Tips to make life a little easier...

I came across some cooking/cleaning tips recently and thought there were some great ideas. I have already tried the vanilla in the ice chest idea and hope o try the other ones soon! Here they are:


1. To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
2. To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard-boiling.
3. Run your hands under cold water before pressing Rice Krispie treats in the pan. The marshmallows won't stick to your fingers!
4. To easily remove burnt-on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stovetop. Skillet will be MUCH easier to clean.
5. Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato-based sauces--no more stains.
6. When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead-no white mess on the outside of the cake.
7. If you accidentally oversalt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato--it absorbs the excess salt for an instant "fix me up."
8. Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the fridge--it will keep for weeks.
9. Place a slice of apple or piece of bread in hardened brown sugar to soften it back up.
10. To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh, if it rises to the surface, throw it away.
11. Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half, and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away. (I've never tried this, so if you do, let us all know if it worked.)
12. Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.
13. Ants, ants, ants everywhere. Well, they are said to never cross a chalk line. So get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants tend to march--see for yourself if it works.
14. When you get a splinter reach for the scotch tape before resorting to tweezers or a needle. Put the scotch tape over the splinter and pull it off. Might be a life saver for a kid who's scared of those tweezers.
15. Now, look at what you can do with Alka-Seltzer:
* Clean a toilet--drop in two tablets, wait 20 minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous china.
* Clean a vase--to remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water adn drop in 2 tables.
* Polish jewelry--Drop 2 tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for 2 minutes.
* Unclog a drain--clear the sink drain by dropping 3 tablets down the drain followe by a cup of White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.
16. When storing large thermoses or your camping cooler, to keep it from smelling bad: First, wash it , of course. Then put one or two drops of vanilla flavoring in to the thermos or cooler and wipe around with a paper towel. When you're ready to use your cooler and thermos again, they won't have leftover camp food smells that seeped into the plastic.