# Share your best household-type hint
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 24, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104 "2008-08-24T15:56:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/1 "2008-08-24T15:56:53Z")
Household, lifestyle, how-to-do-something…whatever.
There are tons of ‘tips’ that everyone knows about (like soaking burned pans to make cleaning easier) but plenty of others that you probably don’t hear about until AFTER you’ve dealt with whatever problem. Let’s be prepared!
Here’s my contribution:
If you live in an area prone to blackouts during storms, especially if you have young children, put a set of those stick on lights they sell for closets in your emergency kit. Instant on light, brighter than candles, won’t drip wax on things and much, much safer for children to handle.
Next?
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/2 "2008-08-24T16:01:46Z")
How 'bout this for picayune and MPSIMS:
#$%@ end of the cling-wrap pulls inside the box and sticks to the roll? Grab a small piece of Scotch tape (and hey, a glass of Scotch while you’re at it) and use it to lift up the leading edge. Oh, and if you’ve never noticed them, many brands have little tabs on the end of the box to hold the roll inside.
ETA: oh wait, you said _best_. I feel like I just said to the genie “I wish I had a couple more seconds to think about it.”
---
### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/3 "2008-08-24T16:07:05Z")
Always … **always** have spare toilet paper. :eek: :smack:
---
### Author:  [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/4 "2008-08-24T16:14:16Z")
This one is from my grandmother–a general housecleaning tip:
**A** shtrays (or Always)
**B** eds
**C** lothes
**D** ishes
If your ashtrays are empty, your beds are made, all clothes are put away neatly, and there are no dirty dishes lying around the house or in the sink, you’re pretty much good to receive visitors. The rest of your clutter can be explained away as the sign of an active and interesting life.
---
### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/5 "2008-08-24T16:17:59Z")
Don’t leave half-eaten chicken drumsticks in opens bins for weeks.
---
### Author:  [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/6 "2008-08-24T17:35:45Z")
If you burned something on while cooking, heavily sprinkle on baking powder and a bit of water to make a paste, then let it sit for a couple of hours. Usually it’ll wipe right out. I’m not sure how well it works on Teflon, but this was a life saver when I was dealing with descoware.
---
### Author:  [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/7 "2008-08-24T18:21:09Z")
In line with the OP’s tip about lights, I purchased a few hand-crank powered LED/radio units about a year ago (similar to [this](http://www.hurricanestore.com/product159.html), but cheaper). One is kept in each vehicle, the others in known places around the house.
They were very helpful about a month ago when a lightning-caused fire took out the local electricity lines – not only did we have light, but we tuned in to a local AM station to find out what happened.
---
### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/8 "2008-08-24T19:19:17Z")
I like this one for greasy, encrusted pans (like a roasting pan):
Put 1/4 cup of ammonia in the pan. Enclose in a plastic bag (like a small garbage bag), seal, and let sit overnight (if need be). The stuff will wipe out easily the next day.
---
### Author:  [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/9 "2008-08-24T19:52:27Z")
You can clean almost anything in your house with baking soda, vinegar and ammonia.
Do not mix these things together, however.
---
### Author:  [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/10 "2008-08-24T19:58:15Z")
I learned this as a teenager working at McDonald’s:
If your glass coffee carafe has gotten all scaly and disgusting, through in a scoop of ice, a tablespoon of salt, and squeeze the juice of a lemon into it. Let it sit for about five minutes, until the ice gets slushy, and then scrub it out. It takes the scale right off.
For general cleaning:
Start at the top and go down. This keeps you from having to re-clean the floor if you’ve, say, swept, and then you wipe the crumbs off the table.
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/11 "2008-08-24T20:05:54Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang]
Don’t leave half-eaten chicken drumsticks in opens bins for weeks.
[/QUOTE]
Don’t eat half-eaten chicken drumsticks left in opens bins for weeks.
