This REALLY works

[snowangel]

But here's another "gadget" that really works and that I totally pooh-poohed until I tried it - the Mr Clean Eraser. My (harvest gold) fridge sits barely a foot from my stove and in a short time has a grease film covering the side. This "eraser" makes short work of that grease film. Nope - no money forthcoming for product endorsements!

Got one the other day. I took sharpie marker off a wall, magic marker off a built in bookcase, etc. (Peter was a menace with a marker).

[lamb]

Glisten

Really will clean your dishwasher. When we moved into our first house the dishwasher was covered with a nice even coat of brown nastiness --I guess deposits from the water. Tried everything on it, but only success was lots of elbow grease. Unfortunately dishwashers have lots of nooks and crannies that you just can't scrub, so even after hours of work it still pretty much looked like crap.

Month of two later noticed this product, bought it, put it in the dishwasher and ran it, clean as new. Lived in that house for 2.5 years, dishwasher never got grimy again after that single cleaning.

Unfortunately, Glisten was no longer available from the website linked above. They said something to the effect "This product is so popular it is no longer available"

I got it at

Get Glisten here

I ordered it for our office dishwasher. I recently opened it (don't do that too much) and wanted to throw up.

One packet of Glisten and it looks good!!

[maggiethecat]

but toothpaste works on crayon on walls and marking pens, and on too many things to mention.

Oh yes! Go toothpaste!

1) A dab will dry out a zit faster than Clearasil.

2) If your tarnished silver necklace is upstairs, you're in a rush to get to work, and your silver polish is downstairs --use toothpaste. I find it actually works better than silver polish.

3) CDs skipping? Gently rub a coating of toothpaste on the silvery side with a soft cloth (or toilet paper if you're drunk and desperate.) Rinse under the tap. Gently dry with a soft dry cloth (Or the guest towels in the powder room if you're drunk and desperate. ) Just don't leave the disc linty.

[lamb]

but toothpaste works on crayon on walls and marking pens, and on too many things to mention.

Oh yes! Go toothpaste!

1) A dab will dry out a zit faster than Clearasil.

2) If your tarnished silver necklace is upstairs, you're in a rush to get to work, and your silver polish is downstairs --use toothpaste. I find it actually works better than silver polish.

3) CDs skipping? Gently rub a coating of toothpaste on the silvery side with a soft cloth (or toilet paper if you're drunk and desperate.) Rinse under the tap. Gently dry with a soft dry cloth (Or the guest towels in the powder room if you're drunk and desperate. ) Just don't leave the disc linty.

Substitute Windex for the toothpaste, and you’ve got scenes from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”!

[sacre_bleu]

Problem: A couple years' grease film built up on cabinets over stove

Solution: You tell me, pretty please. Will try the Mr Clean Erasers, but what did people do before they were invented? Windex and 409 don't do much with the hardened stuff.

[FistFullaRoux]

Baking soda, dishwashing liquid and toothpaste will clean nearly everything in the house if you apply it right.

If you work on your car, rub about a half teaspoon of cooking oil into your hands, then wash them with dishwashing liquid. Use an old toothbrush (or a cheap one) for the fingernails.

If you don't have a Dremel tool, get one. The wire wheels and buffing disks work great around pot handles and on the bottom of pans when they just get too icky. I clean the oven racks with them too. I've also used them for cleaning the nooks and crannies of the oven and dishwasher.

Do yourself a favor and put an extra paper towel dispenser on the other side of the kitchen. We have one next to the sink, and one under the cabinets near the stove.

A small fan next to the stove can be handy. Ours is mounted under the cabinet opposite the paper towel dispenser.

And never underestimate the power of zip ties. They held up the range hood at our old apartment for a month until the landlord fixed it.

[hillvalley]

Those new Mr. Clean eraser things really work.

These things really are magic. I should have done before and after pictures of my kitchen. Wine stains that were a little too old came right off of my cabinets. My walls have never been so clean. As it gets smaller it tends to shred a little, but still works. amazing

[Toliver]

I thought I would bump this back up regarding the Press 'N' Seal plastic wrap.

I store mine on top of the fridge and it's been very hot here this summer. I went to use the wrap the other day when I noticed that the wrap had "swelled up" a little in the box, making it diffcult to pull out. Plus, it seemed to be stuck on itself. I had difficulty pulling it out of the box and I ended up pulling so hard that the two white "knobs" holding the roll in place popped out. Once those suckers pop out, you might as well toss the roll since it darn near impossible to put it back together in a functioning manner.

My suggestion is to make sure if you have a box of Press 'N' Seal to store it in a cool place.

