Simple Hints & Home Remedies Around the House

While we would all like to have a cleaning service come in and clean our homes, most of us don't, so any little way to simplify household chores or problems is welcome to me.

Through the years I have come across many simple little ways of cleaning up problems or treating physical discomforts with items you typically have around the house. My grandmother had a book where she had written many little tips, so some of the following comes from her little red book.

1. Use Kool-Aid to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet.
2. Peanut Butter - will get scratches out of CDs. Wipe off with a coffee filter paper
3. Peanut butter will also remove paint from the face of dolls.
4. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and a cup of milk of magnesia. Soak for 20 minutes and let dry, will last for many years.
5. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel.
6. To remove anything sticky like tape residue nail polish remover will sometimes work or buy Goo Be Gone or Goo Gone. I have used this to remove a multitude of sticky things.
7. Remove labels off glassware, etc., rub with peanut butter or Goo Gone.
8. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it.
9. Dirty grout - Use Listerine.
10. Stains on clothes – Rub in Colgate toothpaste, then rinse.
11. Grease stains – Try Coca-Cola and it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. It will remove corrosion from car batteries
12. To keep fresh flowers longer, add a little Clorox or 2 aspirin, or just use 7-up instead of water.

1. A quick spray of Pam cooking spray will dry fingernail polish.
2. If you burn your tongue, put sugar on it. It’s those pizza burns that are often the problem.
3. Arthritis - WD-40 Spray and rub in, and WD-40 is also good to kill insect stings also.
4. Bee stings - meat tenderizer which also helps with jellyfish stings.
5. Puffy eyes - Preparation H works every time.
6. Athletes foot - Try corn starch.
7. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub or tea tree oil.

To clean jewelry use ammonia. I’ve seen different amounts of water and ammonia suggested, but I put about a cup of warm water and a half of cup of ammonia put into a bowl, then let the jewelry soak for at least a half-hour. I have left the jewelry for longer times without ill effects. This works for silver, diamonds and other gems, plus gold.

Some people put a couple of teaspoons of dishwashing soap in the mixture. An old soft toothbrush can be used if there are grooves in the jewelry that didn’t get clean enough.

To clean your computer board, lift off the keys unless they are designed with springs so they can’t be removed. Use a microfiber cloth on the board. Keep some type of cloth over your keyboard when you are not using it to keep off dust and pet hair.

Keep some microfiber cloths handy as they are great for cleaning many things:

1. Keep some under your car seat to dust off the dashboard, radio and steering wheel.
2. They are good to shine chrome in the bathroom.
3. Dampen one of them to wipe off the fur on your pet or get the gunk out of their eyes.
4. They are good for dusting plants real or artificial leaves.
5. Wipe fingerprints off cell phones

To keep butter from sliding around the butter dish, wash the dish with hot water, then put the cold butter on the dish and refrigerate. A little butter will melt on the dish and hold the stick in place.

To keep socks separated in pairs, use a safety pin on a pair when you take them off. They will be together through the washing and drying process and you won’t be looking all through a drawer trying to match colors, plus if you buy the same type of socks often, the pair will wear out together. You won’t have a hole in one sock with a new sock on the other foot.

Window cleaner will clean spots on rugs and carpets, so you don’t have to buy an expensive carpet cleaning product. I have also used peroxide and Palmolive soap to remove red wine stains on carpet.

After scrubbing your shower doors to remove hard water stains, wipe and shine the doors with lemon oil wax and the water will bead up and keep the doors clear for a longer period of time.

Lemons and limes will remove smelly odors from your hands, like after you peel onions.

One last hint is to treat a smelly dog without buying expensive dog shampoos by using tomatoes. You can use tomato puree, rub it in and rinse. The dog will smell fresh for about six months.

I hope you have picked up a new hint or two to make your life a little easier with quick easy cleanups. There are probably dozens of hints like these as people are clever and creative when necessary. I remember Heloise Hints many years ago and there are probably others with good information also.