Tips & Tricks Continued

If there is no picture, then I have no idea where I heard it- or I would cite it!

1. To clean the grease off of the burners on the stove- put them in a zip lock baggie with about 1/4 cup of ammonia and seal the bag. Then let it sit overnight (outside is best, in case the bag breaks and you can avoid the stink!) and the fumes will take off the burned on grease and you can wipe it away with a sponge in the morning.

2. To get the built up residue off of your shower head, tie a baggy of vinegar around a shower head. Leave it there over night, and it will clean everything off with no work!

3. To keep spaghetti sauce from staining your plastic ware, spray the inside of the storage container with a little bit of non-stick cooking spray. It will prevent the red from soaking into the plastic. If they still smell like sauce after you've washed them, place a cut up lemon inside and zap it in the microwave for a minute. 

4. If you frost a cake and are going to store it in the fridge, wet a piece of newspaper and set it on a plate. All of the fridge odors will go into the newspaper and not the cake. A great hint for if you have a fridge full of food for a party.

5. The sun is a great bleaching agent. You can place wet fabrics or plastic ware into the sun and it will bleach the stains out for you.

6. Aspirin can not only prevent heart attacks but also remove sweat stains, take the green out of blonde hair in the summer, treat pimples and get rid of dandruff.  To remove sweat stains crush up enough pills to make a paste with water to cover the stain. Let set and then wash as usual. To remove the green from the pool from your hair, dissolve 6-8 tabs in water and let soak onto hair for 10 minutes. For problem acne, make a paste and apply directly to the pimple. For Dandruff- crush two aspirins and mix it into your normal amount of shampoo (regular shampoo, not the dandruff kind!) you use in the shower.  Let sit on hair for a few minutes and rinse away the flakes!

7. Tossing a few pennies in your garden to make your hydrangeas blue. (My grandma also swears it prevents slugs, but I dont have slugs in my garden so I dont know if this is true or not!)

8. Store your sheets in a pillowcase. Keeps everything together and it makes for easy, compact storage.

9. Once you open the brown sugar, toss a few marshmallows in to keep it soft.

10. To remove stains from nails after wearing a dark polish, scrub nails with a whitening toothpaste and a nail brush.

11. To make your own matte nail polish, make a little pile of eyeshadow (great idea for the broken shadows we all have lying around!) and mix in a little clear nail polish. No more paying $8 a bottle for the matte stuff!

12. When you cut up an apple keep it from turning brown by using a rubber band to hold it together in its original apple shape.

13. A bounce sheet in your back pocket will repel mosquitoes. Place them around your house to repel mice as well.

14. To get the water spots off of chrome faucets, after cleaning rub them with a piece of waxed paper- it will keep the water spots and fingerprints from sticking to the clean metal. You can also use a piece of waxed paper on your swifter sweeper. Just rip off a piece the size of the sweeper, attach, and wipe away. The dirt sticks to the paper- so much cheaper than buying the refill kits.

15. If you get a water mark on a wooden table, rub the stain with Petroleum Jelly and let sit for 24 hours. Then wipe off the excess and polish as usual.

16. Cornstarch will untangle all kinds of knots. Rub some into the knot in shoelaces, chains, string etc and watch as it comes apart.

17.  When painting, wrap a rubber band around the can over the opening. Then you can dip in the brush and wipe the excess paint off onto the rubber band, rather than the edge of the can.

18. You can make your own ice packs by filling a zip lock baggie with dish soap, then placing into a second baggie to seal in leaks. The soap wont freeze totally, allowing you to mold it to your body. Bonus, you can get a few packs out of a $1 bottle of soap from the dollar store.

19. To make perfectly shredded chicken, simply toss hot/warm cooked chicken into the mixer with the cookie paddle attachment. Turn it on speed 5 and in about 30 seconds it will have done all the work for you.

20. When you take down Christmas lights, wrap them around a square of cardboard for storage. A good use for all of the shirt boxes that get ripped open Christmas morning. Keeps them untangled and easy to put away.

21. When hammering in a nail, use a clothes pin to hold the nail in place. No more hammering your fingers!

22. You can make your own magic erasers for cleaning by simply buying some melamine foam. You can buy 30 of them on Amazon for $15. No more paying $4.69 for four!

23. Baby powder will remove sand from skin. Perfect for keeping feet clean!

24. Soak old paint brushes in HOT vinegar for 30 minutes and then wash. The old paint will come out and they will be as good as new.

25. Chalk will remove grease stains from clothes. Simply rub the stain with chalk, then toss in the wash as normal. I learned this when I was student teaching :)

26. Add some Velcro to a dish towel to keep it secure on the handle of the oven.

27. When a sweater gets pilly from being in the dryer, run a cheap disposable razor over the fabric to shave off the fuzz! They used to make little machines that were basically mens razors for this back in the 90's.

