TIPS SPECIAL!
TIPS SPECIAL!
TOO MUCH TO DO AND NO TIME TO DO IT? OR WOULD AN EXTRA BOB OR TWO BE USEFUL? PUT YOUR FEET UP WITH THESE HANDY HINTS...... THEY COULD JUST CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER!
HAVE A CLEAN BREAK:
1. When washing glasses, sprinkle a small amount of salt into the washing-up water - it helps to bring glass up really clean and shiny.
2. When cleaning open-toed shoes, slip your hand into a plastic bag before putting it inside the shoe. This stops polish staining your hand.
3.. After cleaning the oven, get rid of any lingering smells by putting a few pieces of orange peel inside and turning the oven on to a low setting for 10 minutes.
4. To clean the inside of a narrow vase, put 1 tsp of dry rice into it, then top up with a hot, soapy solution and shake vigorously.
5. Remove black scuff marks from white shoes by putting a little drop of nail polish remover on some cotton wool and rubbing gently over the mark.
6. If a hot cup or dish has left a mark on dark furniture, rub gently with a walnut shell and then a little polish.
7. A small bottle brush is ideal for cleaning those difficult-to-get-at sink overflows.
8. To clean plain gold or silver jewellery, dilute a little washing-up liquid in warm water in a glass, leave the jewellery in the liquid for a few hours, then rinse with cold water and dry with a tissue. Your jewellery will glitter.
9. Get the most from light bulbs by dusting them once a week.
10. When putting a new dust bag in your vacuum cleaner, put a handful of fresh or dried herbs into the bag. The fragrance will help freshen rooms each time you vacuum.
11. A saucer of vinegar left in a room overnight removes all traces of cigarette smoke.
12. Use a bit of toothpaste to shift stubborn stains on polished table surfaces.
13. Scorched your favourite shirt? Soak it in milk and the mark should just vanish.
15. After you've descaled your kettle, use the water to soak your dishcloth. It will come up beautifully clean.
16. If you have trouble removing pet hairs from carpets or clothes, use a dry green kitchen scouring pad as a brush. The hairs simply come away on it.
17. To clean Lego bricks easily, put them in a pillow case tying the top loosely. Wash them in the machine at 40C and then spin dry. They'll look like new.
18. If a white garden table is looking dull and dirty, try cleaning it with a Brillo pad. it'll come up like new.
19. To remove permanent marker ink from any kind of hard surface, spray with deodorant and rub with a soft cloth.
20. To clean grubby white canvas shoes in a hurry, wipe down the rubber surfaces with a damp cloth and then rub some talc into the canvas.
SAVE THE PENNIES:
21. Turn your central heating down one degree. You'll be amazed at the difference it makes to your heating bills.
22. An egg-timer by the phone will remind you to keep calls short.
23. Mend a broken lipstick by warming the broken section and the container over a candle. Then press the lippie back into position.
24. To get the most out of your toothpaste, clamp a clothes peg over the end of the tube and roll it up round the peg.
25. Save on dry-cleaning bills. Shift shiny patches on fabric by brushing them with a mild vinegar solution.
26. Just 1 tbsp of oatmeal mixed with a little milk makes an excellent cheap exfoliating scrub.
27. Turn off the lights when you leave a room!
28. Make shampoo and conditioner go twice as far. Double the quantity by adding water. It wont lessen the effect.
29. Make sticky nail varnish go further by adding a few drops of nail-varnish remover.
30. A drop of oil on the end of a dry mascara wand will give you more applications.
31. Forget firelighters, use dry potato peelings to start a fire.
32. Greaseproof baking paper is a great substitute for childrens tracing paper - and its cheaper than the real thing.
33. Fix up kitchen unit doors by covering them with 'pine' Fablon. Give them a coat of varnish to make them splash-proof.
34. Save money by buying Lucky Bags for 50p each for your childs party rather than expensive party bags. Kids love them just as much!
35. If your bathroom blind needs a bit of a revamp, simply paint it! It will look as good as new - at a fraction of the cost of replacing it.
