Of cleaning cast-iron & using ceiling fans
Volume III, No. 23 (January 22, 2006)
Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2006
We rejoice in our sufferings,
Knowing that suffering produces endurance,
& endurance produces character,
& character produces hope,
& hope does not disappoint us,
because G-d’s love has been poured into our hearts.
Romans 5:3-5
These lines from the Christian Scriptures were paraphrased in a novel by Madeleine L’Engle.
HOUSEHOLD HINTS:
How to get burnt-on food cleaned off cast iron cookware easily? Club soda poured in can work wonders. Dry off very carefully this time or any time, to avoid rust. And remember to season the pot the 1st time you use it, & every time that you find that the soda does not pull off the whole stain, &, so, you need to use a scouring pad on it.
Don’t get overly enthusiastic in insulating a gas water heater. You must, for safety’s sake, keep a clear breach over its top as well as at the gas burner on the bottom.
To avoid making a big mess while painting a door, wrap all its hardware with aluminum foil. (Use a knife to smooth the foil evenly.) Also, wrap the doorknobs of each door that you need to open to get to the sink, as well as the sink’s faucets. If you use oil-based paint instead of latex, place foil all along the route to the turpentine or mineral spirits.
If you have to get out of a wall a nail without a head, grasp what you can with the deepest part of a claw hammer. Swing the hammer from side to side, &, after some maneuvering, you’ll be able to get the nail out.
Give a special gift to your 18-year-old child – but you’ll have to begin at his or her birth! Save the newspaper from each birthday date, & wrap a box containing all of them.
Fill your car’s tank early in the morning. As the day wears on, the fuel expands, so you’d get up to 5% less gas if you were to purchase it in the heat of the day.
You don’t need to go out to buy a specialized spray to clean your computer keyboard or the printer’s paper bin. Just use the crevice tool of your vacuum cleaner. You can also dip a cotton swab like Q-Tips® in alcohol, & clean between the keyboard keys with that.
You want to save money on delivery services such as the post office or UPS™ by reusing scrap boxes instead of buying new ones. But it’s a hassle to cover up all of the prior print on the boxes. Here’s a good idea: cut down each side seam of the box. Then push down the sides & tape to create a new, inside-out, box!
To clean your eyeglasses, you don’t need expensive fluids or cloths. Just run very hot water over the insides & outsides of each lens. Wipe dry with a lint-free cloth.
If a steel wool pad -- cleanser-type such as SOS® or Brillo®, or workshop-type – becomes rusted, just cut away the rusted portion with scissors. You’re doing yourself a double favor, because you are sharpening your scissors at the same time!
Do the numbers on your measuring spoons & cups make you squint? You’ve heard about using nail polish to make them stand out, but did you know the real secret Take an emery board (yes, another manicure device) & lightly sand the painted numbers – now, they will really stand out!
Does your town offer recycling, but paper needs to be separated from other items (such as plastic, glass, & metal)? Do what I do – keep a new garbage can inside your house. You can throw paper right inside it. As to the other items, add a tall kitchen bag to the can & put the plastic, glass, & metal into that bag. (You’ll have to deal with composting directly into the can provided by your town – or, you can keep a jar in your kitchen for disposal weekly or so.) By these means, you can more easily follow your Sanitation Department’s requirements.
What to do about clothes that require cold water in the washer, knowing that detergent is less effective with dry detergent? Here’s the answer: use liquid detergent, which will dissolve more easily.
You CAN freeze cottage cheese (well, not the creamed style). Just know that when you defrost it, the texture will have changed so much that the cheese will only be suitable for use in a casserole.
One rotten apricot, apple, banana, avocado, blueberry, peach, or cantaloupe can spoil the batch, because they emit ethylene gas, which ripens produce. So don’t keep any of these near potatoes or cut flowers, lest they spoil from the gas. And scan your produce containers frequently to avoid a rotten piece from spoiling the bunch. If you have a pear or a tomato or an avocado that you want to ripen, put it in a brown bag together with an ethylene source.
Are you the lucky owner of a ceiling fan? To use it most efficiently, run it roatating counterclockwise in the summer forcing the hot air up. In winter, run it clockwise in order to send the cold air to the ceiling.
Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2006
We rejoice in our sufferings,
Knowing that suffering produces endurance,
& endurance produces character,
& character produces hope,
& hope does not disappoint us,
because G-d’s love has been poured into our hearts.
Romans 5:3-5
These lines from the Christian Scriptures were paraphrased in a novel by Madeleine L’Engle.
HOUSEHOLD HINTS:
How to get burnt-on food cleaned off cast iron cookware easily? Club soda poured in can work wonders. Dry off very carefully this time or any time, to avoid rust. And remember to season the pot the 1st time you use it, & every time that you find that the soda does not pull off the whole stain, &, so, you need to use a scouring pad on it.
Don’t get overly enthusiastic in insulating a gas water heater. You must, for safety’s sake, keep a clear breach over its top as well as at the gas burner on the bottom.
To avoid making a big mess while painting a door, wrap all its hardware with aluminum foil. (Use a knife to smooth the foil evenly.) Also, wrap the doorknobs of each door that you need to open to get to the sink, as well as the sink’s faucets. If you use oil-based paint instead of latex, place foil all along the route to the turpentine or mineral spirits.
If you have to get out of a wall a nail without a head, grasp what you can with the deepest part of a claw hammer. Swing the hammer from side to side, &, after some maneuvering, you’ll be able to get the nail out.
Give a special gift to your 18-year-old child – but you’ll have to begin at his or her birth! Save the newspaper from each birthday date, & wrap a box containing all of them.
Fill your car’s tank early in the morning. As the day wears on, the fuel expands, so you’d get up to 5% less gas if you were to purchase it in the heat of the day.
You don’t need to go out to buy a specialized spray to clean your computer keyboard or the printer’s paper bin. Just use the crevice tool of your vacuum cleaner. You can also dip a cotton swab like Q-Tips® in alcohol, & clean between the keyboard keys with that.
You want to save money on delivery services such as the post office or UPS™ by reusing scrap boxes instead of buying new ones. But it’s a hassle to cover up all of the prior print on the boxes. Here’s a good idea: cut down each side seam of the box. Then push down the sides & tape to create a new, inside-out, box!
To clean your eyeglasses, you don’t need expensive fluids or cloths. Just run very hot water over the insides & outsides of each lens. Wipe dry with a lint-free cloth.
If a steel wool pad -- cleanser-type such as SOS® or Brillo®, or workshop-type – becomes rusted, just cut away the rusted portion with scissors. You’re doing yourself a double favor, because you are sharpening your scissors at the same time!
Do the numbers on your measuring spoons & cups make you squint? You’ve heard about using nail polish to make them stand out, but did you know the real secret Take an emery board (yes, another manicure device) & lightly sand the painted numbers – now, they will really stand out!
Does your town offer recycling, but paper needs to be separated from other items (such as plastic, glass, & metal)? Do what I do – keep a new garbage can inside your house. You can throw paper right inside it. As to the other items, add a tall kitchen bag to the can & put the plastic, glass, & metal into that bag. (You’ll have to deal with composting directly into the can provided by your town – or, you can keep a jar in your kitchen for disposal weekly or so.) By these means, you can more easily follow your Sanitation Department’s requirements.
What to do about clothes that require cold water in the washer, knowing that detergent is less effective with dry detergent? Here’s the answer: use liquid detergent, which will dissolve more easily.
You CAN freeze cottage cheese (well, not the creamed style). Just know that when you defrost it, the texture will have changed so much that the cheese will only be suitable for use in a casserole.
One rotten apricot, apple, banana, avocado, blueberry, peach, or cantaloupe can spoil the batch, because they emit ethylene gas, which ripens produce. So don’t keep any of these near potatoes or cut flowers, lest they spoil from the gas. And scan your produce containers frequently to avoid a rotten piece from spoiling the bunch. If you have a pear or a tomato or an avocado that you want to ripen, put it in a brown bag together with an ethylene source.
Are you the lucky owner of a ceiling fan? To use it most efficiently, run it roatating counterclockwise in the summer forcing the hot air up. In winter, run it clockwise in order to send the cold air to the ceiling.
posted by THE PENNY ORCHID -- "Thrift with Flair" at 1:32 PM
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