Share your best household-type hint

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

I know a nifty way to get two, sometimes three, extra loads of wash out of that big jug of liquid laundry detergent, looks like this, yes? Of whatever brand, of various sizes. Nearly all manufacturers now make them with an anti-drip hole punched in the rim, so that when you put the cap back on, after measuring out the detergent into the washer, the excess drips back into the jug instead of down the outside.

So what you can do is, when you think the jug is empty, turn it upside down (flip it over, hold it so the jug is resting on your knuckles, like a hillbilly holding a corn likker jug) and pour out through the hole in the rim–there will be at least a couple more capfuls of detergent in there. And if you stand there and patiently hold it long enough, sometimes a third capful’s worth will slowly drip down.

[brujaja]

Ronsonol-type lighter fluid will get crayon off your walls. No, silly, don’t light it. Wipe with it.

Just learned this one; I think it’s SO cool – if you have a flat tire on your bike, and the only good tube available has a presto valve, but you don’t have an adapter:

Empty the guts out of a ballpoint pen of the Bic variety. Get some dykes or snips or whatever, and cut a length of the pen tube exactly as long as the valve. Now heat up one end of the piece you’ve cut with a lighter until it starts to get smooshy. Not too smooshy. Push it down, hot end first, over the presto valve, and screw it on. Now you can go fill your tire at the gas station.

I know, most people just go buy a new tube. Me, I don’t always have the six bucks.

[TastesLikeBurning]

@StarvingButStrong

…There are tons of ‘tips’ that everyone knows about (like soaking burned pans to make cleaning easier)…

Even better than this is to add a glass or two of water to the burnt pan while still on the stove (while on) and get it to boiling point and the water has reduced (the turn the stove off).

Once cool, this washes out in the sink easier than any other method I’ve tried.

[phil417]

Only one hint? It would have to be this (originally from the food network): clean out your freezer, or the freezer section of your refrigerator. If there’s anything over a year old, scrap it.

Love, Phil

[maggenpye]

@TastesLikeBurning

Even better than this is to add a glass or two of water to the burnt pan while still on the stove (while on) and get it to boiling point and the water has reduced (the turn the stove off).

Once cool, this washes out in the sink easier than any other method I’ve tried.

I vote this as best username / post content combo of the thread.

And it works better than the other suggestions (I have tried them all and more).

My best hint is that when I buy mince meat in bulk, I split it into meal sized amounts, place in a self-sealing plastic sandwich bag and squash the mincemeat flat inside the bag before freezing. Because the bag is sealed, I can grab a portion from the freezer, chuck it into a bowl of warm water and it thaws out in a couple of minutes.

[don_t_ask]

If you are too lazy to go upstairs to the toilet don’t piss in the sink until you have shut he front door.

[Nava]

I taught Littlebro how to hang pictures on the wall last Friday

If you need to drill a hole in a wall and you’re not a Black’n’Decker Pro (my hands tremble easily), select the drill you need - and then select the next one down.

Use the smaller drill first; once the hole is as deep as it needs to be, “finish” the hole with the other one.

This is also good when you’re not absolutely sure which size you need, you can make a hole bigger much more easily than you can make it smaller.

[Walpurgis]

My favourite tip ever, indispensable for Goths: how to clean your silver jewelry. Take a plastic bowl, put tin foil in the bottom, pour on boiling water and add a tablespoon of baking soda. Put the silver on the foil and watch the black stuff disappear! So much more handy than trying to buff stuff with q-tips.

Another one is smearing vaseline around your hairline to avoid the Helmet Effect when dyeing your hair.

The latest tip I got from a fellow arachnophobiac: spiders don’t like bayleaves. Crumble up some bayleaves and put in a thin bag at the points the little horrors use to enter the house. I don’t know what the science behind this is (must be some chemical they don’t like), but I haven’t seen one single spider since I did this.

[control-z]

@Savannah

You can clean almost anything in your house with baking soda, vinegar and ammonia.

Amen. Vinegar is handy for a lot of things, from sunburns to weed killing. I just bought a couple gallon jugs of vinegar at Sams Club for like $3 and a spray bottle at the Dollar store for $1. That will last me a long time.