---
### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/12 "2008-08-24T21:41:02Z")
Not a cleaning tip, but when you move, set up and make the beds first–especially if you have kids. That way, at the end of a (very) long day, you have a clean bed to fall into (and the kids can get to sleep).
---
### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/13 "2008-08-24T21:46:16Z")
Always have kitchen towel handy (make sure not to run out)
I use it under damp glasses. clean everything in sight including things out of sight like the inside of my ears after showering. You don’t have to wash them, just throw them away.
---
### Author:  [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_Doubt)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/14 "2008-08-24T21:47:30Z")
Learned from “green parties” in the Air Force: neutral shoe polish for removing black scuff marks off floors.
---
### Author:  [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/15 "2008-08-24T22:19:15Z")
[QUOTE=burundi]
This one is from my grandmother–a general housecleaning tip:
**A** shtrays (or Always)
**B** eds
**C** lothes
**D** ishes
If your ashtrays are empty, your beds are made, all clothes are put away neatly, and there are no dirty dishes lying around the house or in the sink, you’re pretty much good to receive visitors. The rest of your clutter can be explained away as the sign of an active and interesting life.
[/QUOTE]
Your grandmother = smart, smart woman!! Excellent advice.
---
### Author:  [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/16 "2008-08-24T23:02:42Z")
Maybe everyone knows this, but hot hot water gets berry stains out. As soon as you get berry juice (I think it works for all dark berry type fruit stuff) on your clothing, take the item off, hold it under hot water and watch it go away.
---
### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/17 "2008-08-24T23:28:17Z")
Works for wine, too:
Put a metal bowl in your sink, and stretch your item over it so the stain is above the bowl. Heat a tea kettle of water to boiling. Slowly pour the water through the stain into the bowl. Gone!
(Learned this in Women’s Guild, cleaning up altar cloths after communion.)
---
### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/18 "2008-08-24T23:44:56Z")
Not exactly household, but this is the best method I’ve found for helping people drive out of tight parking spaces.
Get out of the car and stand where the driver has a clear view of you. Hold your hands apart with a _vertical_ separation to indicate how much space the driver has. Move your hands closer together as the driver moves. If you need them to stop for any reason, bring your hands all the way together.
Most people try to show the distance to close in a variety of ways, but one problem with holding your hands out horizontally is that you have to hold them perpendicular to the driver’s vision, or it’s hard for them to see exactly how much space there is. Holding your hands vertically will _always_ be perpendicular to the driver’s line of sight.
I have gotten out of a space that required about 50 turns and had only about a foot of clearance, total, this way, once I explained it to the two people (one in front and one in back) helping direct me.
---
### Author:  [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/19 "2008-08-25T00:44:23Z")
Have as few things as possible on the floor. The fewer random objects you have to pick up first, the faster you can vacuum. Decorations go on furniture. For that matter, the more things you have in enclosed display cases the less things you have to dust.
---
### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104/20 "2008-08-25T02:39:42Z")
As an adjunct to the moving house -
1] make the beds first
2]have a bag with a roll of toilet paper, 1 or 2 bathing towels per person, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo,conditioner and whatever toiletries you need for a basic minimum
3]a clean pair of jammies/sleepwear per person
4]clean clothes for the next day
5]a grocery bag of paper cups, plates, napkins, plastic flatware, a couple large garbage sacks and a package of baby wipes, and a kitchen hand towel
6]a grocery bag with a few basic foods in it so you wont starve or go thirsty and dont need to get take out unless you want to. You can never tell when you will get the munchies or want breakfast and nothing is open while moving into a strange area.
No matter how hot and nasty grumpy you are when moving, a clean bed, clean body and clean clothes combined with a snack can make the whole world a better place. Being able to wake up fresh and clean the next day makes the second day of hauling crap out of a cargo van much more tolerable.
mraru just chimed in a radio or cd/mp3 player that runs on batteries so you have music or distracting sounds help the move also.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-best-household-type-hint/461104.md?page=2)