What tip have you heard about and been incredulous when it actually works?

[hiredandsqueak]

I saw on Twitter that filling a ziplock bag with water and a few coins and hanging it in a doorway/placing it on the doorstep will keep flies out. It seemed such a bizarre suggestion that I thought I would try it and can confirm it works. I've also hung one near the bins and there hasn't been any flies around for a week.
Are there any other tips that I should know?

Well putting Vicks on your feet in bed to stop coughing doesn't work. I have a cold at present with a really dry tickly cough that is driving me mad.. Have tried the Vicks 2 nights in a row and it made no difference at all

A friend taught me to defrost the freezer with a hairdryer. It’s a game changer. Put all the freezer food in the fridge, switch the freezer off then aim the hairdryer at the ice. Job done in 30 mins and the freezer stuff that was in the fridge hasn’t defrosted so can go straight back in

I think you can use a steam cleaner too

A pint of white vinegar in your empty washing machine and set to run on a boil wash gets rid of smells, gunge and descales it all, including the pipes. 29p in Aldi and other supermarkets.
Brown sauce or ketchup smeared on sticky residue from stickers etc on furniture gets rid of it. Smear on, leave for 10 mins, wipe off.
Run tight jar lids under hot water for a few seconds will break the seal and loosen it, due to warm water expanding the metal.
Put a few drops of essential oils on a cotton wool ball and pop it in your empty hoover bag to make your rooms smell nice as you hoover.
Bicarbonate of soda liberally sprinkled inside smelly trainers and shoes and left overnight gets rid of odours. Shake out before wearing.
Pour the water from your steriliser down the loo last thing at night to clean it.

When bathing your dog, give it a good brushing first to get rid of loose hair, then wear rubber gloves when washing it. Surprising how much more dirt, grit and hair comes out than when using bare hands.
Then when dry, rub coconut oil between your palms before stroking it on to your dog in a backward/forward motion. Not only gives a lovely shine and is great for their skin, but also helps to prevent flea's.

I've used the hairdryer to defrost my freezers for years. What I also do, is when the ice starts melting I use a blunt dinner knife to prise chunks of ice off, so it doesn't take as long to defrost.

Re nits, I wouldn’t use neat tea tree oil on your head and especially not on a child’s - it might work but could really irritate the skin. I think a little tea tree oil mixed in with your shampoo is good for deterring them, but to get rid of them I prefer the shop treatments.

We had a nit plague last summer and it took ages to get rid of them. In the end I did it by using a Superdrug own brand one that you leave in for 15 minutes, then comb. I did all of us every few days for a couple of weeks, to catch any missed eggs. Even if you can’t eliminate them in one go, you just keep hammering them and eventually it should work.

For the freezer, I put a roasting tray on the freezer shelf and fill it with boiling water from the kettle. Leave it for half an hour then pull off the bits of ice.

When defrosting my freezer I fill the empty drawers with very very hot water and put back in the freezer (on top of a tea towel to absorb water),shut the door and 15 minutes later all the ice is either gone or soft enough to remove. Another bonus is the drawers just need to be wiped and rinsed out.

Does anyone have any tips to get limescale off shower heads? It's sort of rubbery rather than metal so I don't think the 2p trick will work.

The shower heads are fixed and quite high so tricky to scrub.

summerfish I did my rubbery shower head by coating it in Limelite Gel (not the liquid version) and then wrapping cling film around it and leaving for a good few hours before scrubbing off with a nail brush.

If you have a steam cleaner, use that to defrost the freezer in about 5 mins.

@slinkysaluki and @JoysOfString

Thank you very much!

I’ve used killrock spray gel limes ale remover and found it very effective

summerfish, Aggi (from Kim and Aggi ) said to remove limescale and soap scum from the shower doors, to soak kitchen towel in white vinegar and then "wallpaper" the shower doors overnight. I wonder if a similar trick would work for a rubbery shower head high up?

You could put the vinegar in a plastic bag and tie it onto the shower head overnight.

Re nits....wash as normal and then do a final rinse in wine vinegar. Then blow dry as hot as you can. This unsticks the nits from the hair shafts.
Your child will smell like a chip shop though so not on a a school night.
Makes fair hair look lovely and bright as a side effect...

Love this thread - I've saved about half of it to my phone notes.

Any tips for burned on black stuff on the bottom of an oven? Should I put a cat in it?

Does anyone have any tips on getting hair dye out of a white lace top?

@Emmas85

Does anyone have any tips on getting hair dye out of a white lace top?

Bleach, start with a weak solution and increase if necessary. But not if the lace is polyester, bleach can yellow it

I clean the glass shower cubicle by getting in it with a scouring sponge and cream cleanser.
Wash, rinse then wash self.
Detach the shower head, put head first into a jug, pour white vinegar into it and leave for a couple of hours.
Rinse and put back on.

I have just cleaned the rusty metal basket in the shower with scrunched up tinfoil and it has worked brilliantly, thank you thank you to whoever suggested that.

@Popsy09 I was genuinely scared of her before - she's not nasty but is strong. Now I've got the beginnings of core muscles I'm so much more secure in the saddle. I literally fell off her 4 times in 2 weeks and was close to giving up.

The general bendiness and flattening of my stomach was a surprising bonus and now I'm evangelical about yoga (can you tell )

My hair is below my shoulders and was getting very dry . During lockdown I remembered a tip ..... comb your hair before showing wet hair and only shampoo the scalp leaving the rest of the hair alone. Rinse then condition all the hair but keeping the hair straight not in a bunch as is done at the hairdresser. Rinse squeeze dry with a towel.

Forgot to say that you need a wide toothed comb , I recommend Majestic from Amazon.

Cleaning my kids 'wall art' off with WD40 - worked on felt tip pen and wax crayon!