[KatieLoeb]

My favorite new cleanser is Fabuloso. It's deep purple colored and smells like lavender! So much nicer than the bleachy or chemical smells of other cleansers and less gag inducing than Pine-Sol. It's available at Walgreen's, is inexpensive and works like a charm from a spray bottle or mixed into a bucket. Makes the house smell heavenly.

[fifi]

I will add a second vote for Fabuloso. My sister stumbled onto it on the bottom shelf of the HEB, a store that caters to a lot of Latin Americans. I can't live without it now. When the supply runs low, I get a BIG NOTE from my housekeeper.

My new find is the non-stick foil. I do a lot of different things in the oven on a baking sheet. Some of the oven fried things tend to stick, even to regular foil, when there is an egg component. This stuff is magic and the food even seems to brown more evenly.

[KatieLoeb]

I will add a second vote for Fabuloso. My sister stumbled onto it on the bottom shelf of the HEB, a store that caters to a lot of Latin Americans. I can't live without it now. When the supply runs low, I get a BIG NOTE from my housekeeper.

←

That's funny. It was on the bottom shelf at the Walgreen's too. Wonder what that means.

I think the Fabuloso might be a Latin American product. I'll have to give the label a looksee when I get home. It's funny - they started using it here at the restaurant awhile ago and walked in one day after my office had been mopped and it smelled so good I had to ask what was different. The cleaning guy showed me the bottle and I went and found some straightaway. Even the checkout girl at the Walgreen's said to me, "Oh this stuff is GREAT!! And it smells so good!" It seems everyone loves the stuff.

[Toliver]

They think of everything eventually, don't they?

"Hefty® Serve ‘n Store™ Tableware With Interlocking Rims"

every plate is a lid and every lid is a plate

They make a dinner plate, lunch plate and bowl.

No more scambling for foil or plastic wrap when taking home leftovers from a party...

And aren't I the geek for being impressed by this?

[Kim D]

Re: Mr. Clean erasers....

Used these things recently and OH.MY.GOD.

They work!!!!

Several hallway walls were in pretty bad shape - voila - like new again!

Hmmmm...do they work on kids' cave paintings? Seems my husband's kids all have the crayon gene & a mother that thought coloring on the ceiling was healthy. We could, of course, just paint.

Here's my helpful hint: next time something's cooked/burned onto a pot or pan, try scraping with a wooden spoon instead of any scrubber or metal utensil. I discovered this serendipitously when trying to gently remove a candymaking accident from a tin-lined copper pot. Now I go for the wooden spoon before anything else. It's a really nice way to treat Le Creuset.

←

I tried the Mr. Clean erasers on wall drawings. Didn't work. The combination of pencil, ink, red marker and gold paint was too much for it. Kilz worked but only after several coats.

The erasers did remove the scuff marks on the hardwood floors. Really well. Too well. I could see dull areas all over the floor where the eraser had done its job.

But, all's well that ends well. I ended up on my hands and knees polishing that floor and it never ever would have looked that good otherwise.

Believe it or not, I like those erasers.

- kim

[Curlz]

OMG, I love this thread! Can't believe I had never seen it before. I also can't believe how funny it is to read about the inability to buy boxes of Swiffer pads without the pole...!

Anyway, I must contribute one of my favorite tricks, since I just shared it with a catering staff yesterday and they thought I was a supa-genius (not!). I hope I can explain this well in writing...if you have a problem with liquid dribbling off of a spout and down the side of the pouring vessel, (i.e. tea out of a teapot, gravy from a gravy pitcher, cream from a creamer, etc.), just put a dab of some sort of grease on the underside of the spout lip. When you pour, if the liquid that's coming out of the spout 'tries' to drip down, it hits the grease, and bounces forward! Butter is my personal favorite b/c I can just swipe my finger across a small piece, but any fat will work. And no, the stuff you're pouring won't taste like whatever you've used; it should be a VERY THIN smudge on the pitcher/pot/creamer. Gosh I hope that makes sense to those of you reading it!

Another hint that I read once in a magazine is a real dope-slap; store your rolls of foil, plastic wrap, etc. with the cutter side down in the drawer...no more cut fingers as you grab the boxes!

[glossyp]

They think of everything eventually, don't they?

"Hefty® Serve ‘n Store™ Tableware With Interlocking Rims"

every plate is a lid and every lid is a plate

They make a dinner plate, lunch plate and bowl.

No more scambling for foil or plastic wrap when taking home leftovers from a party...

And aren't I the geek for being impressed by this?

←

Not geeky at all...the dh and I looked at each other when we saw this item and thought it was brillliant. Amazing no one came up with it before.

