Household Tips
Save Energy, Save Money
Reduce energy costs when using the oven by turning off the oven about 8-10 minutes before cooking is complete. With the door closed, the food and the oven retain enough heat to finish the cooking. But not a good idea when you are baking cakes or bread.
Turn the Air conditioning or heat down instead of off. In many cases, the energy consumption and strain on the equipment to bring the tempatures back to normal far outweighs any savings you might enjoy by turning them off.
Use Curtains and drapes to help you save energy because they act like insulation around your windows. |
Make the Best Use of Everything
Save those plastic bags from the store, re-use them in small garbage containers as garbage bags, storage, covering hands when working with messy wood stains or harsh cleaners, etc.
Make a handy plastic bag holder:
Cut the sleeve from an old shirt that you plan to recrycle. Sew on end (or staple it, if you aren't concerned about being fancy) leaving a small opening. Stuff bags in the other end and close the top with a piece of string, a rubber band, or a twist tie. You can then pull the bag out through the hole. Hang over the door knobs, near the trash cans etc.
Used containers that held deodorant or perfume can be placed in drawers or on shelves to give your clothing/towels a nice smell.
Freeze nail polish to make it last longer.
Freeze panty hose to make them more durable. |
All around the Kitchen
Keep your kitchen clean and sparkling. Wipe down spigots and sinks after using them.
Creat a pleasant aroma by simmering a small pot of water and a couple sticks of cinnamon in it on a back burner.
A refrigerator containing ready to eat snacks such as carrot sticks, celery or cheese cubes is always inviting to little ones.
Keep the cookie jar filled with healthy snacks too.
Add a floral arrangement or five plants on a window sill to brighten up the kitchen.
Be creative with leftovers. If you are making a dish that can serve for more than one meal, consider how yo u can alter it for the second meal. A vegetable, pasta or rice dish can serve as a side dish for one meal and with the addition of meat or cheese as a main dish later on. A white sauce lightly spiced can be changed dramatically by adding tomatoe sauce and Italian seasoning or curry powder with raisins and coconuts or chili powder with peppers and onions. |
Substitutions
One cup of buttermilk can be replaced by one cup of yogurt or one cup of sweet milk with 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
One ounce of unsweetened chocolate can be replaced with 3 tablespoons of cocoa and 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine.
Five ounces of semisweet chocolate can be replaced by 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate and 4 tablespoons of sugar.
One cup of whipping cream can be replaced in some recipes with 5 ounces of butter or 5 ounces of milk.
One tablespoon of flour for thickening can be replaced by one and one-half tablespoons cornstarch. Don't forget that cornstarch must be mixed well in cold water before adding to hot liquid.
One cup of honey can be replaced by one cup of sugar plus one-quater cup of liquid.
One teaspoon of lemon juice can be replaced by one-half teaspoon of vinegar in some recipes. |
Cleaning Tips
To save time have a caddy that holds all of your cleaning supplies so you can just carry all of your cleaning supplies whereever you go, if you live in a 2 story house have a caddy for each level. This will save you time from running up and down the stairs to get an item or cleaner that you forgot.
Recycle old bath towels: Cut them up to use for cleaning rags or to wipe your hands when you are cleaning, then wash and reuse them. Not only do you save on paper towels, but cloth rags often do a better job/
Save that old toothbrush its great to use around faucets or to get into those tiny cracks around the house. Be sure to clean the old toothbrush first by soaking in a glass of bleach and rinsing off very well.
Keep a small laundry basket on each floor to throw in items that belong somewhere else, this way when you are cleaning a room just drop whatever item goes elsewhere in that basket and as you are taking it to another room to clean you can deposit the item out of that basket into its proper place.
Recycle your cleaning materials whenever possible. Baking soda that has been used to soak up odors in the refriderator can still be used as a cleaner. Old ratty cleaning cloths can be handy for mopping up messy spills or stains and then tossed out.
When tackling the whole house make up a schedule and do your best to stick to it so that you don't get sidetracked or bogged down with a few chores. Setting a time limit for each room and using a timer to go off in 5-10 minutes will give you the choice to keep going in that room or move on to the next room.
Clean around a room one wall at a time, working systematically from top to bottom in order to avoid missing an area. |
Cleaning with Vinegar
To get rid of grease marks on glass wipe with water to which a little vinegar has been added and rinse well.
White vinegar removes mustard, was, jelly stains. Vinegar is safe for most fibers, but as with all cleaners it should be first tested in an area that won't be seen.
Vinegar stops the action of bleach! To reduce the damage of a spill, dab on vinegar with a cloth or sponge as quickly as possible.
Grass stains can be removed with a mixture of one part vinegar to two parts water, dab on and blot dry.
Mineral deposits from hard water can quickly clog a shower head. To clear the deposits from a metal head, reove it and boil in a solution of 1/2cup vinegar to one quart of water. Plastic shower heads can be cleaned by soaking for a longer period in the same solution which should be hot but the heat turned off.
Vinegar will remove toilet bowl stains. Just pour a cup of vinegar in the bowl and allow it to stand overnight. It will soak up the odors as well |
Ideas Taken from:
Household Hints and Ideas
by Nickel press |
