16 Great Tips for Around the House
Thanks to our readers, and a few more tips from us, here’s another post of great tips to use around your house. Check out the original post titled, 27 Great Tips for Around the House. Do you have any tips that aren’t included? Leave a comment and let us in on the secret and see it featured in the next article!
More MYM Tips
1) No More Sticky Noodles. Like Spaghetti, but don’t like all the noodles sticking together? The fix is simple, after the noodles are finished, drain the water out of the pan with a strainer, then put the noodles back into the pan and fill the pan full of cold water. Leave the noodles in the cold water until you’re ready to eat them, I promise they won’t stick together.
2) Boil Water Faster. Staying on the topic of noodles. Save time when cooking by using your lightest weight pan to bring water to a boil. The thicker the pan, the longer it takes to heat up water. Use this trick when making rice, hot dogs, oatmeal, and more!
3) Organize Fishing Tackle. Separate your fishing tackle into like categories and loop them through a big safety pin and close it up.
4) Milk Check. This may sound like common sense to many of you, but check the expiration date on milk before you purchase it. Milk expiration dates can range from a couple days to almost a month, and all be sitting next to each other at the grocery store.
5) Save your twisty-ties. These usually come with bread and trash bags, but one of the best uses for them is manage the cables around your TV and computer. By coiling up the cables and using the ties, you can allow for easier vacuuming and an over neater look. I have been saving them over the years and have quite a collection. Not only do I have enough for cable management but anytime I need to tie something down, like rain gutters or something.
6) Spring for a better hose. A good hose won’t kink all the time and is well worth the extra money. You don’t want to buy a cheap hose and realize you can’t return it and have to buy two.
7) Winterize your hose bibs. Turn off the water supply valve to the exterior hose faucets and drain them before it gets too cold. Busted pipes lead to leaks which lead to flooding which can be a financial nightmare. Ruined carpet is not something you will want to deal with when you could be investing that money.
8) Get a blanket for your hot water heater. This extra layer of insulation might not save a whole lot right away but will save you a hefty sum in the long run as the heater won’t need to work as hard.
9) Paint baseboards before you have carpet installed. You wouldn’t want to get paint on the new carpet! Also, vacuum the subflooring. This will cut down on any dust mites or allergens from years before.
10) Reuse grocery bags for lunches. Get another use out of them by using them to carry lunches to work. I will keep a bag collection in a drawer and at the end of the month either bring them back to the store or keep using them.
11) Buy unfinished furniture. It is cheaper then any department store will sell you and you can finish and stain it yourself to match anything you like. It also feels good to accomplish something like that without having to try and be like Norm Abram (who is a master carpenter!)
BONUS: Tips From MYM Readers
12) Get Rid of Roaches. Cheap way to rid yourself of roaches. Mix sugar and baking soda together and leave small amounts where they will find it. It seems that roaches do not have the ability to fart. As they consume the sugar and baking soda gas will build up inside of them. POP! End of the roaches.
13) Clear Your Car’s Windshield. There’s one last trick you can use with your car’s air controls. Turn off the heat, turn on the air conditioning, and blow that up onto the windshield. If it still doesn’t work, switch from re-circulated air to outside air, or vice versa (one works, one doesn’t, I forget which). Yes, you’ll be cold, but since cold air doesn’t hold as much vapor as warm does, your windshield will clear right up! If you keep the A/C on too long, though, you’ll have condensation on the OUTSIDE, which you can at least wipe off.
14) Homemade Mosquito Be-Gone. Put REAL Vanilla Extract on your pulse points, you’ll kinda smell like a sugar cookie, but the sweet smell is what repels the mosquitoes. This is the only way I survived this summer!! I’m the person that is always being bit, even if no one else is. When I used the vanilla, I only got bit maybe once or twice, and that was after being outside all day, so I probably needed to reapply.
15) Don’t Cry, it’s just an Onion. When cutting onions, put them into the freezer for about 15 minutes or so before trying to dice them up. The cold causes all of the little particles that spray into the air to become crystallized. As we all know, crystals fall, not fly. I have used this for some time now and don’t shed any tears when cutting them up.
16) Squeaky Car Door Trick. Use Vaseline on door hinges to stop a squeaky door. I tried everything I could find: WD-40, synthetic lube FOR hinges, nothing stopped it. Vaseline has worked perfect now for months. $
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Comments
White vinegar and salt works wonders on hard food stains. Spray white vinegar and pour a some salt on the stain, wait a minute or two and scrub. The acid from the vinegar loosens the stain while the salt gives a natural abrasive.
K - I love point 2 - on how to boil your water faster. But is there a way to keep my oatmeal from creating that layer of gunk on the bottom of the pan?? So much clean up afterwards… 
And point 10 - even better than reusing your grocery bags is to buy a couple of reusable bags!! Then you don’t have to worry about all those plastic bags accumulating around the house. But, if you don’t like that idea, what about reusing the bags as doggie waste pick up bags??
Thank you for these great ideas. I’ve given this article a thumbs up in SU.
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