Hints for the Homemaker
he old nonsense concerning the degradation of housework is scattered to the winds. Respectable work is honorable, and no work can possibly be more important than that which makes home life desirable.
From The Almanack of 1921
To get all of the juice you pay for, heat lemons in the oven until they are hot all of the way through. Put them in a slow oven for 10 minutes and you will be surprised how much more juice they yield.
Reprinted from The Almanack of 1971
REUSE THOSE DRYER SHEETS!
Use them twice, or even three times and save money! Fabric softener sheets have many uses and here are just a few of them:
Use only a half sheet in the dryer. You won’t notice a difference and the box will last twice as long!
Dust blinds with a used sheet. It takes the dust off and keeps it away longer.
A used fabric softener sheet does a great job of cleaning dishes with baked on food. Just fill up the pot or pan with water and add a used sheet. Let it soak overnight and in the morning the food will come right off!
Freshen a stinky drawer. Some furniture (especially antique furniture) smells and that smell transfers to your clothes. Place a fabric softener sheet in the drawer to give your clothes a fresh smell.
Deodorize stinky shoes. Place a used sheet in those stinky gym shoes overnight. The smell will be gone the next day.
SPEND LESS $$$ & TIME DOING LAUNDRY
Here are 5 ways to reduce the cost of doing the laundry:
Use a clothes line - If you have some room in your yard, basement, drying some of clothes on a clothes line can save the cost of running the dryer.
Make your own laundry detergent - Laundry detergent seems to get more and more expensive. With this homemade high efficiency laundry detergent recipe that costs just four cents a load, you can really save a lot on your laundry budget.
Upgrade to high efficiency appliances - This can mean a significant savings in both water and energy usage. Plus, it saves time since many hold a larger load of laundry than traditional washers and dryers.
Use vinegar as a fabric softener - Vinegar can be a much less expensive option than any brand-name liquid fabric softeners. Vinegar softens fabrics and removes bad smells at the same time.
Be sure laundry loads are full (but not too full) - If loads are too small, too much time will be spent doing laundry. However, if overloaded, your washer won’t properly clean your clothes. Plus, it means that when you put that larger load in the dryer at once, you will need to run multiple cycles to get it all dry.
Keep an empty soda bottles handy, in case you need a hot water bottle. Just fill it up with hot water, wrap in a towel and there you go!
To slow the tarnishing process of silver, place a piece of chalk in your silver chest or drawer. The chalk will absorb moisture and your silver will not tarnish so quickly.
If you place bay leaves in all your kitchen drawers and in the flour and sugar containers, you will keep any crawling critters away.
REUSE THOSE DRYER SHEETS!
Use them twice, or even three times and save money! Fabric softener sheets have many uses and here are just a few of them:
Use only a half sheet in the dryer. You won’t notice a difference and the box will last twice as long!
Dust blinds with a used sheet. It takes the dust off and keeps it away longer.
A used fabric softener sheet does a great job of cleaning dishes with baked on food. Just fill up the pot or pan with water and add a used sheet. Let it soak overnight and in the morning the food will come right off!
Freshen a stinky drawer. Some furniture (especially antique furniture) smells and that smell transfers to your clothes. Place a fabric softener sheet in the drawer to give your clothes a fresh smell.
Deodorize stinky shoes. Place a used sheet in those stinky gym shoes overnight. The smell will be gone the next day.
Keep an empty soda bottles handy, in case you need a hot water bottle. Just fill it up with hot water, wrap in a towel and there you go!
To slow the tarnishing process of silver, place a piece of chalk in your silver chest or drawer. The chalk will absorb moisture and your silver will not tarnish so quickly.
If you place bay leaves in all your kitchen drawers and in the flour and sugar containers, you will keep any crawling critters away.
EASY STAIN REMOVAL
Since the dirt rings in collars are oil stains, shampoo for oily hair will remove them. Rub it into the fabric before washing the garment.
Keep old toothbrushes - they are extremely handy for cleaning nooks and crannies other cleaning equipment cannot get into.
Remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers using a piece of tin foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
A thick paste made from baking soda and water will remove perspiration stains from clothing. It will also remove urine stains from car seats.
Buy all your toddler’s socks in the same color. That way, you will never have the problem of not being able to find the mythical ‘other sock’.
If you have poured too much washing powder into the machine, sprinkle salt into the water to settle the soap suds.
As it happens, rubber gloves attract pet hair like magnets. By simply stroking your hand over an afflicted area, you’ll find that the majority of hair and dander will stick to the rubber. Clean up is just as simple – dunk the gloves in water and the hair instantly detach from the glove’s surface and float to the surface!
BAKING SODA TO THE RESCUE!
Baking soda, covered with just enough water to cover the surface of a pot or pan, can be brought to a simmer to remove a mess without much hassle. Another particularly effective, albeit unexpected, agent in loosening up overcooked food is ketchup. Because of the high acidity of tomatoes, the mess is easily eaten away.
Baking soda will lift and deodorize stains from pet urine or other bodily fluids, and different combinations of vinegar, water, and gentle dish soaps can be used to eliminate virtually everything from red wine to grass. Club soda and even beer can also come in handy if all else fails.
A simple mixture of ammonia, vinegar, baking soda, and warm water can work magic for cleaning large areas of grout with a scrubbing brush. From there, you can maintain the cleanliness of your grout by working isolated, small stains with white toothpaste (using that old toothbrush we told you not to throw away!) or the eraser end of a pencil.
If looking to refresh the appearance of your stainless steel appliance, look no further than olive oil. Buffing stainless steel surfaces in olive oil is a surefire way of keeping everything shiny. As an alternative to olive oil, all-purpose flour can also be used to buff out splotches and streak
