Save your leftover coffee.
Freeze it in ice cube trays, and when you don't want to make an entire pot, you can get your cubes out of the freezer and heat them in the microwave.
Get one of those insulated pots to put coffee in. Fill it as soon as brewed, and it will taste like fresh brewed coffee all day. If you are the only one drinking coffee, this will also enable you to make a full pot, and only use some of it.
Dry mustard will remove onion odors from your hands or cutting board. Rub in, and then rinse off with water.
Vinegar can help in several areas of your home with mineral deposits.
- Fill your drip coffee maker with white vinegar every few months, and run it through a complete cycle (of course, do not add coffee, and do not drink the brew ) Then run clear water for another complete cycle. Done.
- Soak a cloth or paper towel with vinegar and place over mineral buildup, like around faucets or sink and tub drains. Should remove deposits more easily after an hour
- Your dishwasher can build up mineral and soap deposits. Add a cup of clear vinegar to a load once a month to minimize this.
Extend the life of your refrigerator compressor, and save electricity, by keeping the "coils" free of dust, and allowing some space for air to flow. As air is constantly sucked over those fins for cooling, they act as dust filters and become plugged. If you have a lot of dust or pet hair, this could result in a ruined refrigerator. On some refrigerators these coils are on the entire back. On some they are under the unit. The ones on the bottom are usually accessed by removing the small lower panel and then "carefully" sucking out the dust from the coil fins with a skinny vacuum cleaner attachment. It is very important not to bend the fins, as this will restrict air flow and defeat the very thing you are trying to accomplish.
To keep your dishwasher working properly and prevent damage from occurring, you need to check the filters at the inside bottom of your tub for debris. Just open the door, and very carefully run your hand around the mesh under the lower wash arm. I checked mine the other day and found broken glass, fish bones, and would you believe a small stone? How's that for restricting water flow. Be careful not to get cut by something sharp.
Turn off the "heat dry" option on your dishwasher. Your dishwasher uses only hot water, and when completed, the dishes are so hot they will air dry without extra heat. Open the dishwasher during the drying cycle, and you will see the moisture quickly dissolve into the air.
Check your hot water tank setting. Are you "boiling" water for a once or twice a day use?
Change the batteries in your smoke detectors twice a year. Once when daylight savings time begins, and again when it ends. This is a good way to remember. Read the statistics on how many people are killed and had no working smoke detectors. Do you know that your fire department will come and tell you where smoke detectors should be installed?
If you burn a fossil fuel for heat or cooking (wood, gas, oil) also consider installing a carbon monoxide detector: cost--$39 -$55.
Cheap compared to the value of your life.
http://seniorark.com/senior_tips_household_items.htm
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Comments: 28
Dame Ruth, I am humbled by your generosity! Thank you, Gracias, Mahalo!
J
Thank you for always being so incredibly helpful. You are a Gather maven of the first kind!
I do keep the coils in the refrigerator dust free. I read somethjing today in the Body/Soul magazine that an old refrigerator will use more electricity and they suggest replacing anything older than 1993.
I also read somewhere that babypowder or sidewalk chalk along the cracks in the sidewalk would rid the ants and that worked too.
Thanks, Bonnir
Let us know how the mustard trick works for you
I learned a lot from those few tips.........
(They smell like mustard but were having hotdogs tonight- so I like that!
Just kidding!)