Miscellaneous Household Tips

[Oresai]

To get rid of fruit flies and midges....
half fill a glass with cola or other fizzy drink, cover the top of the glass with cling film and poke holes with a pen in the top.
Leave on a table or windowsill, the flies get into the drink but cannot get out of the glass again. No chemicals!

[Oresai]

How to light an open fire...(just in case!)

Clean out the grate and surrounding fireplace area. Taking newspaper sheets, roll, scrunch and coil into fist sized pieces and place in grate.
Chop kindling to fit the fireplace (this, apparently, needs saying after I watched one person bring in tree trunk sized pieces one morning! )
and place on top of rolled newspaper.
Place the smallest pieces of coal or peat on top of the kindling, leaving enough paper poking through at the front.
Using matches, lighter or taper, set fire to the paper, if your hearth has a damper at the front of the grate leave this open until the kindling catches fire, after which it should be closed.
Sometimes the fire struggles to catch, the reasons for this can be damp kindling or paper, or not enough `draw`, ie wind in the chimney. This can be overcome by placing the shovel for the coal upright in front of the fire opening, and holding a double sheet of newspaper over the front of it so that it covers the fire.
Needless to say, take care with this because often the paper catches fire, if it does so simply roll quickly up and put into the fire. But with a little care the paper creates a suction/draw in the chimney and helps the fire to catch.

Note....using a few squirts of lighter fuel to `help` things along is simply stupid. Trust me. I know the fella with no eyebrows who tried this.

[Oresai]

When my son was still at school, his class researched toothpaste. No matter how `kind` they say it is to teeth, pretty much all mainstream toothpastes contain sugar, colouring and acids which erode teeth, and mouthwashes are little better.
A natural alternative to toothpaste is bicarbonate of soda. Simply dampen your brush and dip into the powder and brush teeth as normal. It is slightly abrasive...as is toothpaste...but contains no artificial ingredients nor sugar so won`t erode the tooth enamal.
Powdered sage can also be used, and is especially good for dental hygeine when mixed with powdered myrrh, which strengthens gums.
For toothache, if you can`t get to a dentist immediately, place oil of cloves on a little ball of cotton wool and hold against the affected tooth. It is lightly antibiotic and anaesthetic. However, use sparingly as prolonged use damages gums, and do not swallow oil of cloves, it is toxic and overdosing leads to convulsions and even death.

[Alison]

Thanks! I didn't know that oil of cloves was toxic, although I did know to use it for toothache.

[Oresai]

For cat owners...
If your cat widdles on the carpet, as soon as possible use a cloth to lift the wet stuff but do not rub it in or it`ll stain.
Instead, sprinkle heavily dry bicarbonate of soda on it and leave overnight. Bicarb is a deoderant (it can also be place on a small dish in your fridge to absorb odours, throw it away after about a week and replace) and cleanser.
In the morning, remove the bulk of it and gently using a damp cloth lift out as much as you can. Leave further to fully dry then go over it with the vacuum.
This gets rid of pet smells and sanitises the offended piddly bit of the carpet. up

[Oresai]

Air fresheners....
The best air freshener is fresh air itself. But some folks live in cities where it isn`t advisable to open windows wide. Commercial air fresheners can aggravate conditions like asthma, and contain a wide cocktail of chemicals.
If you really like the artificial air freshener smell, try placing a little clothes conditioning liquid in a small pan of water on the stove top as you do the housework, this scents the air with a fresh laundry smell.
Incenses are nice too but again, can irritate asthmatics. Dried herbs can also be heated gently in pans of water to provide similar scents without the smoke of incense.
One of my own favourite smells isn`t, strictly, an air freshener, but I do like to put a pot of coffee on the stove top...love the smell of fresh hot coffee.

[Arrow Cross]

Ah, the déja vu of the good ole Scouting days...

[Lady L]

To the mention of flies...I think I posted this before on The Althing but anyway in the summer if you have lots of flies around your porch area or anywhere and would like to get rid of them, simply get a zip lock freezer bag or similar, fill with water, throw in a couple of pennies and tack to desired areas! It works 100 percent. The flies see the penny in the water as they would see a hornet nest...because of their eyes...