Household Tips to Make Your Life Easier

Hallmark has a new movie coming out called Dear Prudence. Jane Seymour stars as a talk show host who gives out household advice.

Below are some tips from the movie about using everyday household products to make your life a bit easier.

Windshield Wiper Frost Free Fluid: When you have to leave your car outside overnight in the winter, mix 3 parts vinegar to 1 part water and coat the windows with this solution. This vinegar and water combination will keep windshields ice and frost-free.

To keep cut flowers fresher longer by mixing up a homemade formula. Mix 1 pint warm water, 1 pint lemonade or a lemon-lime soft drink. Pour enough into the vase to cover the lower three to four inches of the stem. Here's how this formula works: the sugar in the mixture supplies energy to the flowers and the citric acid in the lemon helps preserve them.

To keep buttons from dropping off: Dab a drop of clear nail polish onto the thread the secures the buttons. This will harden and make it more difficult for thread to break off.

To help new or just cleaned drapes stay fresh and crisp looking, spray them with a few coats of unscented hair spay before hanging them up. Allow the hair spray to dry between applications.

To speed drying time of big bulky items and jeans, add a dry towel to the wet items you're placing in the dryer. The towel will help absorb some of the excess moisture.

When you need to touch up a scratch or other type of blemish on a painted wall use a drop of paint on a cotton swab to fix the problem. You won't waste a bunch of paint and you won't have to waste time cleaning a paintbrush.

Instead of throwing away a sponge that has a stale odor, simply toss it in the dishwasher and wash it with the next load of dishes. It will come out clean and fresh smelling and will kill any bacteria in the sponge, so it's a good idea to toss your sponges into the dishwasher often.

For sharper scissors simply take your dull scissors and cut through three layers of tin foil ten times. Cut some paper to test. Repeat if not sharp enough for you. Or...cut a sheet of medium-grade sand paper into small pieces!

Make giant ice cubes in muffin tins or plastic margarine bowls. These are perfect for using in picnic coolers or punch bowls. They look pretty and keep your drinks or food cold longer.

Get rid of tarnish on silver the easy way, place a piece of aluminum foil (shiny side up) on the bottom of a glass bowl or pan. Fill the container with a solution made of 2 cups boiling water and 3 teaspoons of baking soda, and you've made an inexpensive "bath" to soak your silver in. Your silver will shine like new in no time!

To keep lint and dust off glass top tables, wash them in a solution of warm water and fabric softener. Add one tablespoon of liquid fabric softener to one quart of warm water. The fabric softener will clean the glass inexpensively and will help keep lint from gathering on the glass. Also great for computer screens and TVs.

Household Tricks

Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

Squirrel Away
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge, add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser. Works better than a cloth.

Reopening an envelope
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 unseals easily.

Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass and fill it 1/2 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.

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal 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

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

If you use dryer sheets, they cause a film over the lint filter mesh and that can burn out the heating unit. Dryer sheets feel 'waxy' and that's what builds up on the lint filter. This is also what makes dryer units catch fire and could burn your house down.

Test your lint filter: Remove filter, under your kitchen faucet, run water through the mesh. If the water doesn't go through the mesh and puddles on top of it...you have the waxy film buildup. Wash it with hot soapy water and use an old toothbrush (or other brush) and scrub the film away. Do this every six months to keep your dryer working longer, keep your electric bill down and save yourself from a potential fire.