Let's start a thread of just random advise / hacks

[washingmachineslivelongerwithcalgon]

No specific topic, just great advise you'd give.

Keep it simple.
(Apologies, I didn't know which other category to put this under that would gain traction)

I'll go first:

• don't sweat the petty stuff, & don't pet the sweaty stuff.
• if you can't open a food jar, pierce the top to get the air out and it opens right up!
• drizzle a tablespoon of marmite into the cooking fat before you roast your potatoes (and drizzle some over the spuds)
• if you don't have egg cups, use shot glasses
• hair spray gets most things out of carpets. (Learnt this when staying at a boyfriends house as a teen and dropped lipstick. Blind panic and hairspray saved me!) used it ever since, in emergency situations.

When making instant hot chocolate add a splash of milk and stir into a paste. When you add the hot water it makes it frothy and a little bit more creamy tasting 😋

I agree with the washing up liquid tip, but to be extra safe, I added white vinegar to get out the random blackberry stains (how?) from a white shirt (whhhyyy??) the other day.
Vinegar is great for most things - especially cleaning glass, and as a fabric softener. Added with bicarb, it will keep black things black in the washing machine. (I also use a mix of Isopropyl alcohol and water (3:1) in a spray bottle for cleaning most surfaces. And neat, will clean a phone screen wonderfully.)

Fairy liquid also removed half a tub of hair wax (when it was a new thing...) from my then three-year-old daughter's shoulder length hair - but only after we had tried several shampoos and the hairdresser had cut off three inches!

Another one is, when getting up from the floor - use your toes!
I have recently discovered this, and it makes such a difference in a house with hard floors.
(Or am I just really old??)

In winter, I use the stiff bags for life in my boots to keep their shape, and it helps me to remember them for shopping; the bags, not the boots. (Summer is a different matter though.)

To put your duvet cover on easily, turn it inside out, slip your hands into the corners, grab the corners of the duvet and shake: it goes on instantly.

Don't bother with those bullshit cystitis sachets: just drink some bicarb in water, it blitzes it much faster and more effectively in one go

Thank god someone else sees it 😀 @LindorDoubleChoc

Put a chopped up lemon in a bowl of water in the microwave full power for 3/4 mins
Your whole house will smell of lemons 🍋

A G&T at 5 o’clock works wonders. Advice given to me when I had a newborn by an older friend!. The gin was for me not the baby. I have taken the advice on occasions!

Can you not engage with your child whilst feeding her instead of typing random chat on mumsnet?

What a silly comment. You've no idea of the age of OP's child. I doubt she's spooning yoghurt with one hand and typing on Mumsnet with the other. More likely she's breastfeeding. And I certainly didn't spend every moment breastfeeding engaging with my two, they weren't interested in my nonsense while they fed.

If you post a comment and it gives you a self satisfied smirky feeling, delete it. You are never superior when you feel you are.

Don't feel bad about doomscrolling /mumsnetting /whatsapping/ chatting on the phone when feeding a baby or pushing a child in a forward facing pushchair, especially if they don't sleep much. It might be the only time you get to yourself and to keep in touch with friends, so grab it with both hands. Well, one hand.

Don't use biological washing powder to try to get a little stain out of a wool carpet, as the much bigger pale yellow-green stains in my darker green carpet attest.

Try not to let your pet be fat. Not only does it cost more in food bills, it costs more in vet bills- body fat is a pro-inflammatory substance, kind of the opposite of omega 3 oils, and obesity increases the risk of many expensive medical conditions in pets. If your pet is hungry and begs a lot, it will still do it whether it is fat or slim. So it might as well be slim and annoying as fat and annoying.

Ok a little bit un-PC one but if you want to snag a man, send yourself bouquet of flowers (red roses) and mention how a Posh one is calling u at night madly in love with u, and Love Island-ish cekebrity is begging u to go out and ur mortified.

It will increase your value

Also don't sleep with him on first date if ur keen. Say ur waiting to be wed, if he sticjs it out, zing zing zing you have a winner

Never accept being his OW obv

Clean windows, induction hobs, tv's, anything shiny really with deionised water decanted into spray bottle. Use sparingly and with a good glass microfibre cloth.

Before you shut the door ensure that you have the key(s) for the door in your hand.

On a self catering/air bnb holiday, get a Chinese takeaway the first night and voila! Tupperware/lunchboxes for the whole holiday (and to take opened food home)

Just bang the jar on the floor….that way you’ll have an intact lid….

And @NoImnotcalledIgglePiggle

Don’t judge a parent based on the briefest snapshot of their lives (it’s usually mothers that are judged so harshly).

Wrap an elastic band (a thick one) around a jar lid to help you grip it.

😹😹😹😹 My kind of advise

It was the only time I've had today with a bit of peace and quiet to scroll on my phone. Jesus Christ.

Why are some people so damn miserable.

Genius!

If you batch cook, squish the freezer bags flat. They fit better into the freezer and defrost more quickly.

Also, if it's bolognese ragù you can use the flat portions from frozen in any baked pasta dish.

For white sauces, make them in a much larger saucepan and use a whisk. The pan gives more surface area which means quicker thickening.

Both of those mean you can turn out lasagne in under an hour.

Make the sauce, layer it all up with your frozen bolognese ragù, put it in the oven for 35-40 minutes. The meat will defrost while it's all cooking.

Trust me!

@Inmybirthdaysuit and after checking towel check the shower curtain! She says after having a tarantula drop on her head from the shower rail.

Brilliant! Why haven't I thought of this already?

@WhiteArsenic im going to apply your tip to my life 😁 sound advice for everyone

Don't pick blackberries in the wild that are lower than three/four feet.

I had to tell a woman today who was picking them at ground level.

These are all amazing!
I particularly like:
Hairspray on collars for no make up transfer
Elastic band around jars for a better grip
Filling up 2 caddies for DC
Tying all the bags for life in one back then tie it so can't go over little peoples heads.

Such useful little bits of information on this thread. It's lovely! (Apart from the 2 snipers unhappy that I was feeding DD) she's 2, she's had 2 years of interaction. A quick scroll whilst she has a milk snack isn't going to hurt her.

If you bleed on something, spit on it to get the stain out. Saliva has enzymes that break down the red bit in blood.