[Pookie]

If you are making slushy drinks in your blender, let the ice sit out a few minutes before you try and blend.

Just-out-of-the-freezer ice is really hard and is hard to blend.

Just a note from your friendly party girl.

[jennahan]

Opening Jars: Spank the jar hard a couple times on the bottom prior to opening the lid. If this doesn't work (usually does), I slide the tip of a beer-can opener under the lid until I hear a hisss.

General All-Purpose: Ziplock style bags for everything...Marinating, freezing egg whites, storing and organizing papers/bills/photos, protecting sweaters

Baking Soda is a great cleaner for mildly tarnished silver

The best way to remove baked-on/burnt on food from pots/pans is to fill with water and a couple drops of detergent and place over low heat. Allow the water to simmer for 5 minutes, then the food will just melt away from the pot/pan

Tomato sauce stained plasticwear: soak in water with a small amount of bleach

[fifi]

. . . . .

Anyway, I must contribute one of my favorite tricks, since I just shared it with a catering staff yesterday and they thought I was a supa-genius (not!).  I hope I can explain this well in writing...if you have a problem with liquid dribbling off of a spout and down the side of the pouring vessel, (i.e. tea out of a teapot, gravy from a gravy pitcher, cream from a creamer, etc.), just put a dab of some sort of grease on the underside of the spout lip.  When you pour, if the liquid that's coming out of the spout 'tries' to drip down, it hits the grease, and bounces forward!  Butter is my personal favorite b/c I can just swipe my finger across a small piece, but any fat will work.  And no, the stuff you're pouring won't taste like whatever you've used; it should be a VERY THIN smudge on the pitcher/pot/creamer.  Gosh I hope that makes sense to those of you reading it! 

. . . . .

←

Now that is just freakin' genius. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? And to think that I was just cursing my coffee carafe this morning for this very problem.

[misstenacity]

Opening Jars:  Spank the jar hard a couple times on the bottom prior to opening the lid.  If this doesn't work (usually does), I slide the tip of a beer-can opener under the lid until I hear a hisss.

Sometimes I'll do a variation on this, especially if there's dried gunk already in the lid threads: turn the jar upside down and thunk it squarely on the counter - so the whole top surface of the lid hits at once. This can loosen the dried gunk just enough to get things going....

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[CaliPoutine]

Well, I am back and catching up...

I just remembered another thing that really works.

Here in Houston we can get these green plastic bags called Evertfresh. They have a catalyst in the plastic that absorbs ethylene gas (the stuff that accelerates ripening, and rotting at the same time). You can put washed lettuce in there and it will keep for a couple of weeks.

I also get these green discs at Bed, Bath & Beyond that have the same stuff. You put them in the veggie drawer in the fridge. Things keep a LOT longer.

These things save me a lot of money.

←

I know this is late, but those evertfresh bags work like a charm. I bought them about a month ago on QVC. I love them.

[Eden]

I wish they made a tiny pitter for Nicoise olives. It's fun to shoot them through the big pitter, but you end up with a pitiful looking olive.

bringing this back to the top, since I was thinking about it today, does anyone know of a pitting gadget that works on the tiny olives like nicoise & arbquinas?

[SuzySushi]

Not exactly food-related but.... if you need silver polish, in a pinch you can use toothpaste.

And, from experience, the best (only!) way to get rid of the smell of burnt popcorn in a microwave oven is to microwave some bacon! (Forget about lemon juice, vinegar, etc. -- the stench of burnt popcorn is overwhelming.)

[ramodeo]

My favorite kitchen tip - to get garlic or onion smell off your hands after chopping, just wash immediately and thoroughly with cold water and soap. The soap cuts the smelly oils and the cold water rinses it away. Warm or hot water "melts" the oils into your skin and then the smell lingers forever. Blech - nothing worse than smelling stale garlic smell on your hands when you're trying to go to sleep.

[BarbaraY]

My favorite kitchen tip - to get garlic or onion smell off your hands after chopping, just wash immediately and thoroughly with cold water and soap. The soap cuts the smelly oils and the cold water rinses it away. Warm or hot water "melts" the oils into your skin and then the smell lingers forever. Blech - nothing worse than smelling stale garlic smell on your hands when you're trying to go to sleep.

←

If you rub your wet hands ofer the faucet it will get any remaining odor out, too. don't know why this works but it does.

Some stores sell small egg shaped pieces of stainless steel to use this way.

[choux]

On a somewhat food-related note: If you get gum in your hair, rub in some peanut butter to get it out. Then find something to get the peanut butter out of your hair. Seriously, PB really does work on a lot of sticky, gummy stuff.

Edited June 10, 2005 by choux (log)