Friday, February 08, 2013

24 Clever Ideas to Make Life Easier

Why didn’t I think of that?!  We guarantee you’ll be uttering those words more than once at these ingenious little tips, tricks and ideas that solve everyday problems.
Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40.

Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.

Overhaul your linen cupboard, store bed linen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.

Add this item to your beach bag.  Baby powder gets sand off your skin easily, who knew?!

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.

Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor.

Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid.

For those who can’t stand the scrunching and bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.

Forever losing your bathroom essentials?  Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins, tweezers and clippers, behind a vanity door

Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes.  And you can find them in just about every hotel.

A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy.  Magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip-resistant.

Bread tags make the perfect cord labels.

Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones, so much more fun and easier for kids to eat.

Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag.  Much healthier and cheaper than the packet stuff.

Install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles.

Win friends at breakfast with this heart-shaped egg tutorial. Aww shucks!

Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila, you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.

Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.
Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.




Saturday, February 02, 2013

25 different ways to use coffee filters - who knew?!?!?

Better than paper towels and a lot less expensive...the lowly coffee filter - basket type, has many different uses.  Who knew!   And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Store for almost nothing even the large ones.



1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the  microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers. 


2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome...  Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.


3.  Protect China by separating your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.


4.  Filter broken cork from wine.  If you break the cork when opening a wine  bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter. 


5.  Protect a cast-iron skillet.  Place a coffee filter in the  skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.


6.  Apply shoe polish.  Ball up a lint-free coffee filter. 


7.  Recycle frying oil.  After frying, strain oil through a sieve  lined with a coffee filter.


8.  Weigh chopped foods.  Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a  kitchen scale.


9.  Hold tacos.  Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.


10.  Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot.  Line a plant  pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.


11.  Prevent a Popsicle from dripping.  Poke one or two holes as  needed in a coffee filter.


12.  Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows?  Use  strips of coffee filters..


13.  Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken  fingers, etc on them.  It soaks out all the grease. 


14.  Keep in the bathroom.  They make great "razor nick  fixers."


15.   As a sewing backing.  Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backing for embroidering or appliquéing soft fabrics.


16.  Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.


17.  Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.


18.  Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.


19.  Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.


20.  Can use to hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies..  Saves on having extra bowls to wash.


21.  Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.


22.  Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.


23.  Use them to sprout seeds.  Simply dampen the coffee filter, place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.


24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers.  Place the flowers between two coffee filters and put the coffee filters in a phone book..

25.  Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.