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Afterthoughts
MORE IDEAS 4 U
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| Nett's Free Help Tips | |
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Tiny Everyday Tips! |
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| What's the deal? Nothing big, but just that you learn a lot on the way to Old Age! Some of these tips might prove useful...so enjoy! And if you've tips to share,praise or complaints, feel free to let me know! janeth@landmarknet.net A DAB OF SHORTENING A dab of shortening on your finger, plain old lard or maybe Crisco, is what you need to remove a stubborn label. Smear it on, let it set and then scrape with a fingernail or the edge of an old knife. You might have to repeat the treatment, especially if you're trying to remove those nonskid things from the bottom of the tub, but it works! IT'S A CHEAPO...WELL JAZZ IT UP! If you're like me, you've discovered that old suitcases make great storage containers. Wash the outside, apply a coat of base paint and either freehand paint or stencil on designs, if you like. If not, why not consider base coating it and then glueing on cut out flowers or other designs from fabric, wallpaper, wrapping paper...anything your heart desires? Kids might love one beside the bed as a "night table" and it will hold a lot of "stuff." GO AHEAD, FENCE ME IN You can pick up lengths of wire flowerbed fencing quite inexpensively. Consider using part of one mounted on a wall. You can twist up the wire "post" meant to stick in the ground and use them as hangers for lightweight objects...string real or fake ivy around it...hang dried flowers from it...use your imagination! Mounted on a wall near a stove, a length of "fencing" can hold lightweight kitchen utinsils or a collection of colorful potholders. FAT DRAINER When you make meatloaf, do you repeatedly remove it from the oven and drain off fat that cooks out of it? There's an easy way to get around this chore. Buy a foil loaf pan and puncture holes in its bottom. Put your meatloaf inside this pan, on a wire rack resting in a larger pan to catch the fat that will drain off as the meatloaf cooks! DON'T POUND OR EVEN SQUEEZE IT! The catchup bottle, I mean. Instead, make sure it's capped tightly and set it upside down in a plastic drinking glass when you return it to the refrigerator. (One of those stands for displaying dolls would probably work too.) The next time someone uses the catchup, there's no struggle to get it out in a hurry! A LITTLE FAT'LL DO YA We nearly all try to stay clear of fried foods, but there’s nothing quite like a feast of home fries or a real fried steak now and then, is there? Shortening, vegetable oil? What to use to grease the pan? To give it real FLAVOR, save and freeze bacon fat. When you fry or broil a batch of bacon, perhaps for BLT sandwiches in summer, or to crumble and freeze to use in various casseroles and other recipes, save the flavorful grease. I have a bowl of cold water handy and pour the hot fat into this. Then I set the bowl into the refrigerator or freezer. When the fat has congealed, I finger-shape it into a roll, or a block approximating the size of ¼ lb. of butter or margarine. This is wrapped in foil. When I need a bit of grease to use in a frying pan, I simply unwrap one end of that block or roll of bacon grease and apply it to the hot pan. Presto…let as much melt into the pan as you judge you need. Then rewrap your little package and stuff it back into the freezer. I keep it on a door shelf of my refrigerator freezer, where it’s handy to grab. FULL IS BETTER Your freezer will run more efficiently when full. So when your freezer stock is down, filled milk cartons or jugs with water to help fill up the space. In summer, half fill 2 liter plastic bottles for this purpose. When you need to make room for food in the freezer, refrigerate these, adding water first and you’ll always have cold drinking water on hand. GETTING DISHES CLEANER IS EASY Soak pans that have held starchy food, from potatoes to noodles, with cold water. The same goes for drinking glasses or anything that has held milk. Rinse in cold water before emerging these items into hot sudsy water. Glasses that won’t come shining clean, as well as washable decorative objects, will give up that film when you add about 2 tablespoons of household ammonia to the dishwater. (Don’t breath in the fumes!) Glass lighting globes or even chimneys from decorative kerosene lamps also benefit but such a bath. SIMPLICITY ITSELF! Maybe the kids are out and even the man of the house won’t be around tonight. Whew! A no work, no dishwashing night for the Domestic Goddess. But you have to eat something nourishing, right? Short of zapping leftovers, the easiest meal I know of is micro-squashed eggs. I break 2 eggs into a serving bowL, add a bit of diced onion (from a bag kept in the freezer), a dash of