Moms have always relied on the wisdom of our mothers and grandmothers to learn much of our homemaking and housekeeping skills.
But
What about those mammas, who may not have grown up in homes where this knowledge was passed down, those without a villiage or the new mammas looking for tips they may not have known?
Don’t worry
I’ve got you covered ……
Here are 24 tips my grandmother handed down to me that I use in my own home .
Household tips
1. Bananas
Take your bananas apart as soon as you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they will ripen faster.
2. Cheese
Store your opened blocks of cheese in aluminum foil to keep it fresh much longer. ( Not that cheese lasts long in our home)
3.Sweet Peppers
Sweet peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better used for eating in salads or snacks. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better used for cooking.
4. Mince meat
Add a teaspoon of water when frying up your mince meat. It will help to pull the grease away from the meat while it cooks.
5.Scrambled eggs
To make scrambled eggs or omelets rich and creamy, add a few spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in whilst cooking.
6. Brownies
For a delicious brownie treat, make your brownies as directed and add vhocolate chips, nuts or mint pieces into your mix. Yummy!
7. Garlic
Add your fresh or ground 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 in your meal.
8. Easy go to Apple pudding
Simply chop up a nutty chocolate bar ( like Bar one or Snickers) , then peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped chocolate bars over the apples. Bake at 180 for 10 minutes or until apples are soft.Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.
9. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick pan on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat until your pizza is warm. This keeps the crust crispy.
10. Easy Deviled Eggs
To make easy deviled eggs, put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal the bag and mash the eggs inside the bag until they are all broken up. Add the remainder of the ingredients, reseal and keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly. Cut the tip of the bag and pipe the squeeze mixture into the half boiled eggs. Now you can just throw the bag away when you are done for an easy clean up.
11. Cake Icing
When you buy a container of ready made cake icing, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size.
12. Reheating refrigerated breads and confectionery
To warm biscuits, pancakes,cupcakes muffins or bread that was refrigerated, place the item in a microwave with a cup of water for 1-3 minutes depending on the size of your bread or cake. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
13. Weeds
Wet newspapers,when put in layers around the plants in your yard,overlapping as you go will increase the nutrients and decrease weeds in your soil . Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
14. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or cotton bud to pick up the small shards of glass that you can’t see easily.
15. Mosquitoes
Place a linen dryer sheet with a few drops of citronella oil in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
16. Rodents
To keep rodents from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t harm the plant and the rodents won’t come near it.
17. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a small space like under the fridge, add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to the end of your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
18. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your silky dresses or skirts and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress.
19. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill them with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry cup. Then you can add your ingredient, like peanut butter or syrup, and watch how easily it comes right out.
20. Foggy Windshields
Buy an old fashioned chalkboard eraser and keep it in the cubby of your car. When the windows fog up simply rub with the eraser. It works better than a cloth.
21. Re-opening envelopes
Not many people use snail mail anymore but 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.
22. Conditioner
Conditioner has many uses. For example you can use your hair conditioner to shave your legs if you run out of shaving cream. 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.
23. Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it half way 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.
24. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornflour or coarse salt 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 and you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed.
What household tips would you add to this list?
Share them in the comments below