Simple useful things that took you too long to work out...

[MyCatIsAGit]

Like taking the oven shelf out of the top oven to use in the bottom (bigger) oven so you can fit 3 trays in rather than just 2.

10 years we've had that oven, juggling baking trays at Christmas and for kid's beige food and chips tea, in fact most days. Especially as top oven doesn't work v well.

Revelation this Sunday..

I put duvet covers on by having the cover inside out, putting my hands in the corners, grabbing the corners of the duvet and then pulling the duvet into the cover. It was a revelation the other day when I realised that life was much easier if I left the cover inside out after I washed it (& thanks to the pillowcase trick it you can't see the cover anyway!)

Following on from the earlier one about frozen bottles of water,My DB told me this weekend if you half fill a bottle of water and freeze it on its side, you can then fill the rest of the bottle with water so you have cold water without having to wait for it to melt.

I've spent years clutching soggy bottles or shaking them about to generate more liquid

Esmerelda flick the right way round over the banisters or place on top bunk for clipping also v useful.

Folding washing and piling it up in order ie kids t shirts, my skitprts, ironing etc much easier when it comes to putting it away.

When making a quantity of anything in a bowl eg cookie dough, mince for meatballs etc, you can make sure each of them turn out the correct size by first flattening out the stuff in the bowl and then dividing it up into the correct number of portions (like cutting a cake) before you start scooping.
This works for anything, eg fillings for pasties, tarts, wraps etc and stops them all being different or ending up with waste at the end.

kitchenwitch- excellent!

My husband just told me about the little lever you can pull on our Dyson (which weve had for about four years) so that you can vacuum the upholstery or a rug without it attaching itself to the end. I'd just been telling him that if he uses the upholstery attachment and holds the tube at an angle he can get all the toddler's cracker crumbs out of the sofa without the cover sucking up the tube. He looked at me like this

Not to keep cleaning a stainless steel hood, after it gets water marks from steam all the time. Instead rub it with a little baby / olive oil and it stays looking new for ages

Same with any other stainless steel kitchen appliances

Don't bother peeling potatoes before boiling and mashing. Just cut clean potatoes into chunks and cook as normal. Yes you can see the skin, but it is in small pieces and you can't taste it.

No waste, you get all the good stuff from under the skin as you aren't peeling it away, it's extra fibre for everyone, leaving the skin on lowers the GI of the potato so it's more filling and it's a lot quicker to prepare.

I know it sounds yuk but it really isn't - you eat the skins on baked potatoes or potato wedges etc. so give it a try!

i do that oooh I also don't bother peeling carrots or parnsips or anything like that :)

If you keep onions in the fridge they won't make you cry.

Take a four gang extension lead on holiday so you plug all your chargers, hair straighteners etc in at the same time using just one socket/ adaptor instead of the juggling act we did for years.

Can't open a jar? Hit the metal lid on the side - a plain bit without the simple that tucks under - with a large metal knife (back of). It makes a little air get under and releases the pressure.

That a line of flour across the threshold stops ants from coming in the house. even if it does look a bit like ritual magic

Betrayed - that is a really good idea with the extension lead, so simple, yet I'd never thought of it till you suggested it.

We have a not-quite-square-duvet, stitched with squares (8x9) to hold the filling. Nightmare: I was always putting the duvet cover onto it the wrong way and having to start again.

One day I marched downstairs, grabbed a sharpie, and labelled the bloody duvet, 'END' and 'SIDES'. It has saved me hours.

Also, keeping the dog kibble in a tupperware in the cupboard is a damn sight easier than keeping it in there in a bag which is liable to split/spill/not fit.

Oh, and stuff home remedies for filthy grout. Grout cleaner really, really works.

mehsmum you are a genius!!! Why didn't I think of that? I can never remember which way the duvet goes into the cover and it always takes me ages to figure out!

My pleasure.
It did take me till I was about 42, though...

Will be purchasing a Sharpie on my home to do this with the duvet, I can never get it bloody right. Was much easier on a single bed

Another one for opening a jar without having to use a knife is to use any tin opener. If you look at your tin opener it will have some kind of bottle opening hook on it, wedge it under the rim of the lid and it should 'pop' then the lid will turn easily.

Another tip is to use scissors for cutting meat instead of a knife, I just cut straight in to a pan, saves having to keep a separate chopping board and you can trim fat or grizzle really easily.

The other option for opening a jar is to run boiling water over the seal - it really works

Yes yes to using scissors for pretty much everything! Meat, spring onions, pizza - they all get the scissor treatment

I use scissors for loads of things. They are especially good for chopping up hot pitta bread into fingers for dipping. I also use them to cut full sized pizzas into quarters (uncooked) so I can stick them in the freezer for DS to have for dinner on late days. No more buying those rubbish individual pizzas that only come in cheese and tomato.

These are all brilliant

I think I read this on MN, when making a child's bed, do mattress protector, fitted sheet, another mattress protector and another fitted sheet. Then if they vomit or wet the bed in the middle of the night you just whip off the first sheet and mattress protector and a clean and dry sheet is ready to go underneath.

I recommended to a friend that, when going on a long trip with her DH and their baby, the baby's seat should be moved to behind the driver's seat so that the adult passenger can more easily talk and pass snacks to the child. She told me I was a genius.

Mopping the skirting boards and banisters works well. Also if you can't be bothered to mop the floor - put a couple of floor wipes under each foot and skate round the kitchen!

Don't bother to spend ages chopping carrots into even sized circles before boiling. Cut in half (or quarters if a chunky carrot) and boil for 15-20 mins. Drain, then chuck in a lump of butter & some black pepper and cut up randomly with a normal dinner knife. Particularly handy when feeding loads of people.

Use cornflour rather than flour to thicken gravy so it doesn't get lumpy.

When trying to work out if a bare plant is a blackcurrant or redcurrant - rub the bark - the blackcurrant one will smell of blackcurrants.

To syphon water out the bath (for watering the garden) don't suck at the bottom end of the hose but instead force water (from the bath tap) into the top end & this will start the syphoning process.