25 Fantastic Household Tips

Food Tips

• When rolling out pastry dough, use corn starch instead of flour on your pastry board. It works better than flour and cleans up easier.
• When drying fresh herbs, hang them upside down in a paper bag. When herbs are dry they leaves can easily be removed from the stems while inside the bag and poured into airtight containers with less mess
• Baking powder only has a shelf life of about one year. To make sure that it has not lost its potency, mix one teaspoon of baking powder into 1/3 cup of very hot water. It is still good to use if the mixture bubbles vigorously.
• Check whether raw eggs are fresh or not by completely submersing them into a deep pan of cold water. If any of the eggs float they should be thrown away . Eggs shrink over time and air fills the pockets that are left, allowing them to float. Any that stay on the bottom are safe to use.
• To prevent boiled eggs from cracking as they cook, poke a small hole in one end with a sewing needle to allow air to escape. .
• Avocados will ripen faster if they are kept in a plastic bag with a piece of banana peel.
• Ripen green tomatoes faster by placing them in a brown paper bag and storing them someplace cool and dark.

Kitchen Tips

• Use parchment paper to line cake pans instead of butter or oil. This cuts down on calories as well as making clean-up easier.
• Use charcoal briquettes instead of baking soda in your refrigerator to absorb odors
• To unclog a kitchen drain, pour ½ cup of table salt into the drain and pour in boiling water. Repeat if necessary.
• Clean Corning Ware cookware easily with a mixture of liquid dish detergent and baking soda.
• Make your stainless steel appliances and tile gleam by cleaning them with a soft cloth dampened with a bit of rubbing alcohol. This can be used to clean most hard kitchen surfaces but should never be used to clean wood or painted surfaces.
• Smooth cutting board scratches with a piece of fine grade sandpaper

Miscellaneous Tips

• Clean silver with a damp cloth dipped in a baking soda and water paste. Be sure to rinse well and dry immediately.
• Clean copper by cutting a lemon in half and dipping it in table salt. Rub the lemon in a circular motion over the surface of the pot. Wash in hot soapy water making sure to remove all salt and lemon juice then rinse in clear hot water. Polish with a dry soft cloth.
• Sprinkle baby powder on window sills, in doorways or any other place that ants enter house. They will not cross the baby powder boundary.
• Boil rhubarb and use the juice to remove rust stains from fabrics
• Quiet a squeaky floorboard by sprinkling it with cornstarch or talcum powder. Just sprinkle it on and vacuum up the excess.
• Repair leather goods by sewing them with wax coated dental floss.
• To remove a lipstick stain from fabric, rub it with cold cream and wash with club soda.
• To remove a fresh stain from carpet, dampen the stain and cover with a heavy layer of table salt. When salt is dried completely, vacuum up the salt. The stain should be gone.
• When hanging clothing outdoors hang it inside out. This way the sun will not discolor the fabric.
• Cucumber and Bay leaves are both natural cockroach repellents. Place them wherever you have a roach problem.
• Keep rabbits out of your veggie garden by surrounding it with a line of salt about one inch high.
• When trying to remove a stain on a dark fabric, it is better to apply a weak solution several times than full strength once. This will help prevent the stain remover from discoloring the dark color of the fabric.