quiltingnonie

I love household hints, and I just BET there are a bunch out there I haven't heard yet. So let's share...

Give us your favorite TWO household hints. (Keeping it to a limit might help to avoid a lot of duplicates)

BONUS: You can add one more "Green Hint" (environmental friendly) :thumbup:

Here's mine:
1. To clean a pot with burned/stuck on food, sprinkle liberally with baking soda and then fill with BOILING water. Let sit for awhile and it will clean up much easier.
2. Turn your cottage cheese & sour cream cartons UPSIDE DOWN in your fridge -- they will last TWICE as long. Honest! This also confuses everyone who comes to your house and opens the fridge. :lol:
3. Green: I do a lot of canning, so when I'm finished with the canner full of water, I allow it to cool and water my plants with it.

amma

I use baking soda to clean my appliances instead of expensive cleaners... it takes off those little splatters really well. Make a paste of it on your dish cloth and a light touch will clean them up very easily.

Vinegar to clean out my coffee maker instead of the chemical packets. Pour in two cups, start the brewing and then stop it a couple of times. Let it go through followed by a pot of fresh water.

All of the papers I shred go into a compost pile.

Pam

A cup of ammonia in a black garbage bag and put your oven racks and other icky stove parts, let sit in the sun and they clean right up.

Do NOT look up when sweeping your popcorn ceiling for cobwebs unless you have on safety glasses.

I put all tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells, and veggie and fruit waste right back into the garden in the aisles. When hubby tills it, it boosts the soil and cuts down on garbage at the curb.

Roses LOVE coffee grounds, put them around your roses right along with the filters.

craftybear

1. use milk instead of water in making pie crust. It makes it more tender and browns nicely.

2. Cheese can be sliced thin if the knife is heated first.

Go Green: Use newspapers to lay in your garden to prevent weeds

ToucanSam

1. If you break an egg on the floor, cover it liberally with salt. Makes it very easy to clean up!

2. I'll get back to you on this one, I'm not very domestic.

cjomomma

Use tennis balls in your dryer to prevent static cling. It makes a lot of noise but it really works. I buy my tennis balls at the thrift shops. I guess that one is being green and thrifty. I only have one right now that I can think of.

lovequilts

Buy cheap oven cleaner to clean your bath tub. Make sure the fan is on or window is open for ventalation. Spray you tub/shower....let sit for 5 to 10 minutes and wipe down. This can be done on anykind of finish, plastic, fiberglass, procelin. Fastest bath tub clean up you'll ever do.

quiltingnonie

Amazing...who would've thought???

JanetM

Here are a couple:

When you buy a bunch of bananas, separate them where they are connected. They won't brown up as fast.

Store tomatoes at room temperature stem side down, they will last longer.

I didn't believe these when I read about them, but they do work!

Oh, almost forgot---keep tomatoes away from any other fruit. They give off a gas that will ripen everything else to fast.

Catherine Marie

I am not as able to wash my bathtub with the same verve as in my more limber days...so, I have a light mop which I use only for the tub. Once I prepare the tub with my cleanser of the moment, I then scrub down with the mop. I can get more power behind the handle and the mop head than a sponge or cloth from a kneeling position. Since this mop is for the tub only, I can mop down the sides of the tub, too and with more strength.