Tips For Homemakers

I have recently heard this in a number of places but I wanted to share it anyway….in case you didn’t hear it.

Take a small amount of shaving cream and rub onto your bathroom mirror and keep rubbing until it is clean and shiny.

Then when you shower, no foggy mirrors. I really appreciate this because I use to dry my mirror with my hair dryer so I could see.

When your mirror starts to fog again, which I think took a month or so, just re-apply a small amount of shaving cream again.

I showed my husband my quick way to clean shoes and he loves it. Much faster than shoe polish and cheaper.

First, wipe any loose dirt or debris from your shoes. Then dip a paper towel into petroleum jelly and get a “small” dab. Rub it onto your shoes. After shining your shoes with the petroleum jelly, use a clean paper towel to give it a quick wipe down to remove any excess petroleum jelly. Use the Vaseline sparingly because you don’t want sticky shoes.

My husband keeps a small jar of Vaseline in his desk. If he forgets to clean his shoes or there is an important meeting that day, he gives his shoes a quick wipe. He can do it at his desk without even removing his shoes.

As a young military wife, moving was just something you did. It could get expensive to buy new curtains for every room in the house for the numerous moves. All of the young mothers were staying home back in those days and we just had to make ends meet with the one income. I was more concerned about getting food on the table and clothes on the kids.

First, I put venetian blinds up. Then, I would buy a colored twin-size “flat” sheet for the window in the bedroom. There are so many cute sheets out now that you can really be creative. You can tie them back on the side with some cute decorative rope or just leave it hanging on the side. You can coordinate with the sheets and bedspread, too. The twin sheets even have a seam you can use to run the rod through. How simple is that? No, it isn’t fancy but you can really dress up a window with some color.

For instance, my son was really into Star Wars stuff when he was young. I bought an extra top twin sheet that had the same Star Wars pattern on it and put it up for a curtain.

This can work well for your child that has just gone off to college or that little girl who wants Dora in her bedroom one day and Barbie the next. Just buy a bedspread and one twin sheet for the curtain in the pattern she likes. You could even rotate the patterns if you have enough energy….lol.
Remember to buy twin ” flat ” sheets.

My husband recently ate at an outside restaurant and noticed a bag of water on each table. The bag was half full of water and tied up on a stand so it wouldn’t touch the table…so it could vibrate and wiggly. He was told it would keep the flies away. So to test the idea, we took a ziplock Baggie and filled it half full of water, made a small hole in the top and ran a kite string thru it. We attached it to the metal “knocker” on our back door. Our dog food on the back porch attracts flies. Guess what? After two weeks, I have only found one fly that slipped thru the doorway when I had it wide open. Kewl, huh?

I go to Goodwill a couple times a month. The Goodwill closest to my home puts out new stuff every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I love antiques so I am hoping to find an overlooked antique at dirt cheap pricing. I did find a silver candlelabra for $l.99 and I researched it’s value and found one just like it selling on Ebay for $l25.00.

Well, the point I really wanted to share is buying cheap plate settings. I have a set of dishes that I normally serve meals on every day. I decided to buy two plates,two bowls (for small salad) and two flat saucers ( for roll or biscuit) all of one pattern. They sell dishes by the piece there. I believe it was less than $3.00. I just wanted to add some variety to the dinner table. Since then I have bought an additional three sets of different patterns. One set is antique. Another has a very deep plate which is great for serving spaghetti or roast and potatoes that has a lot of juice. Some are expensive looking and some are just fun.

Goodwill is a great place for young couples or college kids who don’t have much money. It is also fun for us older folks who just love other people’s junk. Did you know you can buy jeans there for $5? Since it is seems to be popular for the jeans to look worn, it is perfect.