"I wish I'd thought of that!"- The Little Thread Of Handy Dandy Tips & Tricks

McChubbin

Have you got a handy tip for getting more life out of your make-up bag?
Or have you an ingenius trick for getting gum out of your hair without a trip to the salon? Let's hear it!

Thought it'd be a good idea to start up a thread where we can all share little tips and tricks for making life that little bit easier.

I'll start with this simple gem for stretching out shoes that are too tight:

Stretch your shoes with ice:
First, clear a space in your freezer (ideally, have a whole drawer cleared out). Get two standard-sized freezer bags and fill them to capacity with water. Place one bag of water into the end of each shoe, making sure it's stuffed in fairly tightly. Leave in the freezer overnight and you should find that due to the water doubling in size as it ices over, your shoes will be loosened by at least half a size.

This works best with fabric shoes, though I've yet to test it out with leather.

(Note: If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize and give the Mods permission to move it as appropriate)

bronte

This is daft, but baby wipes are ridiculously good at polishing taps/shower etc!

Wibbs

Good for car interiors and numerous other things too. OK the smell lingers for a while but soon clears. Does no damage either as you cant put dodgy chemicals near a baby's bottom.

Vinegar is another beauty. Cleans so much. Glass especially. Great for shower cubicles too.

Baking soda is great for doing cookers.

Chinafoot

If you get ink on clothes soak it in milk before sticking it in the wash. Works wonders.

Giselle

Use tumble dryer sheets to clean tv screens and computers. They're anti-static help repel dust.

If a metal zip keeps sticking, rub a white candle down the closed teeth and it'll move freely.

Put a squirt of bleach in the dishwasher before running it on a hot wash and it'll remove tea/coffee stains from your crockery and make your cutlery like new.

Put a dot of superglue into a papercut to seal it up and stop it stinging.

If you run out of shaving gel, use hair conditioner on your legs for a smooth shave.

Dip your wet toothbrush in baking soda for a cheap and effective stain removing tooth polish.

Spray suede handbags and belts with suede shoe waterproofing spray to repel stains.

Bodhisopha

Giselle wrote: »

Use tumble dryer sheets to clean tv screens and computers. They're anti-static help repel dust.

If a metal zip keeps sticking, rub a white candle down the closed teeth and it'll move freely.

Put a squirt of bleach in the dishwasher before running it on a hot wash and it'll remove tea/coffee stains from your crockery and make your cutlery like new.

Put a dot of superglue into a papercut to seal it up and stop it stinging.

If you run out of shaving gel, use hair conditioner on your legs for a smooth shave.

Dip your wet toothbrush in baking soda for a cheap and effective stain removing tooth polish.

Spray suede handbags and belts with suede shoe waterproofing spray to repel stains.

At the risk of sounding daft... With or without toothpaste?

Giselle

Bodhisopha wrote: »

At the risk of sounding daft... With or without toothpaste?

Without, but its quite abrasive so don't do it too regularly!

Bodhisopha

Giselle wrote: »

Without, but its quite abrasive so don't do it too regularly!

Oh, i won't. Thanks!

Jules

I know for a fact there is a thread around here full of handy hints and tip, but i can't for the life of me remember. And it wont come up on the search i do!

Millicent

Hairspray is useful for getting pen off painted walls and leather couches and handbags. God bless How Clean is Your House! :P

McChubbin

Millicent wrote: »

Hairspray is useful for getting pen off painted walls and leather couches and handbags. God bless How Clean is Your House! :P

All hail Kim and Aggie!

A few tips for beauty on a budget, courtsey of my granny:

Protein Face Mask:
Seperate one egg. Into the whites, mix a teaspoon of sugar and about 1 1/2 tablespoons of oat flakes. Mix together and then slatter your face with it. Let harden and leave on for 15 minutes then rinse. The oats and sugar will exfoliate your skin whilst the protein in the egg whites will nourish and make your skin silky.

Cheap Fake Tan:
Get some cold tea bags and a tub of moisturiser. Strain out the teabags and mix with the moisturiser-roughly 2 parts tea to 4 parts moisturiser.
The effect will be subtle but can be built up for a particular shade.

This one works wonders for my sensitive scalp:

Avocado, Cucumber & Mango Hair Mask:
In a large bowl, mash together an avocado, half a cucumber and about one quarter of a mango. Mix in 10-12 drops of tea tree oil, a splash of watered-down honey and 10 drops of aloe vera or jojoba oil. Mix together until it forms a thick paste. Plop it onto your head, comb it through and leave it to "ferment" for an hour or preferably overnight. Rinse out and marvel at the silkiness. Also, your head will smell like mango yumminess!

No toothpaste?
Mix Bongela and bicarbonate of soda. Tastes absolutely rank but great for scrubbing off coffee stains in a hurry.

panda100

Giselle wrote: »

Put a dot of superglue into a papercut to seal it up and stop it stinging.

