So its been a little bit since I have blogged, because I have totally had writers block. I have wanted to blog, and then gotten busy, or not known what to say. So tonight I was in the shower and realized that I went to an amazing Relief Society activity last month and I should say something about it. Last month, my Relief Society held a "Tip Night". Basically we all came to the meeting with some little tid bits of information that made life easier for us. Some of the tips that really called out to me were:
2. You know when you forget to check your pockets and your lip balm (or like it) goes through the wash then the dryer? Well apparently if you wash all the clothes that have that nasty stain on it with a can of coke in the wash, all those nasty stains will go bye-bye!!! ( I thought that one to be super cool, since I am totally guilty of forgetting to check my pockets)
3. A cup of vinegar in your washer with your clothes makes a better fabric softener than store bought fabric softeners! imagine that! The best part? You don't have to sort all those clothes that can't be washed with fabric softener. (like bamboo fabrics). (vinegar will also take out that sour towel smell when your teenagers don't hang up their towels.
And there are so many more wonderful tips.
Like did you know you can actually make your own laundry soap?
They had a scribe there, so they were able to write everything down and email it out to all of us, so here is the full tip sheet.
T.I.P.S. from 4th Ward Relief Society Sisters
Kitchen Tips:
· For easy pouring of soups into ziplock freezer bags, place bag into a juice pitcher and over the sides, then you have 2 hands free to pour the soup into the bag. Lay the sealed bag on a cookie sheet to freeze, then the freezer meal can be stacked in the freezer.
· Cook bacon in the oven: Place tin foil over a cookie sheet, arrange bacon, cook in 400 degree oven 10 -15 minutes
· Empty dishwasher first thing in the morning, then you have somewhere to continue to ‘hide’ dirty dishes until you have a full load.
· During meal prep, fill the sink with hot sudsy water and wash as you go – reduces clean-up time
· When baking peanut butter cookies or some other ‘sticky’ ingredient, crack the egg in the measuring cup first, swirl it around before you add to the mixing bowl, then measure the peanut butter and it will slide out of the measuring cup
· Use the Foodsaver Jar Sealer attachment to dry pack in mason jars, ie: raisins, nuts –
Can be purchased through London Drugs or through www.sears.ca · Wide mouth plastic jar lids can be purchased in same aisle as screwband and mason jar lids – use these after your jar’s seal has been opened – and you need to store jam/fruit in fridge.
· Small jelly mason jars are great for sending ¼ cup of homemade applesauce in older kids’ lunches
· Fill empty mason jars with water – you will have water storage and won’t waste shelf space with empty jars.
· Freeze apple slices for pies by lining a pie plate with plastic wrap, filling pie plate with apples, cover & freeze; once frozen remove from pie plate and transfer to a Ziploc bag and return to freezer. You will have the right shape of apple pie filling to place in your pie shell when you want to bake a pie!
· Babyfood plastic containers can be recycled into individual jello cups.
Recommended Kitchen Gadgets:
Strawberry huller – tweezer style, Crinkle cutter from $ store for cutting carrots, cukes
Pampered Chef Small Scoop for cookie dough & Strawberry Huller (extra small melon scoop with teeth) and small scraper – scrapes off gunk without scratching and the large Crinkle cutter – not only cuts veggies, but can be used to make wavy icing on sides of cakes.
silicone muffin pans - muffins can be popped out when done & pan will clean up in dishwasher w/out scrubbing
Crown Food Equipment Ltd 3655 18th Ave N. Lethbridge – has all kinds of chef supplies and is open to the public – giant metal scraper/cutter with wooden handle, cookie scoopers, tomato knives
Onion pick for safe slicing of onions, small glass measuring cup for multiple teaspoon measurements
Apple corer/slicer – put apple ‘back’ together then wrap in saran wrap for kids’ lunches.
Silicon spatula – heat resistant
Pie shell plastic zippered bag: place pastry dough into bag, close zipper, start rolling out dough through the plastic – bag will keep dough within circumference size.