milk, salt and pepper, pop a paper plate over it in the microwave oven and cook it on high for 40 seconds. Take out and WITH A BISCUIT CUTTER, chop away at the contents of the bowl. Cook as much more as you prefer…and don’t forget to start the toast along with this Simplicity Meal! HOT NEWS ABOUT A COOL CHORE Every now and then, we all much face the chore of defrosting a freezer, rather it be large or small. Do it in winter (at least in New England!) and you can put the contents into boxes outdoors. It’s a chore you want to accomplish as quickly as possible, however, so use your hair dryer to loosen the frost from the sides of your freezer and then scoop the mess from the bottom with a dustpan, depositing it in a plastic bucket or even a sturdy plastic bag. MONEY SAVER! A good pal tells me he got sick of paying top price for liquid soap, so he now buys Dermassage dish liquid instead. It costs him only 99 cents for a large bottle. If it works for him, it may for you! LABEL USES If you carry a block of your return address labels with you, you can use them like "calling cards" to share with new acquaintances. A return address label makes fast work of entering a store's lucky drawing; and if you're into rebating and couponing, you'll be pleased to find that your labels will fit in those tiny spaces! KEEP YOUR ADDRESS BOOK UP TO DATE Cut your correspondents' return labels from envelopes and arrange them, in alphabetical order, in an album with see-through pages. Also cut out any business addresses you want to save from envelopes or letterheads for your "directory." It's simple to add to or subtract from. MASKING TAPE DOES MORE THAN MASK Don't spend "good money" (is there any other kind?) on fancy stickups. Instead, use ordinary masking tape. As examples, use masking tape to: 1. Label freezer packages, storage boxes or bags. 2. Remind yourself of errands, etc. If you're low on gas and apt to be forgetful, write "GAS" on a strip of masking tape and slap it onto the dashboard or steering wheel. 3. Mask close surfaces you want to protect when you paint something. 4. Mark a temporary seam allowance on the plate of a sewing machine. 5. Bind together two small pieces of anything you are gluing together. Remove once glue has set up. 6. Hold up a torn hem until later, when you'll re-sew it. 7. Mend broken pieces of plastic toys and such. Replace tape as required. 8. When you take something apart to clean or repair it, corral small parts on sticky side of a strip of masking tape. In this way, you'll avoid confusion when it comes time to reassemble the item. 9. Wrap tape, sticky side out, around fingers of one hand. Pat surface, such as a dark skirt or jacket or chair seat to remove lint or pet hair. 10. Think "masking tape" when you sew. Sewing on an applique? Secure it in place with tape, stitch right through it and then remove the tape. KEEPING TRACK If you find it difficult to remember details like the makes, years, and license plate numbers of the family's various vehicles, list the information. Keep the list at home or in your wallet or purse in case of car theft or similar emergency situation. You may also not be the sort who can remember numbers easily. Know your social security number and your spouses? If your house and all your business papers should be destroyed by fire or some other catastrophe, would it take you some time to find your insurance company? Write some vital info on all your paperwork and keep it in your vehicle's glove compartment or your pocketbook, if you're the type who grabs it before leaving the house. My son and I live in the same village. I even make copies of my computer disks which he keeps and I have copies of some of his most important information. Periodically using a camcorder to makes video tapes of the furnishings, appliances and artifacts in your house is a good idea. If you should have to make an insurance claim, and have stashed a copy of the tape at a relative, neighbor or friend's house, it will make things a good deal simpler! NO DOUBLE DOSES Always place ingredients to your LEFT before you use them, and to your far RIGHT after you're done with them. This way, if you're interrupted while cooking, you won't have to wonder, "Yikes, have I put the soda in yet or not?" The same principle applies if you take several medications at the same time of day. If the phone interrupts you, you won't get mixed up as which doses you've already taken. EASY CLEAN-UP If you don't use fancy stove burner covers, keep a few disposable pie tins at hand. When you cook anything messy (like spaghetti sauce!) or fry something that spatters, cover the other burners to save on clean-up chores. UPSCALE "TV" DINNERS Snatch up attractive, though mismatched plates at Yard Sales for pennies. Dinner, luncheon, or bread and butter-sized, they make fine freezer-to-microwave containers for home-made "TV dinners." Or, when giving homemade goodies