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| Saturday, November 29, 2003 | (No comments posted.)
MISC.
Soak or massage fingernails with baby oil, vitamin E oil, olive oil or a gentle dish detergent at least twice a day to stimulate growth and prevent cracking and chipping.
For the softest feet possible, apply a thick layer of petroleum jelly to your feet then wear a pair of socks overnight. You can do the same with your hands by wearing cotton gloves. Do the same with the rest of your body using petroleum jelly or thick cream and wear an old pair of pajamas to bed. Don't be afraid to apply petroleum jelly or vitamin E oil to your face overnight also. Do this once or twice a week.
For dry hair, apply vitamin E oil to the scalp and split ends at night. Shampoo in the morning.
Make your own anti-wrinkle cream inexpensively by beating a few egg whites (no yolks) into a meringue and apply on the face. Remove after half an hour with cool water (don't use hot water or you'll have scrambled egg on your face). Pat dry. It also works for shrinking pores.
Never throw away the water in which eggs have been boiled -- it is full of minerals. Of course, it is not suitable for humans to drink, but after cooling the water, give it to your house plants.
Apply ice cold vinegar right away to skin burns to prevent blisters.
To keep fabrics from bleeding, add 2 to 3 teaspoons of salt to wash and rinse cycles.
Sour milk cleans copper. Pour the milk in a flat dish, soak the copper for about an hour, then clean as usual.
Set out white vinegar in open dishes to destroy odors.
Add vinegar to your deep fryer to eliminate a greasy taste.
Fill film canisters with water, freeze and use anytime you would use an ice pack or ice cube.
Rinse glasses and dishes in water and vinegar to prevent spots and film.
There is no need to buy expensive conditioners to make your hair shiny, soft and radiant. Simply wash hair and massage regular hair conditioner into damp hair and leave in overnight. Protect your pillow by using a shower cap and if you don't own one, make do with a plastic bag that is carefully tied around your head.
Take grease off suede. Dip a toothbrush in vinegar and gently brush over grease spot.
Blood stains on clothes? Pour a little peroxide on a cloth and proceed to wipe off blood.
Place fabric softener sheets in dresser drawers and your clothes will smell freshly washed for weeks to come. You also can do this with towels and linen.
Remove tough stains. Gently rub vinegar on fruit, jam, mustard, coffee, and tea. Then wash as usual.
To brighten fabric colors, add 1/2 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle.
To keep colors from running, immerse clothes in full-strength vinegar before washing.
To prevent link on clothes, add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle.
To freshen the washing machine, periodically, pour a cup of vinegar in the machine and let in run through a regular cycle (no clothes added).
To get smoke smell out of clothes, add a cup of vinegar to a bath tub of hot water. Hang clothes above the steam.
To remove gum from a dryer, wet a fabric softener sheet and wipe at the gum -- you will discover the gum will disappear. The great thing about it too is it smells nice and there is no messy cleanup after you are finished.
To get whites whiter, use 1/2 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax in addition to regular laundry product. Hang clothes outside when weather permits.
Use a few tablespoons of salt in your clothes washer when doing laundry, or anytime you are hand washing, add a tablespoon into water. Also, hydrogen peroxide is gentler on fabric than is bleach, although not by much. If you are not washing your white clothes with white clothes only, this may have an effect. Never hang your whites outside. Sun has a natural bleaching property, but the quality of today's air leaves much to be desired (and also leaves dirt on your clothes).
Use some borax in each washload, and reduce use of soap. Most of the reason we have dingy clothes is that our washing machines don't do a very good job of rinsing because we generally use about four times more soap than we need. The dinginess is caused by the soap adhering to the fabric.
Try using 1/2 cup baking soda in a first rinse before washing whites, then add 1/4 cup baking soda to the wash cycle. It may take several rinses to bring out the white.
This week's hints taken from www.angelfire.com and www.betweenfriends.org
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