Household Hints from Heloise

Oops, meant to say Junie Rose (once again).

I've been keeping house (more or less) for some time now and had never heard of some of these.

I'll be back later today with updates. Ray has been out of the hospital for a few days. They did decide on congestive heart failure (unless they change their minds once again). It's quite treatable and we're always taking most of the precautions they suggest.

Household Tips

Got Love Bugs?
Use wet Downey Sheets to remove from car! Other brands work but not as well. Takes a hard spray of water to remove 'paste formed by bugs and sheets...but really works well!!!

1. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove , set
heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No
soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really
works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal , mash till they are all
broken up. Add remainder of ingredients , reseal , keep mashing it up
mixing thoroughly , cut the tip of the baggy , squeeze mixture into egg.
Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store , whip it with
your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to
frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar
and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits , pancakes , or muffins that were refrigerated , place
them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will
keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening
plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6 Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass
you can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the
squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an
empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be
bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when
wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static
is gone.

11. Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right
out.

12. Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the
glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works
better than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include
something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an
hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily

14. Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way
to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it
in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies , take a small glass fill it 1/2" with
Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid , mix well. You
will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it , take it
"home", can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so,
especially if it rains , but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things
around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and
he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean.
(I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He
told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to
the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh
material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.
WELL...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through
it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh
that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film , but
it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft
and static free - that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel
waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on
your clothes and on your lint screen This is also what causes dryer
units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He
said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to
keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with
hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six
months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know
dryer sheets would do that. So , I thought I'd share!

Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The
water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the
mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had
it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru
the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what
he was talking about