15 Handy Hints & Clever Tricks for a more efficient Home

In this article I have ideas and hints for making those everyday chores a little easier and less yucky! And some of these are “why didn't I think of that”!

• Use empty plastic bags from fruit to pick up your doggies pooh. Insert your hand into the bag, pick up the mess and deposit it into another plastic bag and dispose in the rubbish bin. Voila – no mess and no smell!

• Pour paraffin in mole holes as soon as they have excavated soil in the garden. It will drive them away.

• Keep a saucer with a little vinegar next to your bed if mosquitoes are a nuisance. The sharp smell will keep them at bay.

• Always keep a large box of bicarbonate of soda near your stove. If something catches fire, smother the flames with the bicarb.

• Dispel an onion odour on your hands by rubbing with toothpaste. Rinse with water.

• The best way to clear the nozzle of a tube of silicone rubber is to bend a paperclip open, and push it into the wet silicone after use. If the silicone sets, simply pull out the paperclip and the nozzle will be clean.

• Pour soda water on a carpet or rug where a pet has messed. It will neutralise the odour of the urine before you clean the spot.

• Before leaving on holiday, store all your important documents in a sealed plastic bag in your refrigerator – this way they will be safe if there is a fire.

• Paste reflector tape around the handle of your torch so that you can find it in the dark. Reflector tapes are available at vehicle accessory stores.

• Make your own inexpensive flavoured breakfast cereal by mixing ordinary rice krispies with chocolate or strawberry flavoured Nesquik.

• Make a hole in a paper plate and push the food mixer's blades through the hole before beating or mixing. This will prevent splattering.

• Wrap cling wrap around the stick you use to stir paint. Remove the cling wrap when the job is done, and the stick will be clean and ready for the next job.

• Before replacing the lid on a tin of paint, place a wine cork on the paint surface. A skin will form around the cork, and when you open the tine again, just pull out the cork – skin and all.

• If you have a sensitive skin, first rub baby oil into your beard before applying shaving cream.

• Fill an empty roll-on bottle with hand lotion to keep in your handbag. It's more economical and won't spill or leak.

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