New Uses for Everyday Items
December 18, 2011, By Tom McNulty 0 comments
As America's Foremost Men's Housekeeping Expert and slightly famous author, I've always loved the kind of "helpful household hints" made popular by Heloise, Mary Ellen and other housecleaning pioneers. These are the kind of diabolically clever tips, tricks and shortcuts that are products of Yankee Ingenuity—things you wouldn't expect and might not discover on your own unless you were particularly ingenious or else pretty darn lucky.
Importantly, they can make housekeeping (and a lot of other tasks) faster, easier, cheaper and as painless as possible—which is always the bottom line for guys.
There are billions of them, but here's a list geared to Man of the House readers. I'm sure you've got this stuff lying around your house. Most items below have many uses in addition to the ones I list, but these are my favorites.
Dryer sheets (aka, fabric softener sheets)
Give spaces a nice fresh aroma by adding a dryer sheet: placed under car seats, in drawers, closets, laundry hampers, wastebaskets, inside vacuum cleaner bags, in sneakers, under fitted sheets and inside pillowcases.
Envelopes
Avoid tedious one-by-one shredding of receipts and documents. Make it faster by packing many into an envelope, then shredding.
Coffee grounds
Use a container filled with grounds to freshen your fridge interior and as fertilizer in the garden (plants and worms love the stuff); minimize dust from fireplace cleaning by sprinkling wet coffee grounds onto the ashes first.
Coffee filters
Cover foods in microwave to prevent spatters, wipe TV & computer screens to eliminate static, clean glasses with no scratches, place in bottom of potted plants to prevent soil leakage.
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