I have been thinking lately about the little things that we learn in life that make it a little easier. They are the things that your parents and others have taught you and that you basically take for granted. I got a new blouse that didn't have buttons that open it all the way down the front. It is one of those blouses that you have to lift up and over your head in order to get it off. It was then that I remembered the day my Mom taught me to cross my arms, grab the bottom sides of the shirt and start pulling it up, up, up, over the head and off. Such a simple thing, but if you didn't know the trick it would be so frustrating.
Then I thought of all the times I have ironed T-shirts (just a little) because I just can't wear a wrinkled one and they don't always get them out of the drier on time. I had used commercial wrinkle remover spray and it works, but it's expensive. Amy told me that she just sprays her T's with water and shakes them. I tried it. Oh, it works so well. If they are really wrinkled you may have to give them a little tug but the wrinkles fall away completely. This saves me lots of time and money.
A friend from Montana told me to clean "one" drawer a day so you will never have to do a lot of spring cleaning for your cupboards and drawers. I do that. Just clean one drawer or cupboard inside and out per day, and by the end of the month your kitchen or bathroom cabinets and drawers are clean and tidy. You start over again but it is never a really big chore. Now toilets and baseboards are another thing altogether.
I have a black stove that I hate!! I must have a lot of dust in my home because I was having to dust the darn thing every day. Whoever heard of having to dust your stove top? My gold and off white stoves didn't show dust so I had never even thought of it before. Washing it with a rag just seemed to spread the dust around. My parents gave Wayne a gift certificate for Christmas one year and he got a hand held vacuum with it. Now I vacuum my stove top for dust and for the other crumbs etc. that fall on it. I also vacuum the cupboard tops and the pantry shelves. How did I get along without it? I am so glad he shares.
My daughter-in-law gave me this idea yesterday that I am going to implement. I have quite a few rubber stamps that I use in my scrapbooking. She told me she is making a stamp journal. She will stamp a graphic of each stamp in a notebook so that when she needs to use one, she can look through the journal instead of dragging out all the actual stamps. That way she has a visual of the size and style of each stamp and can just take out what she needs..... I am doing that!!
I got a cross shredder a couple of years ago and it has been a great tool. I shred all my envelopes, junk mail and anything with my name and address on it. I could recycle them to the bin "as is" but they ship our recycled items to China and I just feel better knowing my name and info is not being shipped everywhere in the world.
What great tips do you have for me??
2 comments:
I am trying so hard to think of some good tips to pass along and I can only think of 1 right now. Our bathroom door was really sqeaky adn with Wes getting up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work, he would wake me up every time he used the bathroom in the morning. We didn't have any WD40 on hand so I just used my can of spray cooking oil and it worked like magic! Now I sleep right through the middle of the night potty breaks!
You told me the kitchen cabinet tip once when I was visiting teaching and I think it is a GREAT idea! I am not always good about implementing, but it has made a big difference. I have a different mindset now- just because I don't have time to deal with the whole kitchen (or bathroom or whatever) I can make a big difference with a small project and a small amount of time.
Thanks, Joan. You rock!
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