Crisp Sheets With Less Ironing
After washing your bedsheets, remove them from the dryer before they’re fully dry and fold them into a manageably small size. Run your iron across the top layer of the folded sheet (but don’t iron the fold itself). Your sheets will look fresh and smooth in seconds!
Remove Spilled Candle Wax
To remove candle wax from wood floors or furniture, hold a bag of ice cubes against he wax for a few minutes. Once the wax has hardened, it will be easy to scrape off or chip away.
Cut Sponges In Half
If you cut a new kitchen sponge in half, you’ll get twice the use of it than you normally would! And a smaller sponge dries much faster than a larger one, so it can help prevent bacterial growth too.
Shine Silver With Toothpaste
If the time has gotten away from you and you need a quick way to shine your silver, don’t panic! Just grab your toothpaste. Rub a bit of toothpaste (paste, not gel) onto your silver, rinse it clean, then dry with a soft cloth. Beautiful!
Wax Furniture With Shoe Polish
Shoe polish makes a great wax for your wooden furniture, and will keep it looking rich and vibrant. You can also use shoe polish to cover up nicks and scuffs on wooden furniture.
Use Flour Sack Towels
You can save yourself quite a bit of money by switching from paper towels to flour sack towels. They’re great for drying dishes because they don’t leave any lint behind, hold up well to repeated launderings, and the clothes themselves dry quickly. (Just make sure you don’t use any fabric softener when you wash them, which can affect their absorbency.)
Use Wax On Your Air Vents
Apply a little bit of car wax to the air vents around your house to prevent dust from building upon them. Anything that reduces the amount of dusting I have to do is a thing worth doing, in my book! 🙂
Freshen The Air Naturally
Use 100% vanilla extract to make your house smell amazing, without any unnatural chemicals. You can put a few drops on cotton palls and hide them in plants or underneath furniture. Or visit the link below to get the “recipe” for my favorite simmering potpourri recipes.
Have A Weekly Wash Day
Have a “wash day” once a week instead of doing different loads of laundry every day. It simplifies things a lot, and you’ll never have to wonder if a certain item is in the washer, the dryer, or waiting to be folded.
Remove Stains And Odors From Hands
Handling certain foods can leave behind stains or odors on your hands. Remove stains and odors rubbing tomato juice or sauce on your hands! You can also rub your hands together with table salt for the same effect.
Freshen Your Mattress With Sunshine
Grandma knew that few things clean and deodorize as effectively as good old sunshine and fresh air. It’s a great way to freshen up your mattress once the weather warms up in the spring. Just pull your mattress out into the yard on a sunny day and leave it there for a few hours. It’ll help kill dust mites, dry out any moisture, and leave your mattress smelling fresh and clean!
Put A Pillowcase On With Ease
Flip the pillowcase inside out and put your arms inside. Then grab the corners of one end of the pillow and pull it towards you, while sliding the pillowcase down onto it. How easy is that?
Steam Stuck-On Food
There’s an easy way to remove stuck-on food that doesn’t require hours of soaking. Bring a pot of water to a boil on your stovetop, then hold the messy dish over the pot for a few seconds. The steam treatment will loosen up the stuck-on stuff, and you’ll be able to scrape it off easily.
Dye Linens With Tea
If you’ve tried everything to remove stains from cloth napkins, a tablecloth, or doily with no success, you don’t have to toss it out! Back in the day, many women “tea-stained” these items to make the stains less obvious.
To do it, add 4 or 5 black tea bags to a bucket of hot water and let them steep for 10 minutes. Then remove the tea bags, add your stained item, and swish it around a bit. Let it sit in the tea until it reaches a shade that most matches the stain, then let it dry to set the tea and wash in cold water when necessary.
Dry Windows Directionally
When you’re drying freshly washed windows, use vertical strokes on one side of the window and horizontal strokes on the other. If any streaks get left behind, you’ll be able to tell with one look whether they’re on the inside or outside of the window.
Prevent Shower Curtain Mildew
The next time you get a new shower curtain, cut 2″ or so of the material off the bottom. This is the part of the curtain that sticks to the side of your tub, and that’s where mildew loves to grow. By removing the material, you can prevent the mildew from forming in the first place to make cleaning your tub easier down the line.