28. From Martha- save cabinet space in the kitchen, hang a tension rod and use S hooks to hang pots and pans. Then a magazine rack attached to the door will hold lids in place.  Also, tension rods turned vertical will sort cookie sheets and pans so you don't have to move a bunch of stuff to get the pan you want.

29. To clean a cast iron skillet, toss about 1/2 cup coarse salt into the pan and rub with a soft sponge. The salt removes excess oils and takes off the bits of food without messing with the seasoning of the pan.

30. Strawberries can be hulled using a regular drinking straw. Thank you Williams and Sonoma for charging me $8 for a strawberry huller for nothing...

31. Iron a little baby powder into the under arms of your white shirts. It will keep oil from seeping into the threads, thus keeping them white.

32. Bed Skirts can be really costly. Get an extra fitted sheet and cover the box spring. You can get the plain ones for around $7 from target.

33. When painting something, use a few push pins in the back of the object to lift it off of the table. No more sticking to whatever its painted on!

34.  Tired of having your shoes bang around in the dryer? Check this guy out.

35. Keep the stove top clean by applying a thin layer of car wax, then wipe it off. It keeps food from sticking. Anything that sticks easily wipes away with a magic eraser!

That's all for now, lovelies, if you have any tips and ticks please feel free to pass them on!

Tips & Tricks

1. Use a dish drainer to organize pot lids, or Tupperware lids in a cabinet.  You can find them in all sizes now, to fit almost any cabinet, and they are super cheap at the dollar store!

2.  A wonderful person left me a sweet note telling me that a professional chef uses lemon juice and salt to clean their aluminum cookware...if its good enough for a chef, its worth giving a shot!

3.  You know how you never get all of the mascara out of the tube before it dries out? I saw on Pinterest that you can add 4-5 drops of saline solution, insert the wand, stir it up and tah-dah! You can do this 3 or 4 times or until you use up all of the mascara.

4. The hubs uses this at work all of the time.  When Painters tape gets dry and hard to peel off, pop it in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. A little heat reactivates the glue and it works like a charm.

5.  Kim told me in the comments section that Dawn gets any grease stain out, even after it has gone through the dryer!

6. A sweet lovey told me her Grandma stores lettuce in the waxpaper bag from inside a cereal box, and it lasts twice as long. Nothing beats a tip from a Grammy!

7. Cut a slit in your empty toilet paper rolls and slip them over rolls of wrapping paper to keep everything nice and neat. You can use a piece of tape to make it smaller for thinner rolls, and it keeps the paper from getting all messed up!

8. If the grout in your kitchen or bath is getting a little funky, and its light in color, you can buy Emery Cloth (sold in the pluming aisle) and sand it down lightly to get rid of stains. Then apply a grout sealer to prevent any more staining. This works best if you have sanded grout, according to the hubs.

9. To prevent hair and dirt from sticking to your baseboards, after cleaning them rub a dryer sheet over the surface. The fabric softener will help to repel dirt. Just remember to re-apply every so often!

10. Good old Martha taught us that rather than buying those ridiculously expensive anti-slip mats for a rug, just turn it over and run a few lines of acrylic-latex caulk every 6 inches or so. Let dry and flip over and your rug wont be going anywhere!

11. To keep stainless steel appliances clean, use a little bit of baby oil on a soft cloth and buff into the surface. Then wipe clean with a dry cloth. It prevents fingerprints from sticking to the surface. If you dont have baby oil, use some Pledge. Bonus for the lemony-fresh scent!

12.  You can use vinegar and crumpled newspaper to clean windows with no streaks.

13. Picked this one up from Rachel Ray- cook bacon in the oven rather than in a skillet. Pop it onto a tray and bake at 400 for 10 minutes to ensure that all of the bacon gets done at the same time, plus, no bacon grease to get everywhere!

14.  Tip on how to get rid of water marks on wood furniture, Use a hairdryer on a low setting to dry the water out that is stuck between the layers of varnish. She said it works best on fresh stains, but it can work on old ones as well!

15.  You can reuse the foaming soap dispensers. Simply fill them with water and a teaspoon of antibacterial dish soap and voila. Instant cheap refill!

16. Another fun use for wax paper from a reader- slide it on the bar in your closet to make hangers slide oh-so-nice. I gave this a try and it worked like a charm!

17. Baking soda and vinegar will do a multitude of things in the kitchen. Use it as a drain cleaner, to clean the tops of glass top stoves,  or to clean the grease off of the bottom of an oven.  Just put the baking soda down first, then add a splash of vinegar and let the chemical reaction do the work for you. (This will also make a heck of a volcanic explosion- just add a little orange dish soap and red food coloring to make the lava!)