36. Dont buy costly transfers to stick on the fridge. Cut out some shapes from leftover Fablon with a pair of pinking shears instead.
37. If your kids love those little packets of raisins, keep the empty boxes. You can then refill them from a large pack of raisins, which is a much cheaper way of supplying your kids with their snack.
38. Old carpet, cut to shaspe and laid between plants over a weed-infested area of the garden, is just as effective as using expensive weedkiller.
39. Bring all your faded black clothes back to life by hand-washing them in warm water with a little drop of vinegar. You'll be amazed at the difference it can make.
40. Dont spend a fortune on bottom sheets for yhour baby's pram or carrycot. Use your pillowcases instead - they'll fit the small mattress just like a glove.
DIY MADE EASY:
41. When decorating, always work from the top down: prepare the ceiling, then the walls and finally, the woodwork. Paint them in the same order.
42. When painting a ceiling, stop paint running down your arms by making a hole in a paper plate and pushing it up onto the handle of the brush.
43. If you leave brush marks when painting, dab them away with a sponge. Dip the sponge in wet paint and repeat.
44. Before putting a screw in the wall, rub soap on the thread. Even years later, the screw will be easy to remove.
45. Cure squeaky floorboards by dusting between the joints with talcum powder.
46. If a door sticks due to expanding wood in hot or wet weather, apply a little furniture polish to edge of door and frame - it'll soon open and close with ease.
47. If you want to brighten up a white bedroom, cut out motifs from sample pieces of wallpaper and stick them onto the wardrobe and the cupboards.
48. Loosen a jammed metal nut by pouring boiling water over it. The heat causes the metal to expand, freeing the jammed thread.
49. When mixing filler, add a few drops of washing-up liquid - it makes it much smoother.
50. If a screw hole is too big, fill it out with matchsticks.
51. If drawers are difficult to open, smooth soap or washing-up liquid along the runners.
52. Stick a strip of self-adhesive foam to the back of a towel rail to stop towels slipping off.
53. When stripping wallpaper in a room where you no longer want to keep the carpet, leave it down until you've finished stripping the walls. Then roll the carpet up with all the waste paper inside it and dispose of the lot at once.
54. To prevent your saw sticking when cutting through wood, spray both sides of it with WD40 first. It'll go through the wood like a hot knife through butter.
55. Fix a strip of elastic around the end of your pasting table to prevent the wallpaper from curling up and rolling away when you're pasting it.
56. If you're having trouble removing a rawlplug from a wall, use a corkscrew on it just as you would to remove a cork from a bottle.
57. If your ceiling is badly stained, paint it with one layer of undercoat before emulsioning. The stains wont come through.
58. Hand cream is great at unsticking stiff locks, hinges etc. - it's every bit as quick and effect as lubricating oil.
59. To avoid wood splitting when you hammer a nail in, blunt the point of the nail with the hammer first.
60. Before laying foam-backed carpeet, sprinkle a little talc or cornflour on the floor. If you have to take the carpet up in the future, it wont stick to the floor.
DONT CHUCK IT - RECYCLE IT!
61. When you replace a pair of curtains, keep the old ones and sew them inside the new pair, inside out so the old pattern doesn tshow, to make a warm winter lining.
62. An old plastic raincoat can be recycled to make good, strong, wipe-clean covers for school books.
63. A video library case makes a great pencil case. It holds a lot of pencils and they're easy to pick out.
64. The side of a baby's old cot makes an ideal towel rail for the bathroom.
65. Create your own desk tidy from empty cereal boxes. Lay them face down, cut off the back and top end and stick them together. You can paint or paper them to match your decor.
66. Make a spaghetti jar by taking two plastic water bottles and cutting the top off one and the bottom off the other to make a lid.
67. If your children enjoy crafty things that involve glueing, varnishing and painting, keep all your old nail varnish brushes for them to work with.
68. Dont throw out old, worn washing-up brushes - they're perfect for cleaning mud-and-grass stained shoes after a walk. Just leave them outside the back door.
