Household Handy Hints - Feel free to add more!!!!

Good old Handy Hints;  

1. Polish an old slippery dip with car polish to make it slippery.
2. Cover a chopping board with cling wrap to throw away smells.
3. Whenever children need to share, set a timer.
4. If there is a new
   addition to the family, give the eldest sibling a doll “baby” to play with and they won’t feel left out.
5. To keep soap handy in the bathroom, attach a stocking to the tap and have your soap in it.
6. Substitute bread for pastry when using a pie maker. Just roll slices flat.
7. Fresh oil stains on clothes will wipe away with talc. powder sprinkled on top for a few minutes.
8.  When using cloth nappies, run the safety pin across your scalp. It will be nicely lubricated and will go through smoothly.
9. To save you heaps of time, when there’s a pile of nappies to fold, fold them kite style with the liner in place.
10. Protect kids in the bath from hurting themselves on the tap by putting a tennis ball with a slit in it on the end of the tap.
11.  Instead of throwing confetti or rice at weddings, use birdseed or popcorn as the birds will clean up the mess for you.
12. An inflatable ring helps keep children balanced as they learn to sit by themselves.
13. To protect your backseat from messy kids or dogs, use an old shower curtain or two to spread right across the seat.
14. A fun way to send invitations is by putting them on an inflated balloon with a felt tip pen, deflate them and put into envelope.
15. To keep outside animal’s water nice and cool on a hot day by placing a few ice cubes in it.
16. When bathing a dog, put a bath mat in the bath to protect it and save the dog slipping.
17. Use children’s artwork from school or kindy as original wrapping paper.
18. Whenever a friend borrows something, write it down and stick where you won’t forget. An end to lost books, clothes or CD’s.
19. To remove a splinter from a small child, put a little teething gel around it to numb and soften the skin.
20. Create an autographed tablecloth for your children at their birthday party and get everyone to sign it in permanent ink, Use it for future birthday parties.
21. Never lose your toddler in the house or yard by sewing a bell onto each slipper or shoe.
22. If you have a toddler in the house, always check the oven, grill and dryer before use. You never know if your “little helper” has been helping.
23. Put half water half lemonade in a vase of carnations and they’ll stay fresh for weeks.
24. When soaking a child’s finger, place marbles in the bottom of the container. They will keep hands in the water to play with marbles.
25. Sharpen scissors by ‘cutting’ a glass bottle.
26. Put a few drops of tea tree oil on a tissue and place in the bin each time it’s emptied. It’ll always smell fresh.
27. Keep all old shoeboxes and use them for odds and ends. Just label the side with the contents of each.
28. For a change on a warm day, add bubble bath to an outside pool. Saves bath time later.
29. Spray the bottom of your shoes with hairspray and they will have more grip on slippery floors.
30. Use an ironing board as a dining table for kids whenever you have guests and no room at the kitchen table.
31. Stick the packaging of all medicines in use to the inside of the medicine cupboard. No need to hunt when they’re needed.
32. It is easier to slice meat if it is partially frozen.
33. For clear eyes while chopping onion, run under water to peel then while chopping have a piece of bread in your mouth to absorb the vapor reaching your eyes.
34. To check how fresh an egg is, put it into a bowl of water and if it sinks it is fresh. It if floats, it is no good.
35. Poached egg will stay together if you add a little vinegar.
36. Never use chemicals to clean your fridge. Use 1 TBS of bi-carb soda in litre of warm water.
37. Rub a cake of soap over mirrors in the bathroom, and then polish with a soft cloth. This will prevent steam build up.
38. To keep rooms smelling fresh, rub a light globe with perfume on a soft cloth. This will softly add aroma when light is on.
39. To keep your washing machine new, every few months fill the machine with warm water and a pint of vinegar. This will clean out the hoses and stop clogging.
40. Fill a piece of stocking with scraps of soap from the bathroom and tie both ends. Use this in the washing machine for sheets.  
41.  Wash stockings in water with fabric softener in it. It prevents static.
42. Place a deodorant block in the vacuum cleaner, under the dust bag. It will leave a nice smell throughout the house as you vacuum.
43. Remove stains from carpet by mixing a thick paste of borax and cold water. Allow to dry, and then vacuum to lift pile.
44. To remove rust from white material, rub with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt. Place in sunlight. Repeat if necessary.
45. To get rid of Spag. Bol. stains, wash as usual then hang in sunlight to dry.The sun will bleach the stain.

