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..

Same here 001, I can also carry it to school, send kid in, then walk home still carrying the bastard thing.

There are no helpful tips for that kind of stupid.

Cutting foil sharpens blunt scissors.

Put wet washing straight onto hangers then peg hangers on the line. It'll dry without creases or peg marks When its dry you can bung it straight in wardrobe without having to sort and iron.

The tulips one does work - my friend told me about it & showed me.
Love the extension lead one. Brilliant.
For petrol I remember "passenger, petrol".

Those Diary Doll pants mentioned upthread....has everyone else known about these and I'm just late to the party?
Has anyone tried them?

My useful tips have mostly come from here

• have a tub of talcum powder in the beach bag- a liberal sprinkle gets sand off hands and feet before getting dressed.

• chop and freeze garlic, onions; and grate cheese. Store in freezer.

-teaching kids how to tidy their rooms by themselves- teach them how to make their beds neatly first. Once the bed is neat, the rest seems manageable somehow.

• in any room, no matter how untidy, set a timer for 15 minutes and get going. Just that much can make it much better.

Put a safety pin on the inside back of your tights that have no label so you know the back from the front.
To differentiate between black and navy opaques on dark winter mornings put silver or gold nail varnish on the inside back of either the black or navy pairs.
Nomire navy tights with blackshies or vice versa

Cut Magic oven liners in a circle shape - make a great non stick base for pavlova

Use a used up conealer brush ( like Touche Eclat) as a lip brush

Hilary the diary doll pants were in an article in the Guardian, first I'd read about them, they've also been mentioned with good reviews on here a couple of times.

I'm beyond needing them now, touch wood, but would have killed for a pair a couple of years ago when I had to resort to incontinence pads on holiday as I was bleeding so heavily.

To the poster who only just discover the 'pricking thing' on tomato puree, it was an embarrassing number of years till someone showed me that...

Also rice packets have a measure scale written on the side.

link to Guardian article

sport and menstruation

Cut a banana in half, stick an ice lolly stick in each half and freeze = banana ice lolly.

yehbutnobutyeh our water is vvv hard and kills kettles in no time. What do you do with the white vinegar? Do you just chuck in a load, boil amd throw away periodically, or what? I put white vinegar in the washing machine along with fabric softener; is that right?

Thank you MyCat

Cut a banana in half, stick an ice lolly stick in each half and freeze = banana ice lolly.

And then cover in chocolate.

Extension lead tip for holidays is fab! Off to pack one now

Use a stamptastic.co.uk stamp to label kids stuff (clothes, lunch box, bags, shoes, pencils cases, everything ). Just one stamp and it's done. No labels, no ironing on. And all washable. Brilliant. Did my DS kit for a school trip in less than 3 minutes. All of it. Yay.

Www.stamptastic.co.uk

For travelling light, hair conditioner doubles up as shaving gel. A rectangle sarong is a great beach towel and dries more quickly too.

Use the vinegar like a normal kettle descaler - pour a bit in, boil, leave for a bit, rinse. Just a small cup or two though, not a whole kettle full, and watch carefully - it froths up.

Store salt and pepper grinders in the bottom of an old Tupperware tub. This means the tub catches any salt and pepper bits that come out of the bottom, rather than it going over your kitchen cupboard.

OK so this one feels a bit weird when you first start, but, when preparing food that stains or stinks (garlic, onion, beetroot), wear a pair of disposable medical gloves.

YES I KNOW

I bought a box (because I use them when I am face painting for hygiene and to stop my fingers being stained all day) and now I use them all the time. I also put loads of handcream on wear them when I'm cleaning the house. Oh and I wear them under gardening gloves (again with hand cream) if I'm weeding, and by the time I'm finished my hands are baby soft.

Nail polish stays on longer, hands feel all nice and clean.

it just looks a bit sinister if someone comes to your house

Always chuck the parmesan rind into the ragu/Bolognese whilst it's simmering. Never throw it away!

Soak a folded kitchen towel in cold water and pop it into bags of salad leaves/herbs in the fridge, then seal with a peg. Stays fresh instead of turning into limp slime within a day.

Patches of chicken wire placed around the garden will deter cats.

Also use the gloves when chopping chillies to save the agony of touching my face or eyes with fingers that have recently been in contact with chillies

To chill wine quickly wet a paper towel, wrap round bottle put wrapped bottle in freezer for about 15 mins.

Towel freezes and chills wine.

If you can't get the lid off a screw-top jar, use a rubber glove. Works every time.

Am also going to pack a 4 gang extension lead. Genius. Read this out to dh..."I've suggested that before!" You liar liar pants on fire....

The pricking tomato purée one also applies to all cream medicines.....I had to point this out to my mum....a nurse... [face palm emoticon]