7 Household Tips ...

A cup of vinegar to a quart of boiling water is the perfect solution for hard water stains. I’ve used this mixture to get the spots off of the shower head, the gross deposits that build up along the upper part of the inside of the toilet bowl, and for cleaning my coffee pot. Anywhere that a build up of minerals appears, this solution will take care of it. White vinegar works the best, but cider vinegar will do if that’s all you have.

Depending on the amount of grease spilled, there are actually a couple of options. The easiest option is to sprinkle baking soda on the grease so you can scoop it up easier. If you don’t have baking soda on hand, then rubbing ice cubes on the floor will cool the grease and make it easier to scrape up with a metal pancake turner.

The method used will depend on how dark the wood is, as well as what products you have available. You might find that a couple of different techniques will have to be tried to find one that works best for you. A solution of warm black tea is great for polishing medium-brown woodwork that is showing signs of wear. For darker wood, make a paste of instant coffee and water. Rub this paste into cracks and nicks, and then rub off any excess paste leftover. As for light colored woodwork, rubbing mayonnaise into the scratches helps. Let the mayo stand for a bit before wiping it off.

Purchase a new cover for a paint roller and soak it in warm water. Run the paint roller over the wallpaper a couple of times and the paper should be much easier to remove. This seems to work with both pre-pasted wallpaper and the traditional paper that required paste to be applied to it.

Put a slice of bread in the bag with your hard brown sugar and it should soften up within a few hours. Make sure to close the sugar bag up and make it air tight while the bread is inside it. They make these cool little terra cotta shapes for keeping brown sugar from hardening, but they can be expensive. You can put some rice in clean pair of panty hose for the same effect. Just cut the foot off the hose and tie a knot in the end to keep rice from spilling out.

I have a few sweaters that require hand-washing. I don’t always have liquid fabric softener on hand, so the next best thing is hair conditioner. Add a capful of conditioner you use on your hair to the rinse water for sweaters being hand-washed. They will be so soft once they finish air-drying.

It seems my life is filled with stain removal tasks. Shaving cream takes out most rug stains. Margarine and a damp cloth gets out ink stains from just about all types of fabric. Applying salt to a red wine stain, letting it set, and then rinsing the fabric in cold water before washing works well.

I hope these 7 household tips are new ones you haven’t tried yet. Maybe they will be something you have been searching for. Feel free to pass them on as well! What household tips do you have that others might benefit from?

Top Photo Credit: RefinishingHardWoodFloor