# The "I'll be damned, it actually works" helpful tip thread **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425 "2010-11-30T16:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/261 "2011-07-09T08:57:53Z")
Ring worm, Monistat 7, yes the little wrestler won’t want to use girls medicine but it works and is probably what the doctor would prescribe. Hiccups, Lime and bitters, cover a slice of lime with bitters and suck on it, works every time. Sleeping problems, Try melatonin It works for me without having to resort to sleeping drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/262 "2011-07-09T09:19:01Z")
Use talcum powder to lubricate the rubber strips in your fridge’s door. Use chlorine on the mildewed rubber strips in your washing machines door. Use a bit of shine-rinse (that third stuff that goes in your dishwashing machine, other then the the tablets or the salt) in the last rinse when you wash your car in the driveway. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/263 "2011-07-09T10:44:40Z")
Gold Bond (or similar) medicated powder for dog hot spots aka moist dermatitis. Works like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/264 "2011-07-09T11:00:50Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Gold Bond (or similar) medicated powder for dog hot spots aka moist dermatitis. Works like a charm. I don’t know what a dog hot spot is, but be careful getting Gold Bond near mucus membranes and naughty bits. Many people will have a severe allergic reaction to the camphor. This can result in elephantiasis-like swelling and a trip to the emergency room. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/265 "2011-07-09T12:32:57Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > Umm, Parent of the Year? :eek: 😃 Yep!! BaconDad is my new hero 🙂 (though I doubt it would have worked with my two :(). ---
**Author:** ![Bibliothecarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@Bibliothecarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliothecarius)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/266 "2011-07-10T09:26:42Z")
I used to have a wart that would reappear in the same place in my thumb every couple of years. I would put that wart killer stuff on it that you put on with an eyedropper and wrap a bandaid around it and keep treating it every day til it eventually burned off. But then it would come back again eventually. One day about 10 or 15 years ago I got bored and just cut the damn thing out with a Stanley knife. Has never come back since. 🙂 How to Cure Hiccups: 1. Take a big, deep breath in and hold it for about 15-20 seconds or until you’re just about bursting for breath. 2. Sloowly breathe out again in one long, slow breath. 3. Take a few slow, deep breaths in and out again (no need to hold it this time, just breathe slowly and deeply as if you’re trying to relax yourself). Works every time. 🙂 You just have to re-regulate your breathing. ---
**Author:** ![Bibliothecarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@Bibliothecarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibliothecarius)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/267 "2011-07-10T09:33:22Z")
Oh, and then there was my mom’s mortifying solution to bandage up an injury when we ran out of bandages…she cut the wings off a sanitary napkin and taped it to my arm! :eek: Only the girls at school realized what it was though. Very embarrassing for a 13 year old boy! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/268 "2011-07-11T19:53:20Z")
> [@Bibliothecarius](#): > > Oh, and then there was my mom’s mortifying solution to bandage up an injury when we ran out of bandages…she cut the wings off a sanitary napkin and taped it to my arm! :eek: Only the girls at school realized what it was though. Very embarrassing for a 13 year old boy! It’s completely anecdotal and second-hand, but my Dad swears that when he was in the Air Force (1969-1973), he saw huge sections of warehouses filled with maxi-pads at Kelly AFB for shipment to Vietnam. He figured that they must have been using them as wound dressings of some kind, because as he put it “there couldn’t have been that many American women in Vietnam.”. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/270 "2012-07-16T04:09:18Z")
While on a cleaning binge yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to get a combination of grease and cat hair off the kitchen light fixture. The fixture is big and heavy and needs two people to remove it for washing. I was alone. Ta da! Animal hair lint roller to the rescue. It worked amazingly well. While the fixture still needs a good wash, it is now decidedly less fuzzy and much brighter. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/271 "2012-07-16T05:20:02Z")
[This stuff](http://www.odorfix.com/) works miracles with cat urine that has soaked in to the structure of a house. We just bought an old fixer-upper house that had been vacant for a few months, and the 2nd floor smelled really bad, particularly one unfinished room with 1" wood that had some serious cat funk going on. I haven’t used it on anything else, but it says it works on a variety of substances. You just dilute it, spray it on, and let it digest (it is an enzyme solution) and evaporate for a few days. No clean-up. I diluted it 10 to 1 in one of those pump-up pressure canisters with the fine mist spray nozzle that you can get at your local garden shop. As far as I know, their web site is the only place to buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/272 "2012-07-18T05:31:42Z")