to friends, tell them to keep the plate, or better yet, "pass it on!" CHEAP TRICK Inexpensive windshield washer fluid works fine as a window and mirror cleaner. Just transfer some to a spray bottle for ease of use. PLANT TREAT Crush egg shells in your hand and add them to a screw-top jar with water in it. This makes a fine brew for your house plants. If you're an aquarium, when you change the water for the sake of your fishy friends, feed some of the old water to your plants. They'll thrive! NO COST PINCUSHIONS Pincushions are handy items in almost any room. They'll hold pins and needles, jeweled stick pins, even (pieced type) earring sets. To make a wall-hanging pincushion at no cost, find a block of the type of packing foam appliances are packaged in. Cut a block from it, perhaps 2" wide by 6" long. Cut a piece of pretty material (any "found" material; an old curtain panel, part of a worn garment or whatever) wide enough to wrap the rectangle of foam and at least twice its length. By machine or hand, seam the long edge, right sides together. Turn to right side. Put foam inside. Arrange and temporarily pin fullness so it is evenly gathered (sort of ruffled) along the length and sew-tack in place in the back. Fold under ends of tube of fabric and sew-tack in place. Attach a short length of ribbon at the top center of the vertical block to hang it by. These are not only pretty when hung almost anywhere, from bed to bathroom, but they make nice little gifts or craft projects for children. COMPARE, COMPARE! Carry a calculator when you grocery shop. The old adage "larger is cheaper" is not always true, check this factor and to shop wisely, Compare, Compare, Compare! CUSTOMIZED SCATTER RUGS Pull a simple switch underfoot. Buy two inexpensive, bound scatter rugs made of carpet material. These are often samples carried by carpet stores. The stores may sell discontinued lines or these handy rugs may be found "for a song" at yard sales. Get rugs of similar depth or thickness, but in different colors. Now decide on a shape...be it a good sized nursery animal, or perhaps a pretty blossom shape (you can shrink or enlarge these on most copy machines to make patterns). Lay pattern on one rug and, with a sharp carpet knife, cut out design. Do the same with the other rug, then switch inserts, say a red blossom centered in a brown rug and a brown blossom the center design of a red rug. Using special carpet tape (or even duct tape), secure the shapes into the rugs on the backsides. Like the results? Experiment with your own designs! MORE IDEAS UNDERFOOT No money to decorate a small area? Say you have a small hallway, pantry, bathroom or other area you'd like to carpet. Look, first, for a remnant piece of carpeting large enough for your need. Make a newspaper pattern of the area you want to carpet, if necessary, piecing it together with tape. Place on back of remnant, cut out and fit into space. If you must piece carpeting, make sure the nap of the material is all going in the same direction, or it will "show." Scrounge books of carpet samples from a carpet center. Usually, they're for free. Using a few simple tools, take the "books" apart. Roughly figure how many "pages" of sample carpet it will take to cover your floor. Putting an old board under the cutting area, use a sharp utility knife to cut off the portion of the "pages" that have holes in them, making them all of uniform size. Now comes the fun. Start arranging your patchwork carpet, making sure you don't end up with too small pieces on any edge. Tape them together (with masking or duct tape) to keep your design intact. Depending on the flooring you're working with, you can staple the squares down, sew them together with a tapestry needle and heavy-duty thread, or (more expensive) use duct tape to secure them together! It is a challenge and "work," but you'll end up with warm, colorful quality carpeting at little cost. I've seen a tiny hallway, cellar stair landing, kid's bedroom and "attic turned guest room" done this way. JUST ONE MORE! I've just one more flooring idea to share. I love hooked rugs and have made or bought at yard sales several made from kits. Of course you can buy the backing and yarn and make your own designs for these little, WASHABLE scatter rugs. My downstairs bathroom has a cold floor in wintertime and I've decided to make a hooked rug to cover it. Since I want my barefoot-cozy "carpeting" to be washable and I mean in MY (ordinary- sized) machine, it will be made in sections. I'll make a newspaper and masking tape template of the floor, with all its odd angles. Then I will divide that template into one foot sections. I may simply use a checkered pattern. Stuck down in place with double-faced tape, it should look fine. And when something gets spilled on a section or two, I'll simply zip if off for laundering! FUNNY FUNNEL Need to transfer a dry product, perhaps sugar or flour, from