Home hints: handy tips and clever tricks
Georgina Bitcon gives advice on removing deodorant marks, dyeing Easter eggs, cleaning shower screen tracks and more, plus there’s a reader’s prize hint.
QI have a powdery, white residue on the outside of my terracotta pots of African violets? Should I clean it off? K. O’Rourke, Buderim, Qld. This is caused by a build-up of calcium or fertiliser salts and can eventually kill the leaves that sit on the rim. Gently remove the plant and soil, then soak the pot in a 2:1 solution of water and vinegar for a couple of hours before scrubbing clean and replacing the plant.
Flash idea for flash drives
If you have a drawer full of unidentified USB flash drives, sort and colour-code them with sticky dots, then store them in a plastic fishing tackle container or embroidery floss box, available from craft stores.
Easter made easier
Instead of using cups and glasses when dyeing Easter eggs, use a large muffin tin to dye several different-coloured eggs at once, turning them with tongs or gloved hands.
Vinegar’s superpowers
Clean your shower screen tracks by soaking paper towels or cotton rags in white vinegar, rolling and laying them along the tracks for 30 minutes, then scrubbing the track with an old toothbrush before rinsing.
Armpit marks are the pits
If you accidentally get white deodorant marks on your clothes while dressing, wipe them away with a pair of pantyhose or a new or used dryer sheet – do not add any moisture.
Prefer healthy brown rice, but hate how long it takes to cook? Soak it in water in the fridge for six hours or overnight and it will cook as quickly as white rice.
Pizza puzzle
To fit two pizzas on one rectangular oven tray, cut them in half and align the straight edges along the straight sides of the tray, with the curved edges towards the centre.
Broad brush strokes
To clean your hairbrush of excess hair, use scissors to cut the hair between the lines of bristles and it will be much easier to remove completely.
Keep bins in line
If you re-use supermarket bags as bin liners, secure them with a couple of binder clips to stop the bag disappearing into the bin.
Surface level
Defrost frozen food on a stainless steel or aluminium surface – it will defrost faster than on wood, ceramic or plastic, even in the fridge.
An interface in time saves nine
When sewing your own garments, if you have several smaller pieces to interface, apply the iron-on interfacing to a single piece of fabric before cutting. It wastes a small amount of interfacing, but saves a huge amount of time.
SHARE YOUR DOMESTIC SECRETS
Send your handy hints or questions to: Home Hints, The Australian Women’s Weekly, GPO Box 4178, Sydney, NSW 2001, or email openline@ bauer-media.com.au. We pay $75 for the reader’s prize hint each month. While every effort is made to ensure the efficacy of each hint, we cannot take responsibility for individual results.