Practical Uses For Everyday Household Items

Did you know that - Katsup keeps your Jewelry sparkling and that lemons whiten fingernails?

This week on 24/7 MOMS Live we chatted about simple, fun and practical uses for everyday items we use around the house. Many of these ideas will save you money, time and are ways to be useful of our existing resources in our homes becoming ECO friendly resources.

Salt -

- Eliminate sticky residue from an iron. Run the hot iron (no steam) over plain paper sprinkled with salt.

- Make eggs or cream whip up faster and higher. Add a pinch of salt before beating

Vinegar -

- Clean a dishwasher. Once a month, with the machine empty, run a cup of vinegar through an entire cycle to reduce soap buildup on the inner mechanisms and glassware.

- Remove stubborn price tags or stickers. Paint them with several coats of vinegar, let t

he liquid soak in for five minutes, then wipe away the residue

Zip Loc Bags

- Pipe frosting. Snip off a tiny corner to use a Ziploc as a pastry bag.

- Knead dough. Place dough in a Ziploc bag so your fingers don’t get sticky. Or slip your hand

into the bag and wear it like a glove.

Dryer Sheets

- Loosen caked-on food from a pan. Place a fresh sheet in the bottom of a dirty pan, fill with lukewarm tap water, and let sit in the sink overnight. The pan will be easier to clean in the morning.

- Place a dryer sheet in your suitcase , gym bag so your dirty clothes wont overtake and smell up your clean clothes.

- Remove static from clothing, hair, TV screens, and computer monitors. Wipe the surface with a sheet.

Marshmallows

- Place marshmallows in your brown sugar to keep it from drying out.

Kool-Aid

- Can be used as a multi-purpose dye

Baking Soda

- Use baking soda to erase crayon, pencil, ink, and furniture scuffs from painted surfaces. Sprinkle soda on a damp sponge, rub clean, and rinse.

- Create a paste of baking soda and water to brush your teeth with.

- Dust baking soda under your arms to absorb body odor as a deodorizer.

Coffee Filters

- Slide the wooden stick of an frozen novelty through a coffee filter so your hands stay mess-free. Protects your hands from drips.

- No more splatters in the microwave. Place a coffee filter

over the food you are heating to avoid those splats.

Olive Oil

- Use Olive oil to shave.

- Shine stainless steel. a safe and effective shining agent.

- Olive oil also helps remove makeup, like the long lasting 12 hour lipstick! Trust me I use it all the time!

Newspaper

- Place crumpled paper in your wet shoes overnight to absorb the wetness.

- Ripen green tomatoes by wrapping them individually and leave them out at room temperature.

- Leave newspapers in a fridge or freezer that you have unplugged to prevent molding, good

for travel trailers and motor homes when not in use or plugged in

Toothpaste

- Relieve the itch from a mosquito bite with a dab of toothpaste.

- Toothpaste also helps dry out pimples, yes ladies now you have it the cheapest most effective beauty secret yet! But you must use PASTE, gel will not work!

Alka Seltzer

- Clean Toilets in minutes - place two tablets of Alka Seltzer in your toilet for ten minutes then wipe the grime and scum away.

Nail Polish - Color-code your keys -apply a thick coat of a different shade to the top of each one.

- Can stop a windshield crack from spreading.

- Place a small drop on the screw threads of your glasses. It keeps the screws from coming out.


Clothespins

- I keep a pile of these in my kitchen drawer to use as what my kids call chip clips..so when my kids open a bag of chips, box of crackers or cereal they can keep the remainder of the opened box fresh by using a clothespin. They work great for Salad bags, frozen veggies and loaves of breads as well.

Instant potatoes

- Alternative to rat poison — when the rat or mouse eats instant potatoes, their stomachs expand and kills them.

- Instant potatoes also double as a thickener when cooking instead of cornstarch or flour


GLUE

- Use Crazy Glue to seal a paper cut on the skin or other cut.

- Elmer's Glue makes great paint for kids. Add a little food coloring in it and they can paint and glue at the same time.

- Elmer's Glue Removes stubborn splinters in your finger. Pour a few drops, let dry, and peel off.

- Elmer's Glue Also makes a facial mask (pulls off dead skin and black heads).

Preparation H

- Under eyes to relieve puffiness. Just a DAB.

Coca Cola

- Removes rust stains! It also is a GREAT toilet bowl cleaner. Removes the hard water stains

Did you get ONE helpful tip from practical uses for an everyday item around the house to help you in your MOM world? Be sure to watch 24/7 MOMS Live each Tuesday night at 7pm PST / 10pm EST for more great MOM tips and MOMverstaion.

Do you have a simple practical uses for an everyday item around the house? Email it to us at trisha@247moms.com and we will share it with the 24/7 MOMS.