To keep weeds from growing through cracks in your patio, deck, or driveway, pour salt in the cracks. Salt dehydrates the weeds. It’s an inexpensive and Earth-friendly way to kill them on a small scale without harsh chemicals!
Place loose nails, screws, and bolts on a piece of masking tape while working.
When measuring sticky ingredients, such as peanut butter, honey, molasses, and syrup, lightly coat the inside of the measuring cup with cooking spray or cooking oil. The oil will allow the ingredients to slide out easily. Makes clean-up a snap!
While preparing a meal, keep a large bowl on the kitchen counter. Put all your scraps, peelings and other discards into it, thereby reducing trips to the garbage can or compost bin. Just empty it once when full.
Deodorize your pet’s bedding, between washings, by sprinkling it generously with baking soda, let it sit for 15 minutes, then vacuum it up. Pet odors are gone, without harsh chemicals!
To get stubborn red wine stains out of table cloths, combine equal parts liquid dish soap and hydrogen peroxide in a bowl. Sponge or pour the mixture over the stain and let stand for a minute to pre-soak. Gently blot until the stain can no longer be seen. Then launder as usual.
Fill in ugly, small holes from nails with a little white toothpaste. Let it dry and paint right over it.
To vacuum hard-to-reach areas, like under beds and dressers, insert an empty paper towel roll into the end of your vacuum hose, and bend or flatten it to squeeze into these tough spots.
Use rubbing alcohol on a paper towel to remove permanent marker from appliances and countertops. It also works great to remove old marks on dry erase boards (whiteboards) at the office.
To eliminate stale refrigerator odors, cut an orange in half and scoop out the flesh (and eat it!). Fill the shell with baking soda and place it in a small bowl in the back of your fridge. The baking soda will absorb odors while the orange shell infuses the entire fridge with a clean, citrus scent.
