Some Odd, but Very Cool Tips

I was very surprised to hear this tip and had to share! It is very cool!

This story came to me from Jackie in New York State who shared:

I was disappointed in the white film left on my black handled silverware and on clear glasses after being washed in my dishwasher, so I called the place where I bought my new dishwasher. They told me to check on the sides of my dishwasher for a gritty film, and it was there.

So they told me to run Tang (the orange powdered drink) in my dishwasher while it was empty to clean my dishwasher. I was to fill each soap dispenser with the Tang and run it on a very hot cycle. It worked!

I priced the special dishwasher cleaner that only has enough for one cleaning in the package. I bought the powdered drink mix for the same price, and it has enough to clean my dishwasher several times. It pays to call for help.

I guess Tang isn't just for astronauts!!

Another tip from Pamela Parks came after she lost power in the winter. She has vowed ever since to be more prepared. She wrote:

The first thing to think about is food. I cook everything from scratch, but that is hard to do when you have no power. So I keep an "emergency box" in the pantry filled with all the convenience junk foods I wouldn't normally buy like cereal, toaster pastries, and crackers. A few things we can heat on the woodstove, such as canned pasta, canned soup, instant oatmeal, and ramen. The junk food is a treat to my kids, who never get to eat it otherwise, so there is less complaining about the power outage and more celebrating. The junk food is, of course, only purchased on sale and never eaten unless the power is out. "I'm too tired to cook" days don't count!

The worst thing you can do to your food is to open your upright refrigerator. All the cold air spills out.
Fortunately, I have a chest-style deep freeze. I went through my "Once-a-Month Cooking" cookbook and selected things that would be easy to reheat on the outdoor barbecue grill. I have those dishes in a wire pull-box in the freezer. I yank the entire basket out and slam the door, hoping the least bit of cold air leaks out. Then the basket gets transferred to a camping cooler. If the power returns before I cook every dinner, oh well, I cook them normally. Don't re-freeze something that's started to thaw.

No matter how cold it is outside, never move your grill indoors! The carbon monoxide build up is undetectable until it reaches lethal levels.

This is my tip! I was surprised to see the ingredients in the commercial wrinkle releaser and did some experimenting on my own.

The main ingredient in commercial wrinkle releasers is water. I got a spray bottle with adjustable spray. Using a very fine mist, I just spray the garment lightly and smooth and tug. It works great! I think if you wanted to put something like one tablespoon of fabric softener in a whole spray bottle of water, that would also add a nice smell, but the water alone works on the wrinkles.

Here's to saving money during the holidays and all season long!