one container to one with a small 'neck,' and there's no funnel in sight? Roll a piece of clean paper or cardboard, or a magazine to make a small enough opening at one end and funnel away! Another method is to use the top of a two-liter soda bottle as a funnel. Just cut it off in a line about three inches from the top, wash and dry it and keep it as a funnel. EASY POUR "BOWL" Mixing pancake batter? Whip it up in a pitcher with a spout to make the batter easy to pour into your hot skillet. NO BUGS IN THIS IDEA Two or more discarded aluminum screens, covered with fabric with pockets sewn to it become a handy screen for most any room. How to 'hinge' the portions together? Devise sturdy, simple fabric tabs, sewing them every 4" or so along the panels, to connect them. Besides being decorative, the screen's pockets could be used to house sewing needs, bed or bath accessories, or kids' stuff. How about pockets sized to hold a collection of comic books? Use your imagination! Two or three discarded half-size screens, similarly hinged, might block a messy work corner from view. Cover two with charming scenic fabric to make a summer fireplace screen? FROM MESSY TO ORDERLY IN A ZIP! Is the inside of your handbag a bit like the aftermath of a natural disaster? Use zip top plastic bags, one for medications and such, one for cosmetics, and another for some other category of small stuff. COBBLE STUFF NEATLY TOGETHER A similar idea is to make a cobbler pocketed "thing" which can either be hung on a tension rod at a window or in a closet. Or design one with a long tuck-in tail of fabric to be tucked firmly between the mattress and box spring to keep it in place. In the latter guise, this pocket idea is great for a bedridden patient or a kid with a pile of comic books that is always being kicked around and found under the bed. TRIMS MAKE A DIFFERENCE Is your family room couch a bit the worse for wear? Has the resident cat used a corner as a scratching post? Consider making a ruffle or pleated skirt and applying it to the couch's lower limits with Velcro tape. Glue one side of tape or dots of the fastening material to the couch, and the corresponding tape or dots to the add-on trim. You can remove easily remove this sort of skirting for laundering or replacement. LOW COST TRICKS I can't understand why picture frames and lamp shades are so expensive. The solution? Buy inexpensive paper shades and trim them with glued-on gimp or ribbon. Look for suitable frames at discount houses and tag sales, too. To personalize them, use paints; glue on anything you like, from ribbon rosebuds to buttons to tiny toys. To mat pictures with individual style, use wallcovering samples, desk blotters or poster board in your choice of color and\or pattern. "LOOKS GOOD...WHAT IS IT?" Those plastic, card-holding, pick devises that come stuck among commercial floral arrangements are worth washing and saving. The next time you have a buffet lunch for a crowd, stick one in a pile of sandwiches. Put a card in it to identify the sandwich contents, i.e. "Ham and Egg Salad," or whatever. Another stuck in a big serving dish might proclaim it "GERMAN POTATO SALAD." Your guests will be grateful. WANT NEW? BUY NEW! Be a people watcher and learn! What do customers waiting in the check-out line do? Hold and glance through magazines on the rack. So don't buy the top magazine, but one from in back. It will be less handled and perhaps more germ free as well! Watch the delivery men stock their wares. Fresh bread goes in back or underneath, so where will you choose your loaf of bread from? NO MESS ICE CREAM TREATS Ice cream sandwiches cut down on dish washing, to say nothing of the clean-up chore of wiping up spills. Kids love the ease of grabbing one from the freezer. Expensive? So-o, make your own. Use graham crackers, thin wafer cookies or even saltines (don't knock 'em till you've tried em!) for "bread." Dip a carving knife repeatedly in hot water, and you'll have no trouble cutting a block of ice cream down to size. Package and freeze the quick, frosty treats in plastic, labeled, of course. TAKE THE SUMMER OFF! If you have a freezer, cut down on the messy clean-up work of cooking by always cooking in quantity. Bake BIG batches of cookies, quick freeze them on cookie sheets, then bag them for hot weather use. Who wants to bake the family's favorites on hot, humid days? Do the same with biscuits, rolls, muffins, brownies or whatever. Even pies freeze well and, thawed and slightly heated, will taste "fresh from the oven." Adopting this method means you can take advantage of sales. Too ripe bananas on sale "for a song?" Mash, measure and freeze them for later use as an ingredient, or make up a big batch of banana bran muffins and keep them on hand in the freezer. Micro warming makes them delicious in short order! |
 janeth@landmarknet.net |
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