Handy Hints

WATER SAVING

  • Flushing the toilet uses about 9 litres of water each time, more than is absolutely necessary. Try putting a brick in the cistern to reduce usage.
  • Leaving the tap running while you shave and brush your teeth wastes about 5 litres of water each session. Economise by turning the tap off until it is required or by putting sufficient water in the basin.
  • Always have a full load for laundry and dishes, far more efficient. Each load in a washing machine will use up to 150 litres of water.
  • A dripping tap can waste up to 30 litres of water a day, so make sure taps are properly turned off.
  • Take shorter showers. A long shower uses up to 200 litres of water each time.
  • Don’t use a hosepipe when washing cars etc, use a bucket. A hosepipe delivers up to 20 litres of water per minute, much of which is subsequently wasted.
  • If you use a sprinkler system, use a timer. Leaving a sprinkler on accidentally can waste up to 1,000 litres of water in just one hour!

GOING TO THE BEACH

  • Do you want nice cold water all day? The night before you are planning a trip to the beach, put a bottle of drinking water, 3/4 full to allow for expansion, in the freezer. When you go to the beach you will have ice-cold water all day long as the huge ice cube slowly melts.

SAFETY

  • The authorities believe that the influx of tourists for the summer season attracts an estimated 500 petty criminals to the Costa del Sol, all looking for easy pickings from unsuspecting holidaymakers. Pickpockets, bag-snatchers, con artists will be on the prowl, so beware.
  • REMEMBER: NEVER, EVER GIVE YOUR PERSONAL PIN NUMBER TO ANYONE, NOT EVEN TO A POLICEMAN OR OTHER OFFICIAL. IT IS YOUR PERSONAL KEY TO YOUR ACCOUNT.

AT HOME

  • Bananas:
    Peel a banana from the bottom and you won’t have to pick the little stringy bit off of it. That is how the primates do it. Also, if you take your bananas apart when you get home from the store they will ripen slower. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
  • Cheese:
    Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold.
  • Peppers:
    Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
  • Beef:
    Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
  • Scrambled Eggs:
    To make scrambled eggs or omelets rich, add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream and beat.
  • Garlic:
    Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
  • Candy:
    Leftover snickers bars make a delicious dessert. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped chocolate bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
  • Reheat Pizza:
    Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat until warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy microwave pizza.
  • Easy Deviled Eggs:
    Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly. Cut the tip of the bag and squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw the bag away when done. Easy clean up.
  • Expanding Frosting:
    When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes, doubling it in size. You will frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount of frosting, eating less sugar and calories per serving.
  • Warming Breads:
    To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in the microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
  • Weeds:
    When planting, wet some newspapers and put layers around the plants, overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
  • Broken Glass:
    Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can’t see easily.
  • Mosquitoes:
    Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
  • Squirrels:
    To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper does not hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.
  • Flexible Vacuum:
    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.
  • Reducing Static Cling:
    Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place a safety pin in the seam of slacks and static is gone.
  • Measuring Cups:
    Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
  • Foggy Windshield:
    Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth.
  • Reopening an Envelope:
    If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. It will unseal easily.
  • Shaving:
    Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair.
  • Fruit Flies:
    To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
  • Ants:
    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 & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed.
  • Clothes Dryers:
    Lint filters are made of a mesh material but can be invisibly clogged by dryer sheets. To test your filter, take it out of your dryer and run it under hot water. If the water is not filtering through, you need to clean it with warm soapy water. Dryer sheets are known to clog filters,causing dryer problems. Keep your filter clean and you will be helping your dryer to run more efficiently.
  • Candles:
    To get an old candle out of a candle holder, place in the freezer overnight. Take out the candle holder and warm in your hands for a moment. The old candle should just pop out.