HINTS FOR GARDEN;    

1. Use only water of room temperature on indoor plants, hot or cold can ruin them.
2. Cooled water from which eggs have been boiled is a great source of  minerals.
3. Use ice cubes to water outdoor hanging plants when the weather is warm.
4. Change the colors of cut flowers by mixing food coloring in warm water. Place stems in solution and leave overnight. Stems will absorb the color and
5. the morning will bring delight.
6. A splint made from fine twigs or toothpicks and taped to the broken stem will often save many plants.
7. It is essential to use mulch in summer time. Lawn clippings and seaweed don’t look too unsightly and plant roots will keep cool plus require less watering.
8.  A tsp. of Epsom salts watered in around each lettuce plant when about to heart will make the heart sweeter, and they will grow quicker. Repeat in 2 weeks time.
9. Lemon trees love waste soapy water.
10. Pot plants benefit from tea leftovers.
11. After planting parsley seeds, pour a kettle of boiling water over it, and the plants will germinate in 3 weeks.
12. Line seedling trays with newspaper to prevent moisture from drying out.
13. Surround plants with a layer of sawdust to prevent snails from ruining them. It sticks to the snail and they can’t get back into their shell.
14. If laying snail baits, put it in an old tin on its side. Snails can easily get to the bait but plants aren’t poisoned.
15. Beer is a great bait for snails, they love the sweet smell. Place a can in the soil with an inch sticking out, add half a cup of beer, and the snails will crawl in & drown.
16. Put mothballs in the garden to deter dogs. They last several weeks. But they are posionous to children. Warn them not to touch.
17. Grow melons, cucumber and the such on a trellis to keep fruit clean and away from snails and slugs.
18. Keep all your gardening utensils in a basket that is easy to transport  around the garden.
19. Coffee grounds make excellent mulch for indoor plants.
20.  A good fertilizer for carnations is crushed eggshells. It works wonders.
21. A handful of common salt sprinkled along either side of rows of beetroot  will result in large beetroot that will not be woody in the center.
22.  A good recipe for liquid manure is to place about 12 kilo of poultry manure in a hessian bag and hang in a large drum of water for about a week. The resulting water can be given to plants.
23. Liquid fertilizer works quicker than fertilizer pellets. But must be watered on an already wet garden then watered again after application.
24. An old umbrella frame can be tied to a stake and a creeper trained over it to make an attractive ornament.
25. For a decorative herb garden, plant a different herb between the spokes of a white wagon wheel lying flat on the ground. Add a bright geranium plant in the center.
26. An old wheelbarrow makes an unusual plant container. Fill with soil and plant with colorful annuals. This can be wheeled to various parts of the garden as needed.
27.  If in doubt about a new plants placement, leave in container for a few days and keep moving around to find the best place.
28. To blue your Hydrangeas, save all your old steel wool and put in the pots or throw them under the bushes.
29. Plastic shade cloth lets in light and moisture and keeps plants cool in summer. Different meshes let in different degrees of light, so when buying, ask which will be best for your plants.
30. To heal bent plant stems, splint with matches and a band aid. 
31. Train a creeping plant with pegs instead of ties.
32. Place old stockings over bunches of grapes when they begin to ripen, and ants and bees will not worry them.
33. Onions that have begun to shoot can be planted in the garden and in a few weeks time several spring onions should grow from the bulb.
34. To prolong the life of cut flowers, split the stems before placing in water. Don’t put too many in one vase, they’ll last longer if given space.