Maybe its the medic in me but that sounds quite dangerous to me?

lemon_sherbert

Your own saliva will get out a bloodstain (if it's your own blood)
- Note: I only advocate this for little specks, i.e. when you prick your finger, otherwise ...ew

Jemmy

bronte wrote: »

This is daft, but baby wipes are ridiculously good at polishing taps/shower etc!

And we use these on our skin?! :eek:
Glad I'm not a baby wipe fan...


Oh and Jules I think that was moved to fashion & appearance, more beauty related... 'Tried & Tested' I think it was called.

Neyite

Vaseline rubbed inside straps and where skin contacts straps prevent blisters.

tit-tape is better than heel grips in shoes that are slippy with opaque tights..also brilliant with straps,


Insoles in a shoe a size above your feet will not make them fit. if you are told this in a shoe shop, its crap.

buy shoes early as you can during the day - feet swell while shopping so if you try later on, they might fit, but once you wear them for real, they might be too slippy.

*ex shoe shop worker & shoeholic*:D

Aurora Borealis

Giselle wrote: »

Without, but its quite abrasive so don't do it too regularly!

My dentist nearly had a hissy at me for doing the above. Super bad for the enamel apparently.

Memorise "Righty tighty lefty loosey." This knowledge will serve you well.

You can preserve fresh herbs in ice cubes for future use.

A liberal spray of WD40 around plant pots, will help keep the slugs at bay.
It also helps get rid of bug stains, from your car grill, and numberplate.
It cleans your cast iron while protecting from corrosion.

Vicks vapor rub, massaged in and left overnight (Under bedsocks). Is an excellent foot treatment.

Don't leave your clothes sitting in the washing mashine/tumble dryer. Take them out immediately, smooth and hang them. This will reduce the need to Iron.

Wibbs

panda100 wrote: »

Maybe its the medic in me but that sounds quite dangerous to me?

IIRC they experimented with cyanoacrylate glues)superglue as far back as the Vietnam war for medical usage. You can get medical grade stuff even now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate#Toxicity But yea Id agree industrial household stuff may not be a good plan.

sam34

if you spill something oily or greasy on your clothes, get a brown paper bag, place it over the stain and then iron over the bag, this will draw the grease out

toothpaste brings up a wonderful sparkle on gold or silver jewellery

toothpaste makes lovebites disappear quicker

a kitchen scissors is a faster way of cutting chicken for a stirfry than some crappy kitchen knife

i second teh vicks vaporub for smooth feet

an alka seltser left to dissolve in your toilet will leave it nice and white

Novella

sam34 wrote: »

toothpaste makes lovebites disappear quicker

That one never worked for me!

xzanti

If your mascara has dried up, leave it (sealed) in a cup of hot water for a few minutes and it melts the leftovers for you..

If you have a black garment that attracts fluff etc, wrap cellotape around your hand with the sticky side facing out and you've got yourself a makeshift lint remover..

Use an old (clean) sportsock if you're applying instant fake tan and you don't have an applicator mitt..

Xiney

lighter fluid (the kind you get to refill zippos etc) will get greasy stains out of clothes

if you drop candle wax on a carpet, get as much out as you can with a fork (without damaging the carpet) and then put a couple of layers of kitchen towel on top and iron, repeating until all the wax is gone

if you spill red wine on a white table cloth, dump a load of salt on it ASAP. It'll minimize the amount of staining you have to get out later.

To get pet hair off your furniture, don rubber dishwashing gloves and wipe it down. The hair sticks to the gloves.

If you have an open fire, orange peels make GREAT kindling. They contain natural oils so they burn longer than paper, and they smell fabulous. I've never tried it with other citrus fruits but I bet they work.

If you've got a fresh blood stain, soak it in ice cold water with a bit of bio washing powder. If the fabric isn't too delicate, you can rub the stain with another part of the same garment and it should come straight out.

To reduce the stink from an indoor cat's kitty litter, sprinkle in some baking soda when you change it.

metrovelvet

vicks is amazing. Chesty and congested? Take a facecloth, wet it, rub vicks onto it and put it on the radiator before you go to bed. Humidifies the room.

WindSock

The only one I ever remember is when changing pillow cases & duvet covers. Turn them inside out and grab the corners of the pillow/duvet then shake it over.

& Baking soda works well for fridge odours too.

McChubbin

Neyite wrote: »

Vaseline rubbed inside straps and where skin contacts straps prevent blisters.

tit-tape is better than heel grips in shoes that are slippy with opaque tights..also brilliant with straps,


Insoles in a shoe a size above your feet will not make them fit. if you are told this in a shoe shop, its crap.

buy shoes early as you can during the day - feet swell while shopping so if you try later on, they might fit, but once you wear them for real, they might be too slippy.