69. Dont chuck out the polystyrene bases that come with shop bought pizzas. Cover them with silver paper or tin foil and you have a great cakeboard. One is enough for a spone cake, and two or three fastened together with sticky tape before being covered will hold an iced fruit cake.
70. If Melamine drawers come apart, dont throw them out. They can easily be turned into wipe-clean shelves with just a few brackets and screws.
71. Dont throw away the sponge applicators that come with powder compacts. Give them a wash and use them for dusting the leaves of houseplants. They're the perfect size.
72. When your toddler is ready to move from a cot to a single bed, dont buy expensive new blankets. Simply sew two cot blankets together and you have an instant single blanket.
73. When you throw out the unwanted CD's that come with pop and computer magazines, keep hold of the cases. Just cut your photos to fit them, and use a dab of Blu-Tack to keep them in place. The result - lovely double photo frames at no cost.
74. Foil crisp packets are great to keep your cheese wrapped and fresh in the fridge.
75. Keep any of those variety dip containers that have several sections. They make great desk tidies, absolutely ideal for keeping drawing pins, paper clips and so on, separate.
76. If you haven't got a sponge bag for a weekend trip, use an empty video-tape box. It's just the right size for toothpaste, toothbrush, flannel and soap.
77. Transform a pile of old, clean tights into attractive curtain tiebacks. They can be bleached and redyed to match your decor to perfection.
78. Fill an old pair of long socks with newspaper and sew up the ends to turn them into two excellent draught excluders.
79. Instead of throwing out a carriage clock that doesnt work any more, why not recycle it as a frame for a special photo?
80. Before throwing out old trousers, cut the legs off. Place your broom inside them for an ideal tiled floor cleaner.
BEST-EVER TIME-SAVERS!
81. Cut down on ironing by hanging clothes up straight after washing.
82. Plunge hard-boiled eggs into cold water after cooking to make them easy to peel.
83. A bowl of hot water placed in the freezer will help it defrost more quickly.
84. Cut the baking time of jacket potatoes by boiling them for 10 minutes first.
85. When preparing a meal, keep a plastic bowl near you and put all the rubbish in it as you work.
86. Memorising the route round your supermarket and writing your list in that order will cut down shopping time.
87. Pick up small bits of broken glass safely by using a slice of slightly damp bread.
88. Burnt pans can be cleaned by filling them with warm salt water and soaking overnight.
89. Peel a week's worth of potatoes, then cover them in water and keep them in the fridge in a sealed plastic container - ready for cooking ! (dont fancy this one myself... would prefer to prepare them when I am using them).
90. When vacuuming, use an extension lead. It stops you from having to change sockets as you go from one room to the other, or from the top to the bottom when vacuuming stairs.
91. Clothes will need washing less often if you allow them to air for a couple of days before wearing them again.
92. A quick way to skim fat from hot liquid is to drop in a couple of ice cubes. The fat will congeal around them and can be removed with a slotted spoon.
93. Save constant cleaning by keeping your grill pan lined with foil.
94. Hang clothes in the bathroom while you're taking a bath - creases just drop out.
95. If you hate spending too much time cleaning, teach yourself two-handed dusting! You will get all the polishing done in extra quick time!
96. Save extra cleaning on oiled woks or iron pans by storing them in plastic bags to prevent dusdt sticking to them.
97. Soak an onion in water and you can use a blender to fast-chop it.
98. Safety-pin socks in pairs before washing to save sorting afterwards.
99. When you take the kids swimming, take a towelling dressing gown along for yourself. Put it on while you're dressing the kids and you'll dry off automatically!
100. Picking up leaves and grass trimmings in the garden is much easier if you use two pieces of hardboard, about 10in square, instead of a shovel.
VISITORS TIPS!
Any tips you would like me to add? Please e
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Thanks to Jen for this one! - When you have eaten a banana, dont throw away the skin! Instead, use the inside of it to clean leather shoes. It works wonders; your shoes will look like new.
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useful tips for everyone..... 
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24/03/01