizza? I purposely let mine get "cold" - not refrigerated, but room temperature before I eat it. I NEVER put leftover pizza in the fridge. :ack2:

[LaxMom]

Marshmallows can cure a sore throat. Perfect for kids who don't like medicine.

This is because marshmallows used to be made with the binder mallow, which is used as an herbal to soothe. I don't think it works anymore

Reynolds Wrap has lock in tabs on the sides to hold the roll in place.

I JUST noticed this last year!

Goodbye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" 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!

We use a variant of this: fill a bottle half full of water, add the acv, make a funnel out of paper and stick it in the neck. Works great.

You can paint upholstery.

We all saw Hildy do that on Trading Spaces. Is can be done, but I don't think the people who owned the painted liked it.

The color of the bread tab indicates what day the bread was baked so you know how fresh it is. Mon - Blue, Tues - Green, Thurs - Red, Fri - White, Sat - Yellow. The colors are in alphabetical order: B, G, R, W, Y.

Mine are always white. But they have the date on them.

If you break your blender jar, you can replace it with a mason jar.

How? :confused: I did that last night, but I used a mason jar and immersion blender... I don't think that's what they meant. (I didn't break my blender, just used a jar so I could store leftover dressing and not add a dish to wash) My blender jar has a neck on the bottom that the base screws on. Were old blenders different, maybe?

My question is - who would want to reheat pizza? I purposely let mine get "cold" - not refrigerated, but room temperature before I eat it. I NEVER put leftover pizza in the fridge. :ack2:

We refrigerate leftover pizza for lunch the next day. I am un-clever and just put it in the oven, though.

 

They say you can hang up bags of water around your eating area to deter flies. I'm not sure how well it would work, since we use fly traps that are essentially bags of garbagey smelling water and they are not only undeterred, they fight each other to get in.

 

I use alcohol preps to take sharpie off smooth, non-porous surfaces. :D

Edited June 4, 2012 by MyCrazyHouse

[readinmom]

We throw our pizza on the bbq grill. It crisps up the crust perfectly!

[LaxMom]

We throw our pizza on the bbq grill. It crisps up the crust perfectly!

 

Mmmmmm. I love grilled pizza! I wonder if I could par-bake the gluten free crust, then grill it. (otherwise, it would fall apart in the transfer)

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Baby lotion helps get old dirt off children who insist on bathing themselves. Just put lotion on the dirt spot (behind the ears in our case) before bed, and wash the following evening and it comes right off. Ds was quite amazed that i didnt have to scrub him raw. :)