Yesterday my good friend sent me an email chock full of those super handy household secrets that save time and money. Some of them were hidden green gems so it seemed only fair to spread the love and share these hints with all of you as well! If you have some tips on ways to get greener by saving money, time, the planet, our sanity, etc. please feel free to leave a comment!
☼ 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 much better than paper towels.
☼ 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.
☼ 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.
☼ 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 and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
☼ To avoid waxy build up on your dryer’s lint filter (from dryer sheets) and the best way to keep your electric bill lower is to wash the filter with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.
☼ Use left over hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and a great way to use up the conditioner you didn't like when you tried it in your hair.
☼ Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up small shards of glass you can't see.
10 comments:
That is a great tip about the ants.
Those are excellent tips!
Unfortunately I can't think of anything useful to contribute.
That is SO great about the ants! I feel like I know someone that gets them all the time, I'll have to figure out who it is and tell them.
I wish I had known about the cornmeal for killing ants...I used to live in Florida. That would have come in handy killing those awful fire ants that get everywhere!
Some other tips for ants, neither kill, but both can help: Salt -- something in the way they find direction and follow each other can be "interrupted" by regular table salt. By sprinkling some on a line of ants, it will disseminate them (which I've found helpful on the few occasions when I've had to deal with cleaning up ants in a living space); chalk -- they won't cross it!
Also, for the glass bit, even better than cotton balls or Qtips: sweep up shards with a piece of soft bread. :)
Hey friends! I will definitely say the cornmeal works, my Mom uses this method and it works like a charm for her but Julie the salt & chalk methods (which do not kill, just disorient) are a great idea as well. Thanks for that tip on the bread too, a couple seconds in the microwave would probably really soften it up for the picking up!
Thanks for all the comments & tips, keep em coming!
~ Jenn ~
Your Fearless Greenie :)
cool tips! ants don't like cinnamon -- so that' another way to keep them away! :)
Great tips... I saw an email come across a while back with some of these in it.
talcum powder works for ants too...it dries them up and kills them when they get back to their hideout.
i do use leftover conditioner to shave and it works great! i also use shampoo i don't like as shower gel.
Oh, another conditioner tip I read a short while ago: instead of dryer sheets, put some conditioner on a clean wash cloth and throw that in the dryer. Apparently, you can use the same washcloth a few times before reapplying. I haven't tried this one yet myself, but it sounded reasonable.
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