Of tags for Christmas lights & your Pavlovian dog

“Of tags for Christmas lights & your Pavlovian dog”

Volume III, No. 20 (December 18, 2005)
Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2005

When the heart is narrow, the tongue is wide.
-- Solomon Ibn Gabriel




HOUSEHOLD HINTS:

For our Christian friends: A good way to use up the bread wrappers’ tabs that you might have been saying is for decorating your Christmas tree with lights more easily. Just attach the wires of colored or white bulbs to the tree with the tabs. And, if you don’t have the tabs this year, here’s a good incentive to save them for Christmas of 2006!

Don’t you hate it when a recipe calls for just 1 oz of a 6 oz can of tomato paste? You COULD freeze the other 5 oz in 1 oz portions in an ice cube tray. Here’s a more imaginative solution. Just use ketchup instead of the tomato paste, measure for measure!

You have probably heard from friends – or at least have read – about buying furniture directly from its North Carolina source. Doing so can sometimes be a good deal – but the company may be a rogue. Check with the Better Business Bureau in the locality before ordering. Also, ascertain the terms of their return policy (if any). Factor any return shipment price into the budget for your purchase, just to be on the safe side.

You say that you’re painting a room or an outside wall? You know that the job will take more than a day. You don’t have to clean your brush(es). Just toss it or them into a plastic bag & freeze. When you’re ready to paint again, there’s no need to fully defrost the brush(es). Just leave it or them at room temperature for an hour before returning to your job. This is as good a time as any for me to tell you to line your roller tray with a plastic bag, so that you can just throw it away at the end of the job & have one thing less to clean, (You can also use aluminum foil for lining, but that’s an expense, considering that you bring home from stores plastic bags that you don’t directly pay for.)

Don’t clean your cat’s litter box with bleach. The lingering ammonia from her urine will yield fumes toxic to her sensitive nose, & you’ll deserve any resulting accidents.

You’ll get a better buy on potatoes if you buy all-purpose “russet” instead of “Idaho” baking-only ones. You can also use the russet potatoes for boiling, such as for making potato salad or mashed potatoes. They are cheaper than the small “boiling potatoes,” &, cut up, are tasty substitutes.

When preparing meat or poultry soup stock, add 1 T white vinegar to the pot, to facilitate the beneficial leakage of calcium from the bones into the broth.

If you are in the market for a new car, narrow your preferences to 2 or 3 models. Then rent each for a weekend. You’ll see each car’s bad & good features, & will be in a better position to buy.

If you have a gas range, & a burner doesn’t seem to be working well (you’ll see just a small flame), try cleaning out the “ports” (holes in the fixture under the drip pan). Use a sewing pin for this task. Do NOT work on or near the pilot light, if your model has one.

When you buy soap, dry it (“cure it”) by letting it sit opened in a drawer for several months. Besides increasing the life of the soap, this will also give the drawer & its contents a pleasant aroma.

To quickly obtain brown sugar that flows (out of hard sugar), one solution is to grate it on a hand-grater. If you have a day to wait, put a cut apple into a solidly closed sugar container.

A handy bit of knowledge: Unless you take a sledge-hammer to it, a toilet will last a lifetime. It may need minor repairs now & then, but will not have to be replaced except for water-savings purposes.

Once you have parked, turn off the ignition key IMMEDIATELY to save big on fuel.

To remove old wallpaper, you need a solution to assist. You can get by with just 1 T liquid fabric softener in a gallon of warm water.

You’ll save calories when making a white sauce if you use cornstarch in place of flour. This is because you only need to use ½ the amount of cornstarch as you would have to use of flour.

Let Pavlov show your dog how to alert you when he needs a walk. Put a string of bells on the inside knob of the front door. Jingle them vigorously every time that you take him out. Soon, he will be jingling them himself when he wants to go out.

Of canceled checks & price discrepancies

Volume III, No. 19 (December 11, 2005)
Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2005

I will sing to the L-rd as long as I live,
All my life I will sing psalms to my G-d.
May my meditation please the L-rd,
As I show my joy in Him!

-- From Psalm 104





HOUSEHOLD HINTS:

Need a good place for storing your canceled checks? (I’m assuming that you are not “paperless,” banking online.) Try the box that the checks came in!

If you have a pet dog or cat, you can get its fur off your carpet or upholstery with a tool that you probably have not thought of – the lowly squeezee. Pull the rubber portion towards you. You’ll be amazed at how much fur the squeezee will pick up!

When you go to a store on a special sale day, especially on the last day, check your register receipt carefully to ensure that you receive the designated sales prices. Sometimes, the cash register will still or already be programmed with the regular prices.

To get the most out of a department store sale, go on the 1st day – to get the best selection – or on the last day – because prices may have been further reduced.

Before you shell out the moolah to travel to some exotic locale, look in your own backyard. What you think of as “tourist traps” are probably attractions that you haven’t visited for years!

Ripen bananas on the counter. Once they are ripe, cover them with newspaper & place them in a produce drawer in your fridge. While they will turn black, they will NOT become over-ripe.

You don’t need to go out to buy a rubber mallet. Just take a tennis ball (used is fine), & cut it in half. Apply that half to the head of a hammer. That’s it!

Here’s a tip for parents with small kids. Make calendars featuring their art for grandparents & other close relatives. In December or January, collect calendars given out by local businesses. Rubber-cement on top of each illustrated page a piece of your child’s art. A magnificent gift!