*ex shoe shop worker & shoeholic*:D

Oooh, good tips, Neyite. whilst on the subject is there anything I can do to tighten my shoes up a wee bit? I have a FIERCE pair of Demonia "kerb stompers" (aka Frankenstein platforms) but they came about a size and a half too big. I've tried insteps and although they help, my toes are still sliding around.

Little Acorn

Butter too hard to spread and tearing your bread to pieces?
I don't like leaving it out of the fridge,so
I always spread a lump on the underside of the lid until it's soft and spreadable.
As the lid won't break,you can squish and spread it with as much force as you want,until it's soft enough-only takes a few seconds.

Tiny bit of clear nail varnish,to stop a small tear turning into a ladder in a pair of tights.

If you keep knocking off your alarm clock and sleeping in, get a really loud annoying one and leave it somewhere where you have to actually get up and walk to to turn it off.

NoDice

Wow guys brilliant thread!! Good job!

• I find using kitchen paper to clean windows/glass coffee tables, glasses works wonders. Removes all dust and cleans it perfectly. - Also works with stainless steel kettles, bins, toasters etc.
• Baby oil on a shower curtain prevents it from discolouring
• Food related - If you're making a fruits salad or taking chopped bananas or apples into work or whatever, mixing them with a bit of lemon juice stops them going soft and brown.
• Putting half an onion into your fridge overnight will get rid of any dodgy odours as it absorbs the stronger smells.
• If your drinking glasses are getting cloudy from the dish-washer, soaking them in warm water and vinegar and then wiping them off will have them sparkling new again for you!
• If you find your lighter clothes (delicates like underwear, light cotton cardys, tights etc) are getting destroyed in the washing machine, putting them into a pillow case for their wash keeps them fresh and pretty safe during the wash!

Hope someone finds these useful!

mashling

Heres the thread from before, there's loads of good stuff in there

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055395370

Raze_them_all

Giselle wrote: »

Use tumble dryer sheets to clean tv screens and computers. They're anti-static help repel dust.

According to one the girls it's also great for defrizzing hair

metrovelvet

To scent a room, essential oil or perfume on a lightbulb.

what2do

For that burning feeling on the balls of your feet in high heels rub some bonjella- if its good enough to numb a babies gums, it'll numb your feet also!

McChubbin

Found this one today: If caught short on milk for basting pastry, use sunflower oil. Virtually tasteless and it gives a lovely golden sheen to filo pastry. Surprizing but simple. Not sure if this would work for sweet pies, though...

cc-offe

CHEWING GUM IN HAIR!

Doesn't need to be cut out, massage mayonnaise into it until it dissolves it...it really works!

I found this out once when some chewing gum ended up stuck to my hair straightener which I had then clamped on to my front section of hair......nightmare I left it in for a full day trying to figure out what to do before I went online, (this was in the day where most computers had modems but very few people knew that that meant they could use the internet)....found out about the mayonnaise trick and it worked magically!

Novella

NoDice wrote: »

[*]If you find your lighter clothes (delicates like underwear, light cotton cardys, tights etc) are getting destroyed in the washing machine, putting them into a pillow case for their wash keeps them fresh and pretty safe during the wash!
[/LIST]Hope someone finds these useful!

Jesus, that is genius! Thank you!

Agent Smith

WindSock wrote: »

The only one I ever remember is when changing pillow cases & duvet covers. Turn them inside out and grab the corners of the pillow/duvet then shake it over.

Someone watched Live at 3!

Mitch Buchannon

Is the mirror in your bathroom always steamed up after a bath / shower ??

To stop this what you do is :
Put some shaving foam/gel on the mirror and rub in with a tissue until its all gone. Next time when you get out of the shower you will no longer have a steamed up mirror. You dont have to do this every time you have a shower. Once done it will last for weeks, all you have to do then is clean your mirror once in a while and reapply the shaving foam/gel.

LittleBook

"Colour Catcher" by Punch is a great help with the washing. Throw your darks and ALL your colours in together with a sheet of this and the dye doesn't run. Very handy when trying to get a load together in a household of two. Supposedly you can even throw whites in with "well-washed" colours!

There's also a "Keep it White" which I haven't used myself yet but my sister highly recommends.

FoxInATreehouse

Neyite wrote: »

Vaseline rubbed inside straps and where skin contacts straps prevent blisters.

I must try this! I have wide feet so sometimes I have to buy a smaller size when I want to wear heels, but I usually end up with blisters after a few hours of dancing. I've tried putting band-aids before I go out, but they never stay on long enough to be effective.

cc-offe wrote: »

CHEWING GUM IN HAIR!

Doesn't need to be cut out, massage mayonnaise into it until it dissolves it...it really works!