I don’t know about everyone else, but it’s always annoyed me the way a new trash bag gets air between the bag and the trash can and seals so tight that when you drop a large item in, it just floats at the top until you pull the bag loose and let the air out. I fixed that by drilling holes in my trash can. A large item may still get caught but it will slowly push out the air and sink down on it’s own. Use automotive wax liberally around the home. Bathroom mirror, windows, countertops, smartphone touchscreen. It will clean better than most cleaners, help keep it clean, and if feels good on anything you touch. A paste cleaner wax is best, carnuba will probably smear on glassy surfaces. Use stick-on felt protective pads like [these](http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00cBvaGTAChPkI/Felt-Protective-Pad.jpg) liberally too. One good place is inside drawers and cabinets to keep them from making a thud when closing, but anywhere things touch, these can help quieten them down. I even have them on some heavy steel equipment that swings freely and clangs loudly. Now it clangs softly. Get a cheap non-stick pan and never use it for anything but eggs. It will retain it’s no-stick quality with eggs until the first time you cook something else in it, then eggs will stick like crazy. Dedicate a pan to eggs only and they’ll never stick. I spent years scrubbing and cursing non-stick pans until I learned the secret. Now, I’ve been using the same $4 pan for a few years and washing it almost seems like a waste of water because it’s always spotless. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/273 "2012-07-18T15:27:41Z")
Funny that this came up just now - I just ran out on my break to pick up a few things and saw the store had Blenheim Ginger Ale - woot! Got it back to my desk and remembered it isn’t a twist off. A Google later, found out that that staple remover you never use except to pretend it’s a monster makes a GREAT bottle opener. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/274 "2012-07-18T15:46:14Z")
Getting a bug in your ear canal is a distressing experience. When it happened to my neighbor’s kid, they took him to the emergency room; he was screaming all the way. When it happened to me, I first tried pouring water in my ear – didn’t work. I then squirted baby oil into my ear. Bug movement ceased almost immediately. I cleaned the baby oil out with tissue and Q-tips. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/275 "2012-07-18T16:26:32Z")
Has anyone mentioned Nature’s Miracle yet? It’s a cleaner for pet-related stains, and it really is a freakin’ miracle. Just spray some on, come back in three minutes and the stain (and smell) comes right out. Olive oil is good for cleaning metal fixtures. If anyone has any tried and true methods for cleaning mirrors, I’d be all ears. I’m pretty terrible at it. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/276 "2012-07-18T16:59:31Z")
> [@Wheeljack](#): > > This one’s a bit lame, but I’ve found it to be useful so I’ll pass it along. > > Constantly being shocked as you move in and out of the dry air whilst doing your shopping and such? Carry your keys as you walk across the parking lot, and when you get to that dreadful metal door handle, tap it with the key. The static will arc between the door and the key instead of between the door and your finger. When I’m not carrying keys and think I might get shocked, I always touch the doorknob with the back of my hand. It’s much less sensitive than fingers. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/277 "2012-07-18T18:04:45Z")
Dramamine works for non-motion-sickness-related nausea. I had a doctor recommend it when I had mono, so I could at least keep some food down. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/278 "2012-07-18T22:05:41Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > Dramamine works for non-motion-sickness-related nausea. I had a doctor recommend it when I had mono, so I could at least keep some food down. Better yet, get generic meclizine (aka Dramimine 2 or Bonine). It’s cheaper. It was originally intended for nausea. And, it doesn’t have the short-attention-span sleepiness side effect that regular Dramamine has. I use it for Meniere’s Disease related nausea. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/279 "2012-07-18T22:33:07Z")
If you find old tools at yard sales or junk shops that are still in good condition but rusty. Mix a batch of water:molasses at a ratio of between 10:1 and 20:1 (my dad likes 12:1)and toss the tools in that for a week or two. A quick hose down & the tools should be rust free and have a nice dark grey patina. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/280 "2012-07-18T23:39:35Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > \ > Get a cheap non-stick pan and never use it for anything but eggs. It will retain it’s no-stick quality with eggs until the first time you cook something else in it, then eggs will stick like crazy. Dedicate a pan to eggs only and they’ll never stick.\ What a great idea! My husband doesn’t eat eggs so I only make one or two at a time, so I can just get a little pan and dedicate that to my egg cooking. > [@Zsofia](#): > > \ > A Google later, found out that that staple remover you never use except to pretend it’s a monster makes a GREAT bottle opener. You can pretend the de-stapleizer is a monster? What a great idea! > [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > \ > If anyone has any tried and true methods for cleaning mirrors, I’d be all ears. I’m pretty terrible at it. I just use Windex and paper towels - they come out shiny and streak-free for me, no particular effort required. > [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > If you find old tools at yard sales or junk shops that are still in good condition but rusty. > > Mix a batch of water:molasses at a ratio of between 10:1 and 20:1 (my dad likes 12:1)and toss the tools in that for a week or two. > > A quick hose down & the tools should be rust free and have a nice dark grey patina. Do you need to clean the rust off old tools? I figure they’re about as rusty as they’re going to get, and the rust is like a protective layer. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425/281 "2012-07-19T02:17:54Z")
> [@OldnCrinkly](#): > > I have five children, taking them for immunizations was always a disaster. When the first one cried, the rest would be terrified and start crying before they even got the shot. My solution, which has worked wonderfully for me, is to let them cuss. Either hell, shit, or dammit, one time only, as loudly as they want when they get it. But if they cry, no cussing allowed. They really seem to get a thrill from it. I usually warn the nurse. I am now visualizing a 6 year old screaming “That fucking hurt you sperm burping gutter slut” at the nurse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ill-be-damned-it-actually-works-helpful-tip-thread/562425.md?page=15)