I inherited one of those - beautiful thing, cast iron, decorated with roosters and hens. It does keep a cookbook open, even a big BH&G hardcover or the JOC hardcover, but the braces that hold the book open always seem to cover the part I need to read and there is no spatter protection. Plus it weighs 6 lbs!
Inelegant as it may look, for the papercover recipe books or newspaper clip recipes or index cards, I’ma gonna be a pants hanger girl!
YMMV but the stuff I’ve cleaned off my floors? I’ll take a disposable mop head wipey thingy, thankyouverymuch. Same with those toilet cleaner wands with the disposable/flushable cleaning sponge … why would I WANT to wash & re-use that?
Disposability isn’t always pointless, especially once you factor in the water used for cleaning. And the energy to heat that water. And the energy to clean that water afterwards.
Seems like the problem with Swiffers is that it tends to push particulates around rather than picking it up. That can cause little dents or scratches in floors. I used to sweep then swiff, but it was too much trouble.
I once knitted a dust-mop style cloth that’s efficient and washable. Now that I have a washer and dryer, I should make them again.
That is ingenious!
Ah, “cottaging” in the USA doesn’t have the same meaning as in the UK, then? 
Cottaging - Wikipedia
I learn so much on this site!
Paper-clips can be quite good bookmarks.
Staples can be useful when your hem needs sewing and you absolutely hate sewing, although that might belong to the category of “shameful admission” rather than “good idea”. 
When you go to get a new plastic kitchen bin liner bag, get several. Drop all except the current bag in the kitchen bin so that they’re lying at the bottom, under the current bag. That way a new one is right at hand ready to unfurl after you remove the full bag of trash.
Pancakes freeze great. Next time you make a batch, make a big batch. Put all the extras on a slightly oiled baking sheet and put them in the freezer. When they’re hard, pick them off and put them in a ziploc bag. Heat the desired amount in the microwave for a mid-week breakfast.
I daresay they do.
There are never extra pancakes! Does not compute!
+1, except that I’ve found hanging a couple over the side of the can works a little better.
When you put a new plastic bag in a garbage can: WHOMP it all the way open. ALL the way. Now squeeze all the air back out of it (you can learn to do this in one stroke.) Drop the tail in the can and stretch the rim around the can. Presto, a liner that goes all the way to the bottom and doesn’t push back against the first few items.
I love Dragwyr’s kindling crib. What a terrific idea!
Crafters and hobbyists of all stripes can make use of this tip I learned from a 92-year-old rug hooker. Get an empty plastic butter tub and cut a big X in the lid. Now you have a handy place to stick all those little bits of fabric, paper, wire or whatever that will eventually go into the trash!
I always like to keep a few old gift cards around. They make good scrapers for getting goo and gunk off of surfaces that might get damaged by using something harder. They’re also good for spreading glue evenly over large areas.
Wow, really? You realize that this argument is the product of 20 years of P&G carefully conditioning us to be ultra germ-squicky? I mean, I’ve lost count of the types and variations of disposable cleaning wipes, with and without sticks, and all they’re selling you is a false sense of convenience and cleanliness. Add it up sometime.
Oh, please x2. I don’t want to hijack this amusing thread, but do the math. One wipe, manufactured once, packaged once, shipped once, washed maybe once a week for two years - and now calculate the cost of all that hot water etc. for one more hand towel-sized item in a load.
Vs. 3-a-week disposables - call it 250, conservatively, for the same time period - manufactured individually, packaged and shipped in small quantities, and ending up in landfills since they are often too contaminated to recycle properly. Now figure just the relative costs.
The most valuable thing a consumer can do is think for themselves, and these two arguments are pure dogmatic propaganda from P&G&friends.
That’s great!
Roll the top of bags of frozen foods and secure with a rubberband around the whole package. This prevents spills and freezer burn and makes bag take up less space. Actually, just get a box of assorted rubberbands. You’ll find uses for them.
Yep. My feeling is if they have to advertise it, it’s probably something you don’t need. I chop up old tee-shirts for rags and toss them in the laundry whenever. I spray my toilet with a mixture of bleach and water and use a few sheets of toilet paper to wipe it down.
I have two prescriptions I take, and they get dispensed in identical pill containers. i take one in the evening before bed, and one in the morning when I awake.
Two seconds with a permanent marker, drawing a dot on top of the “morning” bottle, makes the pill taking so much easier. It only took me about five years to figure this out.
Take a water bottle, fill it one-third full and lay it on it’s side in the freezer. Tip up the mouth end so it doesn’t freeze into the neck. When needed, top it off with water.
Ice water for hours!
I use caffeineto keep my computer/tablet active and the screen on.
However, I don’t like a laptop in the kitchen either, because I’m a klutz and am worried I’ll tip it into the sink or drop hot liquid on the keyboard…
Brilliant! I used cassette tape covers until, well, they stopped making cassette tapes.
Agreed. I clean stuff with hot water and soap, mostly. Windex and 409 if/as needed. For the bathroom, it’s hot water, soap, bleach, and/or Comet. I don’t see the point in a lot of the wipes everywhere. I do keep a pack of wipes near the cats’ litter box, but that’s it.
Hiding keys, safely:
This won’t work for some people (like apartment dwellers), but there are safe ways to hide keys to your house. If you have any other locking building or shed, etc., just hide a key to where your key is.
I have a hidden key outside that only opens a small door to the garage. Within the garage (secreted in a particular toolbox) is the key to the house itself. Easy enough for the family to use, but too complicated and time-consuming for a thief to figure out. This would work equally well with a garden shed.
Also for cleaning garage floors: Most parts stores (and sometimes WalMart) sell spray cans of brake cleaner. This stuff works like magic on garage/driveway grease stains. (I discovered this accidentally).