Peanut butter works for this too. When I was five I got tree sap in my hair before going to a birthday party. My mom didn't want to cut it since my hair was almost to my hips. So she put peanut butter in it and then washed it out. The only drawback is that the other parents kept wondering who smelled like peanut butter. I've read that olive oil works too; it must be the oil in all three fixes that does the trick.

SeekUp

My OH swears by using newspaper to clean glass . . . apparently it makes for a streak-free surface.

Mary-Ellen

I second newspaper and vinegar makes the best window and mirror cleaner

Cotton buds (cotton on either end of the little stick) are ideal for tidying up liquid eyeliner lines

Hair straighteners are great for getting wrinkles out of clothes I use this for small jobs like the collar of a shirt or running quickly down jean legs

I'll add more if I think of them

pickarooney

Neyite wrote: »

buy shoes early as you can during the day -

You should really be thanked 500 times for that tip by non-shoeholic husbands and boyfriends

Molecule

Johnson & Johnson's No More Tears shampoo will help remove hair dye. It also works really well for removing chewing gum or paint from clothes (possibly hair too - haven't tried that).

Also, if you spill red wine on something, pouring white wine on afterwards is meant to stop it staining.

Rubberlegs

getting hungry so hence the following tip. Marmite doesnt spread v easily on toast I have found. But if you put a blob of butter on middle of toast and a blob of Marmite on top of butter and mix em together with top of knife it'll spread no bother:D

dammitjanet

McChubbin wrote: »

Stretch your shoes with ice:
First, clear a space in your freezer (ideally, have a whole drawer cleared out). Get two standard-sized freezer bags and fill them to capacity with water. Place one bag of water into the end of each shoe, making sure it's stuffed in fairly tightly. Leave in the freezer overnight and you should find that due to the water doubling in size as it ices over, your shoes will be loosened by at least half a size.

This works best with fabric shoes, though I've yet to test it out with leather.

(Note: If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize and give the Mods permission to move it as appropriate)

there are not enough thank you buttons in the world for this, i'm a half size and hate shoe shopping because of it, gonna try this!!

If you have jewlery that turns you green, put a little bit of clear nail varnish on it, good as new

in addition to what was said about babywipes, they're perfect for cleaning cds and dvds that are acting up

to make a room smelly lovely easy, put shaken vac down over night and hoover the next day (also you get to sing the shake and vac song!):D

Snoopy1

So if you have really delicate bra's that are meant to be handwash only, can you stick them in the pillow case and put them in the washine machine????
Thanks for the tip about the shoe stretching, i have a pair of heels which definitely need doing

StinkySocs

if you spill red wine on a white table cloth, pour white wine over it, defo works.

If you have nail varish where the top is stuck to the bottle, boil the kettle and put it into a cup of hot water, or run the hot water tap over it.

If you have a light top or shirt thats really creased and no iron but a hair dryer, use the hair dryer on the hotest but the lowest speed and it takes out the creases!

Maple

sam34 wrote: »

toothpaste makes lovebites disappear quicker

This does not work.

God I remember the stink of Colgate on a Monday morning in school. And everyone wearing their collars up. Or scarves.

xzanti wrote: »

If your mascara has dried up, leave it (sealed) in a cup of hot water for a few minutes and it melts the leftovers for you..

Genius!!

/pegs it downstairs to boil kettle

Barbieliveshere

To get chewing gum out of your hair just spray it with deodorant and its just crumbles to pieces... Worked for me anyway!

RightlyRandom

Toothpaste for Lovebites... works but not greatly when used on its own... had a huge one on me neck there two weeks ago.. Used toothpaste in the night when going to bed, and during the day i used Arnica for bruises put it on 3 - 4 times a day n your sorted! Lovebite was as big as my fist n was gone in 3 days was great! ha

sam34

RightlyRandom wrote: »

Lovebite was as big as my fist

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

NoDice

Snoopy1 wrote: »

So if you have really delicate bra's that are meant to be handwash only, can you stick them in the pillow case and put them in the washine machine????
Thanks for the tip about the shoe stretching, i have a pair of heels which definitely need doing

Well I do it for my "handwash only" underwear and especially for bras as the clasps kept catching on my other clothes. Works wonders for me but if you've any doubts, keep doing what you're doing. I'd hate for your underwear to be ruined cause of me! No joke intended obv!!

RightlyRandom wrote: »

Toothpaste for Lovebites... works but not greatly when used on its own... had a huge one on me neck there two weeks ago.. Used toothpaste in the night when going to bed, and during the day i used Arnica for bruises put it on 3 - 4 times a day n your sorted! Lovebite was as big as my fist n was gone in 3 days was great! ha

YOUR FIST??!! Man.. Sounds like it wasn't a love bite at all.. Here we call them bruises from being punched!! :pac: