Tips from the home front
RECYCLE IT
*The insides of envelopes,cut to convenient size,make fine scratch paper.
*Use junk-mail envelopes to hold your child’s weekly allowance, the money for the baby sitter or even store coupons.
*Take cleaned foam trays and plastic containers to your local nursery school. Teachers can use these items for a variety of class art projects.
*Don’t throw away that old ironing-board cover. Recycle it by making pot holders and oven mitts.
SOAP SCRAPS
*Soak small pieces of soap in water, then further liquify them in your blender. Pour the soap into your liquid-soap dispenser.
*Sew soap scraps into a washcloth and use it as a scrub rag for little hands. The rag can be rinsed and hung to dry with no mess.
NOT JUST A BATH MAT
*A plastic bath mat with suction cups on the bottom makes a great place mat for your pet’s food bowl.
*Place a rubber bath mat underneath your sewing-machine floor pedal to prevent it from sliding.
GIVE YOURSELF A HAND
*If you lose a glove or mitten, keep the remaining one in your glove compartment to slip on when you fill your gas tank at the self-service pump. It will keep your hand clean.
KIDS’ FUN
*Plastic ketchup, mustard and dish-detergent bottles make great squirt guns for backyard water fights.
BIG RACK ATTACK
*Don’t discard an old dish-drying rack. Use it to organize your pot-and-pan lids.
*After freezing plastic bags of food on a flat surface, file them in the slots of a dish-drying rack in my freezer. The rack can be pulled forward to remove individual packages.
HEART’S DELIGHTS
Here’s a great Valentine’s Day baking tip: If you run out of red food coloring, dye your white cake frosting red with a package of cherry gelatin mix.
A NEAT BREAKFAST TREAT
I freeze sugar-free applesauce in ice-cube trays and put the cubes in my kids’ hot oatmeal at breakfast. These “sauce cubes” will not only spice up the cereal but will also cool it at the same time.
VACUUM ACTION
To prevent vacuum cleaner “skid marks” from appearing on baseboards, glue a strip of felt along the bottom edge of your vacuum cleaner nozzle.
Email This Post
