Rub a sheet of fabric softener on the underside of your skirt, or on your legs to prevent your skirt from clinging. This also works on pants.
Great Ideas
Static Cling
Aches & Pains
Keep a bag of unpopped popcorn kernels in the freezer to use as an icepack for bumps, bruises and swelling. It’s easy to mold to any body part, and there’s no melting! If you don’t want to use popcorn, try a bag of frozen peas, corn or other small vegetable – they work just as well.
Heartburn & Indigestion
For Heartburn/Indigestion – Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to a small glass of water and drink it after a meal to keep from having heartburn.
Bug Bites & Stings
- To get an insect stinger out – use tweezers. But, if that does not work, try placing tape over the sting and then lift off the tape. It should pull the stinger with it.
- Tape a copper penny over an insect sting. Some people claim this takes the sting (pain) out and keeps it from swelling so bad. Somehow, the copper in the penny counteracts the poison in the sting.
- I’ve heard that Alka Seltzer helps relive itching of an insect bite. Dissolve 2 tablets in a small glass of water, then dab the solution on the insect bite.
- Relieve the itch of a bug bite by dabbing it with antiperspirant. The aluminum salts will reduce the swelling, and help to relieve the itch.
Diet Tips
- Before sitting down for a meal, tighten your belt a notch. Make sure you can still breathe and everything, but tightening your belt will make it uncomfortable to overeat. You’ll eat more slowly, too.
- When not eating at a table (at cookouts, picnics, parties, open houses, etc.), keep a drink in your dominant hand. You’ll be less likely to graze on high-fat chips and other snack foods. Need a little something? Hope for a veggie platter. But whether it’s veggies or chips, grab a couple and then WALK AWAY from the table before you can hit the dip.
Dieting at Parties
When not eating at a table (at cookouts, picnics, parties, open houses, etc.), keep a drink in your dominant hand. You’ll be less likely to graze on high-fat chips and other snack foods. Need a little something? Hope for a veggie platter. But whether it’s veggies or chips, grab a couple and then WALK AWAY from the table before you can hit the dip.
Secure Buttons
Dab clear nail polish on the threads of buttons. This will strengthen them and help to keep the button secured to the clothing. Don’t use super glue, because that can sometimes dissolve the thread – and that would be just the opposite of what you want to happen!
Silver Polishing
Take an aluminum-foil pan (the disposable kind) and line it with a piece of aluminum foil. Sprinkle in some salt, then add a dash of dish soap and fill the container with boiling water. Put your silver, including jewelry, into the mix and it cleans instantly. Of course, you’ll have to turn the larger pieces, so be careful not to burn yourself.
Mopping Tips
No-Slip Mop Handles – Cut the fingers off old rubber gloves and slip the tips over the handles of brooms and mops. This will keep the handle from sliding down when the mop or broom is leaned against a wall. And don’t let the rest of the old gloves go to waste . . . You can cut strips from the wrist portion to use as large rubber bands for bundling newspaper or other materials.
Ant Repellent – Fabric Softener
Supposedly, a fabric softener sheet will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them. It also repels mice. Spread sheets around foundation areas of the house.
Tick Removal
- To remove a tick, use a cotton ball to dab liquid soap on the tick. Swab it for a while with the soap soaked cotton. After about 15 or 20 seconds, the tick will come out on its own, stuck to the cotton ball. The soap smothers it and it comes out looking for air.
Insect Repellent
- Some mail carriers actually carry a sheet of Bounce fabric softener in their uniform pockets to keep yellow-jackets away. So, when you are working outside, at soccer games, golfing, etc., you might just want to carry a sheet with you. Put it in your pocket, or tie it on your belt loop.
- Here are some plants that are said to repel mosquitoes: Citronella grass (although, this one is tropical and very large), catnip, rosemary, marigolds, horsemint and “mosquito plants.” Plant these around areas where your family gathers in the back yard, to ward off those uninvited insects.
Home-made Furniture Polish
To make your own furniture polish, mix two parts vegetable oil or olive oil and one part lemon juice. Apply and polish with a soft cloth.
Clothes Dryer Info
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.)
Then, he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material – I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like. Well, the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn’t go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. It’s what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free — that nice fragrance too. You know how the dryer sheets can feel waxy when you take them out of the box? Well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire and potentially burn your house down with it!
He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.
He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
‘home,’ can’t digest it, so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!