[Zsofia]

You can get grease stains out of your clothes (like butter or cooking oil - haven’t tried it on colored grease like motor oil) with shampoo.

[Cat_Whisperer]

Keep as many cleaning supplies as you need in as many rooms as you need - if you have two or more bathrooms, keep cleaning supplies in each of them. When I go to clean a bathroom, if I have to go hunt down everything to clean with, chances are I’ll get distracted by something else and not return to clean. If the stuff is right there, I just grab it and clean while the urge is upon me. Bottom line - if you don’t particularly like cleaning, make it as easy as possible.

[Rascal_s_Mom]

@NinetyWt

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.

Seriously? Then this would work with crusty stove top drip trays, wouldn’t it?

[WhyNot]

One tip I didn’t realize was a tip until my neighbor got very excited watching me on laundry day: I fold my sheets and then use the matching pillowcase to hold them. Just take the stack of clean folded sheets and slip it into the pillowcase. Fold the free end over and that’s it - sheets don’t fall off the shelf, I’m never searching for matching pillowcases, and since I pull my son’s pillowcase inside out first, I know that inside out = twin size and right side out = queen size without memorizing everyone’s sheet patterns!

[Pithy_Moniker]

Put the cats in the spare bedroom BEFORE mopping the kitchen. It’s very funny to watch them run full throttle into the kitchen and then audition for the ice capades. It’s not so hilarious when you have to mop the floor again afterwards.

[phouka]

Why . . . that’s brilliant!

I’m going to start doing that!

Um . . . WhyNot’s thing, that is.

[gigi]

@StarvingButStrong

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.)

Did you have to pour that water down that special drain?

[teela_brown]

Cover your whole stovetop with aluminum foil. Become adept at cutting out holes where necessary for burners or vents. Ignore your SO’s whimpering that this is covering up the cool shiny black stovetop and looks tacky. It’ll astronomically reduce cleanup time. Likewise, if you’re frying something splattery, a couple of sheets of foil strategically placed on nearby countertops or over anything which might be on the receiving end of grease will save a lot of cleanup. Afterwards, just use those pieces of foil for putting dirty cooking spoons or lids on for awhile, and that will eliminate some waste.

[HMS_Irruncible]

For burnt-on black scale on pans, leave it out just one day in sunshine. It will peel off easily. I know, I never believed it either until my wife demonstrated.

Sunshine is also good for getting pesky lingering odors out of plasticware. (or just about anything, come to think of it)

[Ellen_Cherry]

Cleaning tip: peroxide removes blood. Watch it bubble and foam, then rinse away.

[Rhythmdvl]

More of an animal control hint, but whatever …

Cats’ box is in the basement. Pooches don’t think of them as litter boxes so much as “Tootsie Roll pans with sand that needs spreading.”

Door came off hinges.

Triangle about seven inches per side came off the lower corner.

Door went back on hinges.

Door stays shut, pooches stay out and scent stays in—cats slide through easily.

Missing piece is barely noticeable, and when it is it’s because someone’s marveling at the cats slipping in and out. One of the dog-dudes is a MinPin, and an evil one at that – if there was any chance of his wiling his way in, he would.

Since this is kind of lame to consider as a household hint, here’s its extension:

We did the same thing to the bedroom door, but attached the cutout piece back on with a hinge and hook-and-eye. A simple square of self-adhesive linoleum (.50 at Lowes) was cut with a utility knife to make visible edges attractive. It opens inward, so when the door is open it’s invisible, when shut it’s a hard-to-notice void.

We can now lock them in the room whenever we need to (close the flap and it’s right back to being a normal door), but more importantly, when guests—especially ones with strange dogs—are over we can shut the bedroom door without locking the cats out.

If you’re at all interested, let me know and I’ll describe the Worlds’ Best Solution to preventing pooches from eating the cats’ food.

Oh, I believe there’sa rule about posting pictures.

Rhythm
(Yes, I said Worlds’ – it’s the Best Solution on multiple planets)