Tips/hacks that just dont work for you

[Sidebeforeself]

Another failure has inspired me to start this thread! Just tried heating dinner plates by keeping them in hot water..just got a slightly warm plate for the first few seconds, yet I always read this tip around Christmas time.

White vinegar and dish soap to attract and kill little black flies - nope

Bicarb of soda in boiling water to give extra crisp roasties - no discernible difference!

Getting a bit of eggshell out using a bigger piece - nope!

My partner did this to my freezer! He's no longer allowed to initiate any more 'hacks' 😂

Someone up thread mentioned batch cooking. I agree. Why would you spend several hours of quality weekend time cooking instead of doing something simple in 20 mins on an evening.

What does work with this is to do tomorrow's meal prep in any dead time after everyone's been fed in the evening.

The trick is to use dead time when you'd otherwise be doom scrolling.

That deffo works. I was amazed!!

The fly thing doesn't work, tried apple cider vinegar and dish soap, the honey and cling film, nope. I now have an electric fly zapper and use only jeyes fluid for the outside and inside drains.

Salt and boiling water in a flask overnight will clean it well. Tried and tested.

No idea about vomit on carpets, every single time I get a new bloody rug an animal vomits up something gross. Happened last night, cleaned it, put stuff under it to raise it up and ended up blow drying it with my hairdryer. I need to invest in the shark pet cleaner.

Tomato ketchup works to make copper coins come up shiny - it really does work, I used to do it when I was a kid!

Vinegar and dish soap is a new one on me but vinegar on its own, or topped up with water, or red wine all work for small flies.

There is only one type of toilet cleaner that removes limescale below the water. The stuff in the black bottle that says x10 on it.

No, it really works. If you rub a paracetamol over a hot iron it comes up like new,

But I did this and it didn't

Because I'm single and the stuff I like to eat doesn't work in 1 portion or is just as much work
If I'm cooking a lasagne I'm not going to cook it for 1 so I freeze the rest which is technically batch cooking!
See also cottage pie, beef stew, virtually any recipe like that

Oh crap, my washing machine is smaller than yours and I just bought one. Please don't tell me they won't fit in😱

Elbow Greaser cup cleaner is absolutely fantastic for getting tea stains out of mugs and saves faffing about with vinegar etc. It's probably my fave household product and does exactly what it is meant to, which feels rare these days!

I don’t know why then, because it’s never failed me.

After seeing so many people rave about it on MN, I tried the hack of putting a matching duvet and sheet into a pillow case.

I do not understand how this is a useful hack. Very many contortions were required to actually get the other things into the case. More required to get the things out again.
Meantime, you can just fold the duvet cover, put the sheet on top and put the pillow case on top of that - no extra folding or weird origami required, and you can still easily pull out a matching set of bedding.

The sun does help with stains! But only certain stains and it has to be full summer sunlight. I've found it's most effective on food stains like tomato sauce.

I do the denture tablets too, just dropping one in a cup of hot water and no faff at all, plus they smell minty fresh for a few seconds 😂

And super cheap, because elderly people get all the discounts.

I'm guessing you're the only person in your house changing bedding, if I did that in mine it would be a mad grab and no sets in about 2 weeks as someone grabbed random pillowcases or sheets for no good reason.

The advantage of them being in a pillowcase being a hassle is that it's also a hassle for people to randomly take bits out and they won't bother.

I’m with you @redskydarknight I can’t see the point of trying to shove large amounts of bedding into a pillow case

I have to say that even when living in Sydney with really fierce sun, I never once saw it have any bleaching/stain removing effect so this hack has never worked for me…

Dr Beckman does a pet stain remover that actually works on vomit etc. it's the only thing I've found that works and it only takes a few minutes. Saved my new carpets after my dog was ill.

Shaving foam around the toilet floor to remove urine, does nothing. Heatless curl hacks are also rubbish on my hair, i just get a kink which drops out.

You are my people!

I've never seen the point of concoctions of vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and lemon juice when nine times out ten, fairy liquid will do the job.

Likewise, the clever hack about duvet covers and pillowcases. This lazy mare has managed to work out all by herself that if you put the pillowcases on top of the cover in the drawer, as if by magic, they appear when you need them.

My actual tip for what it's worth, is that you can do a surprising amount of general cleaning with ecloths or decent microfibre cloths and plain water.

Not the only person that changes bedding, but people take a full set and not random pillow cases or sheets. If I had a family that did that I would probably invest in extras.

(Although if you need a random pillow case or sheet, surely you need one, and aren't going to stay in dirty bedding just because it's a bit trickier to get to one?)

Agree about those concoctions of bicarb and vinegar. Brings back my basic O-level chemistry (acid+base=salt+water) from 40 years ago. Makes a lovely chemistry-set style foam as it reacts, but that's about it!

I just pop the plates in microwave for 30 seconds before dishing up food - keep it simple and all that ;)