# Stupid household tips
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 23, 2002, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340 "2002-11-23T12:45:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/1 "2002-11-23T12:45:57Z")
Spray your bath towels with Scotchguard to prevent mildew.
Float votive candles in your toilet bowl for a festive holiday treatment.
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### Author:  [@Eidolon909](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eidolon909)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/2 "2002-11-23T12:54:59Z")
The second would be cool at a Christmas party. I could entertain myself trying to piss out the flame.
But then I’d flush. _sigh_
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/3 "2002-11-23T15:56:57Z")
Always have extra [lard](http://www.blmb.freeserve.co.uk/) available.
Because you just never know.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/4 "2002-11-23T16:07:50Z")
Is it a floor wax?
Or a desert topping?
It’s BOTH!
* * *
Save your used facial tissue. They make great pillow stuffing.
* * *
Laptop’s keyboard sticky? Soak it in Lime Away!
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### Author:  [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/5 "2002-11-23T16:15:45Z")
Attics are often dusty, moldy, and infested with insects and rabid wild animals. Rather than risk exposing yourself to these dangers, it’s much wiser to apply your insulation in a more accessible place, such as your driveway.
OK, I stole that from Dave Barry. Now go away.
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### Author:  [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/6 "2002-11-23T18:15:17Z")
Raid makes an aromatic oven cleaner. (There’s a real story behind that one!)
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### Author:  [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/7 "2002-11-23T18:20:04Z")
Attach cloths to your shoes to clean wood floors.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/8 "2002-11-23T18:25:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \*
> \*\*Attach cloths to your shoes to clean wood floors. \*\*
What would that achieve? Sticking a nail through a shoe and a cloth and into a clean wood floor sounds kinda stupid. Oh, stupid, I get it :smack:
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### Author:  [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/9 "2002-11-23T21:04:26Z")
OK, this is a real one I read in a magazine: “If you are out of coffee creamer, use whipped egg whites to lighten your coffee”. OK, is it just me, or do you see an obvious problem here? Like, maybe, the egg whites would make the coffee LOOK alright, but it would taste exceedingly strange! I guess they also think if you’re out of sugar, you could use boric acid?
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2002, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/10 "2002-11-23T22:22:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Eidolon909 \*
> \*\*The second would be cool at a Christmas party. I could entertain myself trying to piss out the flame.
>
> But then I’d flush. _sigh_ \*\*
Just don’t fart. :eek:
Um, putting eggs in your coffee-wouldn’t it get all sticky?
YUCK!!!
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### Author:  [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/11 "2002-11-24T00:00:58Z")
[Viz Magazine Top Tips](http://freespace.virgin.net/taqi.khan/misc/viz.html)
> [@](#):
>
> If a small child is choking on an ice cube, don’t panic. Simply pour a jug of boiling water down its throat and hey presto! The blockage is almost instantly removed.
> [@](#):
>
> Sweetcorn fans. Save money on loo paper by simply pouring the stuff straight down the pan.
🙂
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### Author:  [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/12 "2002-11-24T00:19:44Z")
The egg whites would cook and you’d have bits of egg floating in your coffee.
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### Author:  [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/13 "2002-11-24T00:20:46Z")
I should add that the above link contains some swear words so may not be work-safe for some people.
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### Author:  [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/14 "2002-11-24T01:29:19Z")
Actually, whipped egg whites would be like meringue–not sticky at all, and would probably stir right in. I don’t know how it would taste, though.
For dusting those hard to reach high shelves, spray Pledge on your cat, and let it dust while it naps.
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/15 "2002-11-24T01:36:41Z")
After five years, the dust doesn’t get any worse…so if you can last five years, you can avoid doing it forever. Wheeeeeeee!!
(Quentin Crisp)
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/16 "2002-11-24T03:24:49Z")
I seem to remember a Japanese program demonstrating something along the lines of “baby mops”: attach a (dry) mop to your baby’s jumpsuit and let him clean the floor as he or she crawls around.
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### Author:  [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/17 "2002-11-24T05:45:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \*
> \*\*I seem to remember a Japanese program demonstrating something along the lines of “baby mops”: attach a (dry) mop to your baby’s jumpsuit and let him clean the floor as he or she crawls around. \*\*
I saw a similar photo in a Japanese catalog of little booties (dry mops) that you can attach to your cat’s paws… so he polishes the floor as he flails around wildy in spastic attempts to free his feet.
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### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/18 "2002-11-24T11:02:09Z")
Oh, those wacky Japanese.
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### Author:  [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/19 "2002-11-24T16:04:09Z")
_credit for this goes to the previous owner of an apartment I once rented_
Leave open cans of lard and bacon grease under the kitchen sink to trap cockroaches and other vermin.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-household-tips/138340/20 "2002-11-24T17:25:34Z")
Toothpicks can be washed and reused up to seven times. Your oven is the perfect kiln for drying them to a like-new hardness.
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