Household Hints & Why They Work

[jeshyr]

One thing that's been bugging me lately is articles like 35 Lifechanging Way To Use Everyday Objects, and Did You Know?. They detail lists of less standand uses for common househould items, generally.

They bug me because they never say why something works, so they don't encourage you to think up your own uses - just to use the ones already listed for you. So here's a maker's version, or hacker's version, of that type of article. I'm going to try to classify such hints and tips and tell you why and how I think they work ...

Not *all* the hints in lists like this fall into this type, I was guessing about 80% in the articles I've seen. And there's nothing *wrong* with sharing examples - it's good in code and it's good here too!! I just had came across a bunch of these "list type" posts lately and it was bugging me that I haven't seen /any/ of the why/how type that I'm writing here.

Here's what I've got so far - not very many but I've been talking about this on IRC so I want to put it up so people can add to it. I'll publish it again when I actually finish writing it ...

Toothpaste is a foaming mildly-abrasive cream cleanser.

- Good for cleaning gems

Toothpaste (non-gel type) can also be used as as chalky gap filler for small areas, it dries white.

- Good for filling nail-holes

Nail polish is good sealer suitable for small areas.

- Seal the bottoms of shaving cream cans to stop them rusting.
- Scratch the paint on your car? Brush a coat of clear nail polish over the scratch to prevent it from rusting until you are able to get it repaired.

Nail polish is good paint suitable for small areas.

- Colour the bases of keys to help you distinguish them.

Nail polish also works as a not-very-strong glue

- Keep ribbons (or even shoelaces) from fraying by painting the ends with clear nail polish.
- In lieu of licking envelopes, use a few swipes of some clear nail polish.
- Reset loose stones in inexpensive costume jewelry with a coat or two of clear nail polish.

Coffee filters are disposable permeable lint-free cloths.

- Use to clean glass, CD’s/DVD’s, computer monitors and even your iPad.

Walnuts are a good source of dark brown nut oil.

- Rub broken walnut surfaces into scratches in wooden things to disguise the scratch.

Moisturising cream, hair conditior, and fabric softener are essentially the same substance (a not very foamy surfactant) with different levels of dilution, and different colours and/or scents added to them. Dryer sheets are the same stuff too, just with most of the water removed.

- Make a dryer sheet by putting some of any of these on any reasonably lint-free cloth (coffee filter!) and waiting until it's fairly dry.

Commercial dryer sheets have a high level of static cling, similar to microfibre cloths, plus a touch of surfactant in a much dryer form.

- Makes them an excellent polishing cloth, but they'll leave a slight residue which makes dust cling more in future.

Washing soap, hand soap, dish soap, shampoo, etc. are also the same thing with different additives and levels of dilution.

Baking soda is great at absorbing odours

- Pour some baking soda into a coffee filter, wrap it up with a rubber band and stick it into smelly athletic shoes to absorb the stench.

Comments

[highlander_ii]

Toothpaste can also be used as a cleaning agent for some things. I'm pretty sure I've used it to clean My Little Ponies! (Just don't use the whitening kind, b/c it can do weird things to colors.)

[sheramil]

"After a party, you can save on bin-liners if you pop the balloons before you throw them away." - Viz magazine

[acelightning]

if you have a CD or DVD that won't play because it's got some relatively minor scratches, try this - it sounds disgusting, but it works. rub your fingers along the sides of your nose, where the skin oils accumulate, until you've got some on your fingers. then rub the grease onto the surface of the disc. apparently its index of refraction is close to that of the plastic, and allows the laser to read past the scratch.

[vass]

I really like this post. It is a thing I didn't know I needed.

[dahliablue]

Don't know if my last comment went through. I wasn't logged in.

[(Anonymous)]

I really love this post.

Toothpaste is also good for drying pimples over night. I gave my 13 yr old nephew this tip. :)

[cme]

Oooooh, I have one!

This works because of the previously-covered similarity between dryer sheets and moisturizer.

If you are a person who wears tights or nylons, and you have static cling issues with another layer of clothing, take a little moisturizer, rub it on your hands so that they're a bit damp, and run your hands up and down your legs on top of the tights/nylons until they feel just a tad damp. Obviously, this requires a creamy moisturizer, not a waxy one.

This might work on other kinds of clothes too, but I would be wary of applying it to polar fleece or polyester (especially formalwear). The reason this trick works is that the lipids in the moisturizer inhibit the small electrical charges that are static cling. However, those same lipids can bond to polyester and create slight oil stains.