Be certain that you are not using an excessive amount of any product, whether it be a flavoring, a toiletry, or a cleanser. About 6 months ago, I realized that the reason that my mug of coffee tasted bitter – even with the addition of the salt that I’ve told you about – was that the recommended amount of ground coffee (2 T) was WAY TOO MUCH! I experimented, cutting & cutting & cutting. I am now down to a scant teaspoon -- & it tastes GREAT.

Whether you are buying a new car or a used one, take a test drive at night as well as during the day. You want to be sure that all of the automobile’s lights are working well. This includes the dashboard lights.

While skim milk is the best nutritionally, note that it spoils much more quickly than milk with fat does. The greater the cream content, the longer a dairy product will stay fresh. By adding a dash of salt to each pint, you can extend the life of any milk product (except hard cheese) by at least a week.

Are you getting all the cooling power you need from your fridge & freezer? For food safety, you need a fridge & freezer thermometer. For the fridge, put it in a glass of water & leave it overnight. The thermometer should register between 34 & 40 degrees, For the freezer, wedge the thermometer between food packages. (Take the thermometer out of the glass 1st, lest it burst!) The freezer temp should read 0 degrees. All degrees are Fahrenheit.

Speaking of freezers, how about stand-alone models? Did you know that, with minor maintenance such as defrosting if necessary, you can expect good service for 2 decades? Wow!

I know it’s the digital age, but sometimes it’s better to use an old-fashioned disposable camera. It contains batteries that have hardly been used. Ask at your local photo shop – you’ll probably be able to score some great battery deals! Just don’t put the used batteries into anything you’d need to use in an emergency (flashlights, portable radio).

Except for thrift shops & pawndealers, avoid retail establishments where all sales are final. It’s worth it to pay a few percentage points more for the peace of mind of knowing that you can return the item if necessary

Because catalogues are printed up to 6 months before you receive them, their prices will actually be out-of-date for the Christmas season (or whenever else). You can use this discrepancy to your advantage. Shop in stores in lieu of catalogues if prices have gone down recently, but vice-versa in times of inflation. Obviously, online prices will much more closely reflect the current market.

Of produce tray protection & synthetic paintbrushes

Volume III, No. 18 (December 4, 2005)
Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2005




Conceal your faults, & you will not prosper;
Confess & give them up, & you will find mercy.

Proverbs 28:13




BEST BUYS FOR DECEMBER:

The day after Christmas: wrapping paper & ribbons (Jews can buy solid colors); cards; ornaments; artificial trees, etc. Also candy & items packaged & decorated for the holidays.

Baking supplies

Apples
Bananas
Cranberries
Oranges & grapefruit

Potatoes

Turkeys





HOUSEHOLD HINTS:

Make a 3-tier protector at the bottom of your produce trays in the fridge. Put newspaper on the bottom, paper towels on top of that, & nylon netting at the very top. (It’s best to use netting with the largest-sized holes that you have.) This will help keep your fruits & veggies fresh longer.

If you have a computer printer, you’ll never need to buy notepads. Just take draft prints & cut them in fourths (you can easily cut 10 at a time.). Either keep them in a small bowl or basket as-is, OR square them up & rub the top with a rubber cement brush, which will hold them together.

If you bake bread in a household with just 1 or 2, you’ll need to freeze half the loaf, most probably. After slicing, to keep the slices discrete, insert a bit of waxed paper in between, with a tad sticking out for you to grab onto when you remove a slice from the freezer. You only need a piece about 4” wide, which you can then cut lengthwise for as many slices as you have (minus 1).

For a New Year’s party of any sort, January 1st, Chinese, Jewish, what have you, here’s a creative idea. Cut up last year’s calendar & attach the sheets in a random design on a tablecloth or brown paper.

New car warranties may vary among dealerships, even on the same makes & models. Find out before you buy how much you could be out-of-pocket, should something go wrong.

Don’t toss a shower curtain that looks dowdy. First, take off the hooks that affix the curtain to its rod. Wash the curtain. Substitute ribbon in a complimentary color for each hook. Tie a bow at each of the grommets. A whole new look!

Do you enjoy baking cakes? The cheapest implement for piping icing is NOT a Zip-Lock® bag, as once you cut off its corner, it cannot be reused. Instead, save a plastic squeeze bottle, such as a mustard bottle for this purpose.

Here’s a nifty way to keep your dog relatively free of fleas. When you bathe him, start by shampooing his neck. Fleas won’t be able to escape upwards as you wash him!

The safest way to handle unwanted credit card solicitations is to cut them up, put 1 in a wastebasket & 1 in a garbage can, & then consign the remaining pieces to the business reply envelope that accompanied the solicitation. Be sure to remember to mail it back!

I know, & soon you will too, 2 methods for getting rid of furniture indentations in carpet (once you move the furniture). The 1st is to apply ice cubes & leave them there for a few hours, a partial melt. The 2nd way is to dampen a towel, & place it over the indentation. Take out your trusty iron & iron the towel at a medium setting. Once the towel is dry, your indentation will be gone.

I’m sure that everyone who owns a dishwasher knows that to reduce energy costs, one should let the dishes air-dry instead of allowing the appliance to dry the dishes with heat.

You can use a synthetic paintbrush (best for latex paint) considerably longer if, after you clean off the paint, you give it a session in a solution of liquid fabric softener in water, about one part to ten parts.