No More Sleeping Through the Alarm and More Tips and Great Ideas!

Surprise! Today, instead of sharing tips you’ve sent to me, I’ve decided to hog the entire column to share some of my own. Several of these are oldies but goodies, while some I have discovered recently. I do love a great tip.

Volume Booster

If you’re a heavy sleeper and have trouble hearing your mobile phone’s alarm, you can boost the volume by setting it in an empty (glass) drinking glass. This works because the sound reverberates and intensifies inside the glass.

It may not be the world’s most pleasant amplification technique, but it works great for an alarm. As an added benefit, to turn the alarm off you have to actually pull the phone out of the glass. This makes it somewhat more likely that you’ll actually get up and not just roll over to fall back asleep.

Bonus: If you put a phone in an empty glass it also dramatically improves the reception. Of course, you probably can’t make a call with your phone stuck in a glass, but you could probably manage to send a text message or two, or receive voicemails.

Baking Location

Bake pies, tarts, and quiches in the lower third of the oven. The bottom crust will be crisp, and the edges or top crust won’t over-brown.

Shoe Selection

When trying on shoes in the store, walk around in them on a hard surface. Standing on carpet is deceiving. It makes the shoes feel more comfortable than they would be on hard floors or other surfaces.

Zipper Trouble

There are several things you can do to get that stubborn, sluggish, sticking metal zipper back into tip-top shape: Run the lead of an ordinary pencil along the metal teeth to lubricate them.

Or, with a cotton swab, apply a bit of lubricating spray such as WD-40 to the teeth. Be careful to wipe away any excess so it won’t soil the garment.

Another solution: Rub the edge of a bar of soap or an old candle up and down the teeth and along both sides of the zipper.

Right from Left

Put a sticker inside your children’s right shoes or sneakers. They will begin to learn right from left and also get their shoes on the correct feet all by themselves.

Wax It

For a brilliant shine and easy cleanups, give freshly cleaned tile and fiberglass shower walls a coat of car polish. Do not wax the shower floor or bathtub as it will become dangerously slick.

Pilling on Sweaters

To remove pills from a sweater, stretch the sweater over a flat surface and shave it lightly with an ordinary electric razor. Shavers sold for this purpose are not nearly as effective as the real thing.

Wax Mop

Has floor wax made your favorite mop stiff and foul-smelling? Soak it for a half-hour in a gallon of water mixed with 1/2 cup of non-sudsing household ammonia. It will look brand new.

To prevent repeat performances, clean the wax mop thoroughly with an ammonia-water mixture after each use. Never clean a wax mop with soap or detergent, and use it only for the purpose of applying liquid floor wax.

Vases with Icky Build-Up

To remove mineral and hard-water deposits from vases, scrub them with a wet cloth that has been dipped into salt. Follow with warm water and soap.

Never Lose the Remote Again

The reason most of us misplace the remote controls to our TVs and other electronic devices is they don’t have a specific place to reside. They might end up on a coffee table, an end table, fallen behind the couch or, as I have experienced, right into a trash can to never be seen again.

One person whose handiwork I find to be so clever, stuck his remote controls to a coffee table with hook and loop fasteners. Any fabric or craft store sells this stuff by the inch or in packages with the hook and loop fasteners outfitted with self-stick tape.

His choice is black sticky-back VELCRO® Brand. He cuts off the amount of product he needs for the task at hand, removes the protective paper covering the sticky sides and affixes one side to the remote and the other to the table. It’s true: When a remote control device has a home, it’s more likely to go there regularly.

Curling/Flat Iron

To clean the buildup of scorched hair spray and other products from a curling iron or flat iron, scrub the cool iron with a soft cloth soaked with rubbing alcohol.

Barbecue

For an uncomplicated, great-tasting grilled entree, soak flank steak in soy sauce for 3 to 4 hours. Cook on a very hot grill for 7 to 8 minutes on the first side, and 6 to 7 minutes on the other. Slice thinly on the bias and against the grain.

Handbag Repair

Don’t throw out that handbag, backpack, or piece of luggage because of a broken strap, tear, or busted zipper. Have these items repaired at your local shoe repair shop. You’ll be amazed at the low cost and high-quality service you’ll receive on the repair of all kinds of things, even belts, gloves, bags, and so on.

Coffee Stains

Remove coffee and tea stains by scrubbing pots or cups with baking soda and a nylon-net scrubbing pad.

Gleaming Stainless

Clean and shine stainless steel by mixing 1 tablespoon cream of tartar with a few drops of water to make a paste. Rub the paste onto the appliance. Scrub with a sponge and wipe clean with a damp paper towel. If you have a lot of stainless steel in your home, don’t depend on those tiny bottles of cream of tartar in the spice aisle. You can buy it cheap in bulk online.

Perfect Patch

When your kids’ jeans require a knee patch, remove a back pocket, open the inside leg seam with a seam ripper, and sew the pocket over the hole. Close the seam. Since the pocket has been washed as many times as the jeans, the material always matches perfectly.

Rice Cooker as Humidifier

Instead of buying a humidifier, use what you have already―a rice cooker. Simply fill the pot with water and set to cook. If you are wanting to create a specific fragrance in the house, add your choice of herbs, then leave it open while it cooks and steams away. The idea is that since most rice cookers have an auto-feature that turns it to Keep Warm after some period of time, you can fill it then set it without fear of it boiling dry anytime soon (keep an eye on it). And you still have a great rice cooker

Oven Racks

To clean grease buildup from oven racks, bathe them. Put enough hot water in the bathtub to cover the racks, add 1/4 cup automatic dishwasher detergent and 1/4 cup white vinegar. Stir to dissolve the detergent. Wait for an hour or so, then rinse and dry the racks. Drain the tub immediately, or you’ll end up with a major-league bathtub ring.

Pet Hair on Carpet

To remove pet hair from a rug, try a window squeegee. Just pull the rubber edge toward you and let physics do the rest. Static electricity will cause the hair to cling to the rubber strip.

Sticky Labels on Wood Furniture

If your kids decide to decorate your fine-wood furniture with stickers or stick-on labels, remove them with olive oil (the stickers, not the kids). Using a paper towel or cloth, dab oil on the labels and allow it to soak in for only a few minutes. The oil will penetrate into the glue and act as a solvent to soften it. Rub the labels off with a nylon-net scrubbing pad (like a blue Scotchbrite sponge), being sure to rub in the direction of the wood grain.

 

Got a great tip you’d like to share? You can in the comments below.

 

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