Baking Soda Tips
Use a baking soda paste to remove crayon off walls, removing kool-aid stains from kitchen counters, cleaning the fridge inside & out,
Cleaning garborators & drains: pour ½ c. baking soda down drain, then vinegar. Plug drains for a few minutes, pour boiling water down drain
Orange & lemon peels also clean out garborators.
Silverware: line a tray with tinfoil, put baking soda paste on utensils & cover with boiling water. The baking soda has a chemical reaction with the tinfoil which removes the tarnish from silverware.
Julia’s All-duty de-gunker: In a spray bottle, combine ½ tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp. borax, ½ tsp. liquid soap and 2 c. hot water
No-scrub toilet sparker: Sprinkle ½ cup baking soda into the bowl, then pour in 1 cup vinegar. When the fizzing stops, just swirl around with a toilet brush to leave the bowl shiny!
Breathe-easy oven cleaner: Combine ¼ cup baking soda, 2 Tbs. salt and enough hot water to make a paste. Rub the paste inside the oven, keeping off wires and heating elements; let sit for 5 minutes, then wipe to reveal a shining oven!
Stain Removers
ink or chocolate stains : Hairspray – spray on then rub away
Bloodstains: soak garment in cold water with salt in it it
Stains that have been locked in with dryer heat: re-wash garment in 1 can of coke mixed in with the lowest water level on washer
Coke also will remove tar from cars and bugs on windshield
Lipstick stains: Use Irish Spring like an eraser then wash garment in washer
Underarm Sweat Stains: add 2 tablets of Aspirin
Laundry Tips
Fabric Softener: ½ cup white vinegar added to rinse water, also takes away sour towel smell
A product called “Smelly Towel Cleaner” may also be purchased over the internet
Make your own Laundry Soap: We have the recipe. Please email Shirley if you would like a copy of the Recipe.
Bounce Sheets
Use one to remove hardwater stains from glass shower doors.
Reduces static cling when rubbed on skirts or pants you are wearing
Repels mosquitoes: bounce sheets were pinned onto baby’s quilt at a picnic & the mosquitoes stayed away.
Beware that bounce sheets will leave a coating on your towels, making them less absorbant and they will also leave a film on your lint trap…wash your lint trap regularly.
Miscellaneous:
Book of Mormon for Latter-Day Saint Families - A great tool in Family Scripture Study, includes Book of Mormon text, plus some illustrations, glossary and topic quotes.
Lego clean-up: Use a large bed sheet as a play mat. When the children are finished playing with lego, the sheet can be gathered up and the lego poured into a large bucket.
White Boards – oops! I used a permanent maker! Trace over the permanent marker with a dry-erase pen, then wipe off. Tip #2: use a White pencil eraser
Costume jewellery storage: Use a multi-level pant hanger. Top rung: rings/bracelets, middle rung: shorter necklaces Bottom rung: Long necklaces. Hang on back of door or in closet.
Use Sunlight Bar soap for degreasing kitchen cupboard doors. Rubbed a lathered bar of soap over door, wipe with a damp cloth.
Orange TKO – no longer available in Canada, perhaps in U.S.? Removed blueberry stained vomit from carpet!
How to prepare an Avocado without peeling it: cut all around the avocado, then twist & pull apart. Spoon out the pit, then scoop out the contents. If you need to store guacamole in the fridge, place the pit back into the guacamole and it will prevent it from turning grey.
Soften Hard water with Calgon
Cuts in skin: remove the stinging with Lanolin cream
Marshall Fabrics sells microfiber cloth by the yard for inexpensive cleaning cloths, also Canadian Tire automotive section has cheap ones
Travelling tip: Take treats in ice cream buckets with lids – you’ll always have a handy Car-sick bucket with a lid ! (Treats can be easily tossed into an empty bag)
Cleaning Game: Wiping down door knobs: count how many doorknobs there are upstairs!
Cleaning finger prints off of light switches: count how many light switches we have!
