Clever Household Tips

Bananarama 

Pull bananas apart before displaying them in your fruit bowl. If you leave them connected at the stem, they’ll ripen faster and go brown quicker. Who knew!

Buying capsicum 

We’re not sure why, but a capsicum with three bumps on the bottom is sweeter than one with four. Oh, but four bumps makes for a crunchier, firmer capsicum, so you should weigh up crunch vs. sweet when picking out your pepper!

Zip ‘em up! 

Pack lids for plastic containers or Tupperware in a clear tub or large Ziploc bags so it’s easy to see just where the required lid is…no more rampaging foot loose and fancy free!

Getting rid of ants 

It may sound cruel, but if you have an ant problem, desperate times call for desperate measures. Put small piles of polenta where you see ants and they’ll gobble it up, return ‘home’ and won’t be able to digest it. Your ant problem (and the ants) will soon be dead.

The power of garlic 

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a subtle taste and towards the end to blast it with flavour.

So cheesey 

Wrap cheese chunks in aluminium foil and store in the fridge to keep your cheddar fresher for longer and to keep mould out.

Flexible vacuum 

To suck up hard-to-reach gunk under your fridge, or behind a bookshelf, insert an empty paper towel roll into the end of your vacuum cleaner and bend, or flatten it, to squeeze into these difficult spots.

Breathing basket 

A bamboo steamer makes an ideal countertop food container, stash bulbs of garlic, onions, shallots, and other items that don’t require refrigeration and need ventilation.

Coffee Grounds 

Use your morning pick-me-up to eliminate odors in the fridge. Simply place coffee grounds, new or used, in a bowl on a shelf. Replace them every two months for a fresh, slightly caffeinated smell.

White Vinegar 

Keep your dishwasher extra clean with white vinegar. Pour . cup into the detergent cups and run the empty machine for a complete cycle. You can also use a few tablespoons of powdered laundry bleach, Tang or lemon-flavored Kool-Aid (it must be lemon) for the same results.

Ice Cubes 

It won’t be a pretty sound, but tossing ice cubes into the garbage disposal breaks up grease and keeps it clean. Every few weeks, toss in a handful of cubes, turn on the disposal and run cold water. Add some orange, lemon or lime peels to ward off odors.

Re-opening envelopes 

If you seal an envelope and realise you’ve forgotten to include something inside, just place it in the freezer for an hour or two and voila, the envelope will unseal without a trace!

Soak it up 

Before you toss out (or better, recycle) your newspaper, use it to get rid of some garbage grime. Cover the bottom of your trash can with old newspapers to soak up leaks and odors.

Fend off weeds 

Instead of tossing your daily rag in the recycling bin, use the newspaper as mulch and deter noxious weeds. Simply wet the sheets and put the layers around your plants and garden beds, covering with soil as you go. The weeds won’t be able to get through the wet newspaper layers.

Play-Doh 

Use this playtime gear to pick up tiny slivers of broken glass (you know, the ones you don’t notice until you’ve stepped on them). Simply press a piece into the area to grab those smaller shards. Be sure to wrap the glass up carefully before throwing it away!

Crispy leftover pizza 

To reheat a pizza so that the base is out-of-the-oven crisp, heat your leftover slices in a fry pan on low-medium heat on the stove until warm and wave goodbye to the days of soggy microwave pizza.