18. The lovey lady from Maw Maw's Rocking chair left us a few of her faves: spraying the car door seals with baking spray prevents freezing in cold weather; car wax also works great to keep fiberglass tubs shiny, and makes them resist soap scum; use toothpaste, not scouring powder on cast iron tubs to avoid scratching the enamel; polishing with car wax in bathroom sinks keeps toothpaste from sticking; coca cola is a great toilet cleaner; and my favorite, wrapping fridge shelves with plastic wrap cuts down on cleaning time when little hands spill things. 

19.  This works wonders for warts- instead of spending tons of cash on the special band aids, just take a square of duck tape and cover the wart.  It cuts off all of the oxygen and kills it without having to put that burning liquid on.

20. From Lunchinabox.net, when you buy the super packs of ground meat. Bring home and put into gallon zip lock bags, then use a ruler to create divisions within the food, forming individual portions. This way when you freeze the entire bag, you’ll be able to quickly break off just as much as you want to use, no more.

21. Did you know that weeds will not grow through wet newspaper? I saw this on Pinterest, and backed it up from BHandG.  When planting flowers mix up the dirt, then place a thick layer of wet newspapers down around the plants.  Then cover with your top soil and mulch.  Apparently weeds can get through plastic, but not this stuff. (I wouldn't know, I can only get weeds to grow- I kill pretty much everything else!)

22. Instead of buying expensive hangers to keep wide necked and silky tops from falling off- just take out your glue gun and make a zigzag pattern on the top of the hangers where the clothes would normally hang.

23. Found this on Pinterest and did myself a little happy dance. You can wash and reuse your cricut mats.  Just buy a cheap scrubber from the dollar store- the kind that does NOT have metal in it. The plastic kind. Then use water and a drop of dish-soap and scrub quite vigorously. Wipe off the excess water and allow them to air dry and they should be like brand new. 

24. Also from Pinterest- Bar Keepers Friend Liquid Cleanser and powdered cleanser will remove scratches from dishes.  According to the lovely over at Outnumbered the blog, it took her plain white dishes from old to new again.  All she did was apply a bit to a wet sponge and use some elbow grease, and they look fantastic!

25. Use conditioner to shave your legs. Not only is it cheaper, but it is ALOT more moisturizing, so your legs wont be all dry and itchy after you finish shaving.

26. Reheat pizza in a skillet on the stove to make an extra crispy crust.

27. To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle on a little cayenne pepper. It wont hurt the plant and the squirrels wont come near it.

28. From Real Simple  to get baked-on food off a glass pan or an oven rack, use dish washing liquid and a ball of foil in place of a steel-wool soap pad, to get baked-on food off a glass pan or an oven rack, use dish washing liquid and a ball of foil in place of a steel-wool soap pad. Its a great way to reuse the clean side of foil.

29. Line your fridge shelves with Glad Press and Seal paper. Just press down to create a seal that will keep your shelves nice and clean!

30. A piece of chalk placed into your silverware bag will draw in moisture and prevent the silver from tarnishing.

31. Real Simple comes through again- to get the gunk off of the bottom of your Iron, place it on a low setting and run it over a dryer sheet until the residue disappears.

32. To remove small stains from suede by gently rubbing the file (either side) across the problem area a few times to get rid of the splotch and refresh the nap.

33. The next time you have green onions, don't throw away the white ends. Simply put them in a glass of water (make sure they are submerged!) and place them in a sunny window. They grow super quick and you can grow as many as you want.

34. Make your own microwave popcorn- just place  1/2 cup of corn kernels into a brown paper bag. Fold the top over two or three times  and pop it into the microwave on high on your popcorn setting.  Or if yours doesn't have one of those, pop it in for three or so minutes and stop when the popping noise slows to every 1 or 2 seconds. Then you can take it out and add your own toppings. Fresh butter and garlic salt, or fresh grated parm cheese in this house. Yummm.

35. Cut foam pipe insulation to fit sides of container... and cut slits in foam for a super easy paint brush holder. 

Peanut Butter Pie

Peanut Butter Pie

FOR THE CRUST

16 Oreo cookies
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FOR THE FILLING

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the Oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter and stir.

2. Evenly divide the crumbs between your individual serving dishes and press into the bottoms of the dishes to form a crust layer.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Transfer whipped cream to a small bowl and place it into the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the filling.

3. Place cream cheese and peanut butter the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Reduce speed to low and gradually add in confectioners’ sugar until well combined. Add in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla and beat on medium speed until mixture is creamy and smooth. Take care to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4. Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the remaining whipped cream until well blended until no streaks remain.

3. Evenly pipe or spoon the filling into individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. If desired, garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls.