Helpful Household Hints/ Let's Share Our Best Ones

When painting and decorating, or fine art painting, baby oil is great for cleaning your hands,.

Rub onto your hands, wash and repeat with a bit more baby oil onto wet hands - the paint on your hands should float of with no problems and it is a lot kinder than white spirit to your skin.

My hint is to let your wife do it.

To keep washable dress pants, skirts and sweaters looking new...don't wash them (unless their real dirty) just put them in the rinse cycle (cold water) with a little fabric softener and dry on low heat. This freshens them up and prolongs their look...for a long time.

always check your wash baskets before you dump the dirty wash into the machine. Cats like to sleep in washbaskets and , while letting them go through the wash spin cycle does make them fluffy, it disorients them for for a long time..

Never remove food from it's packaging before microwaving. If you do, you won't know when it's done.

Fabric softener will also lower the insulating ability of winter clothes.

OK, here's a simple one... As soon as I put the first dirty dish in the dishwasher, I load in the soap. That way I just check the soap dispenser, and I know if the dishes are washed or not...

If youre choking on an ice cube, dont panic, simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat and the ice cube will be loosened.


There are only 2 critical tools needed in the house. WD-40, and Duct TApe. if it doesnt move and it should, use wD-40;, If it moves and it shouldnt,use duct tape.

...and if you don't have any Duct Tape ...chances are...you won't be able to fix it.

Helpful Things---who knew??
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Sealed envelope - Put in the freezer for a few hours, then slide a knife under the flap. The envelope can then be resealed. (hmmmmmm...)
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Use Empty toilet paper roll to store appliance cords. It keeps them neat and you can write on the roll what appliance it belongs to.
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For icy door steps in freezing temperatures: get warm water and put Dawn dishwashing liquid in it. Pour it all over the steps. They won't refreeze.
(wish I had known this for the last 40 years!)
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Crayon marks on walls? This worked wonderfully A damp rag, dipped in baking soda. Comes off with little effort (elbow grease that is!).
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Permanent marker on appliances/counter tops (like store receipt BLUE!) rubbing alcohol on paper towel.
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Whenever I purchase a box of S.O.S Pads, I immediately take a pair of scissors and cut each pad into halves. After years of having to throw away rusted and unused and smelly pads, I finally decided that! this would be much more economical. And now a box of S.O.S pads last me indefinitely In fact, I have noticed that the scissors get sharpened this way!
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Blood stains on clothes? Not to worry! Just pour a little hydrogen peroxide on a cloth and proceed to wipe off every drop of blood. Works every time! Now, where to put the body?
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Use vertical strokes when washing windows outside and horizontal for inside windows. This way you can tell which side has the streaks. Straight vinegar will get outside windows really clean. Don't wash windows on a sunny day. They will dry too quickly and will probably streak.
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Spray a bit of perfume on the light bulb in any room to create a lovely light scent in each room when the light is turned on.
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Place fabric softener sheets in dresser drawers and your clothes will smell freshly washed for weeks to come. You can also do this with towels and linen.
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Candles will last a lot longer if placed in the freezer for at least 3 hours prior to burning.
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To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new! Works like a charm!
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To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stovetop.
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Spray your TUPPERWARE with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato based sauces and there won't be any stains.
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Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
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When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corn's natural sweetness.
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Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
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Don't throw out all that leftover wine: Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces. Left over wine? What's that?
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To get rid of itch from mosquito bites, try applying soap on the area And you will experience instant relief.
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Ants, ants, ants everywhere ... Well, they are said to never cross a chalk line. So get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants tend to march. See for yourself.
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Use air-freshener to clean mirrors. It does a good job and better still, leaves a lovely smell to the shine.
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When you get a splinter, reach for the scotch tape before resorting to tweezers or a needle. Simply put the scotch tape over the splinter, then pull it off. Scotch tape removes most splinters painlessly and easily.
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Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer. Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous China.
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Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka Seltzer tablets.
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Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.
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Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).
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Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka Seltzer Tablets down the drain followed by a cup of White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.
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Makes you wonder about ingesting Alka Seltzer, doesn't it?

Save your old, old toothbrushes for cleaning.

The new fangled brushes that fit the contours of your mouth don't fit contours anywhere else in the universe.

Hire illegal aliens.

To get film off a cut glass vase, put half a box of denture cleaning tablets in the vase, fill w/ warm water, then submerge the vase in sink in which you've tossed the other half of the tablets
NEVER, NEVER put a cut class vase (lead crystal) in the dishwasher - it will etch the glass - and that you can do nothing about - I learned that the hard way.

(Yes - I have ALL my teeth )

To get pen or pencil off a wall, dab w/ an alcohol pad (be careful - don't rub or the paint will come off.

In general - I have found with commercial cleaning products that you can really use 1/2 the suggested amount, with the same results.

Create a mud room in your home - and don't let any wolverines enter the house proper until they have sluiced off the days adventures.
This will save your carpets, flooring and prevents daily mass murders of children and spouses.

Those of us that own cats know that, at this time of year they shed. Weve found that the best way to allow this to be a minor problem is a two step program

1. Apply a liberal coat of DRY KITTY WASH to their fur and rub it in nice and well.

2. Hook kitty up to a New Zealand style stock fence charger. This will make their fur just stand on end and make em ready for the last step which is

3 Hit em with a power washer. Now this may cause some discomfort while kitty is still conscious so we suggest keeping them in a "kitty cage" until they pass out

4 Power wash kitty for about 4 minutes , resuscitate, and kitty will have an enjoyable summer and youl be free of all that bothersome cat hair.

A hacksaw blade (cut in half for easy manuvering) works wonders at removing animal hair from nubby fabric.

Lightly rub the rubber gaskets of your frig & freezer with petroleum jelly. Us a little of the jelly on the hinge side of the opening, too. An old frig. repair guy told me that this is good maintenance and keeps the seal on the door nice & tight (and the frig nice and cold) without damaging the gasket. He also said that if/when the automatic ice machine starts making stale ice, to wash the metal plate that the cold air flows over to freeze the water using a lemon-scented dish soap. Rinse well. The lemon scent doesn't linger, but it seems to refresh the machine. Works, too.


Line ice cube trays or small muffin tins with saran wrap and then freeze leftover pesto in them. Once they're frozen, repackage and you'll always have some chunks of pesto for flavoring sauces and soups. You can do the same thing with leftover stock and tomato sauce.


If you have hairy animals that like to lie on your bedspread (and don't have a fence charger), once a week put the bedspread in the dryer and freshen it up. All the hair will come off in the lint trap. If you put it on high heat, any vermin will be killed.


Another animal tip -- Never put Showsheen on the back of your horse... your saddle will slip right off.

And another one -- always make your horse believe that the hot wire is hot even if it is not. If you bump it, be sure to yelp and act goofy for a while. Horses are easily tricked this way.

These are some great tips!

This one is an old darkroom trick that I use in my house all of the time because I hate to dust:

Mix liquid fabric softener and water in a spray bottle and spray the air - it grounds all the dust and eliminates static electricity.