Handy Hints for Wednesday ~ 33
Week 33. How I wish I was ‘Turty tree’ again! 
Once again I have five more handy hints for you:
When cooking if you over-salt food, add a spoonful of honey or drop a chopped potato or two into the pot. As the potato cooks it absorbs the salt.
Over ripe bananas that you don’t want to waste? Mash and freeze for making cakes and biscuits.
To remove coffee or tea stains from cups, fill with very hot water and a splash of white vinegar. Leave to stand for at least 20 minutes, or overnight.
To lengthen life of wooden clothes pegs. Place them in an old saucepan, cover with water & a spoonful of salt bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and leave in a single layer on an old towel to dry.
Do you need a neat string dispenser? Nail a funnel to wall and pull string out of bottom of funnel.
Ashok said,
June 24, 2009 at 7:54 am
Thank you for those tips! For an amateur like myself, these come as pearls of wisdom whose importance cant be stressed enough!
Nick said,
June 24, 2009 at 8:28 am
No problem with over-ripe bananas in our house. Jenny loves them, the riper the better.
Magpie11 said,
June 24, 2009 at 10:45 am
Boiling in salt? That’s what my mother used to do with soiled handkerchiefs…..I still do if I can get anywhere near the stove…oh and there are hankies to wash!
As for 33… old fiddles are the best….
Tincanman said,
June 24, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Great tips. Thanks! I used your suggestions and just put the old funnel I had on my workbench to handle the string dispensing. Works great.
Nancy said,
June 24, 2009 at 2:41 pm
“To lengthen life of wooden clothes pegs. Place them in an old saucepan, cover with water & a spoonful of salt bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and leave in a single layer on an old towel to dry.”
Is it all right if I throw a couple spuds in the pot with the pegs?
Brighid said,
June 24, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I feed the over ripe bananas to the roses, they love them.
Thanks for a great bunch of hints.
chrisb said,
June 24, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I feed the ripe bananas to my tortoises! Might give the pegs a little boost though.
Baino said,
June 24, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I knew there would be vinegar!
Nancy said,
June 24, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Baino,
You have made a good point. Actually there is a new film to be released shortly starring Daniel Day Lewis and Grannymar titled:
“THERE WILL BE VINEGAR.”
kenju said,
June 25, 2009 at 12:55 am
All good tips, Grannymar. I like the funnel tip, even though I don’t use string much anymore.
Magpie11 said,
June 25, 2009 at 10:33 am
During WWII there was a shortage of cooking fat (let alone butter). An old couple I knew told me this story of how his parents had a blocked drain. So his Dad pulled up the grid and cleaned out the huge amount of grease that had blocked it.
How to dispose of this? The answer was to use it under the rose bushes in the front garden…no fertiliser…so out they went and carefully lifted the first rose bush and just as they were putting the offending fat into the hole they heard a cough. There was a policeman looking very stern. He took some persuading that the fat was not cooking fat (lard?).
Of course during WWII there were no bananas to feed to the roses.
Grannymar said,
June 25, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Thank you my friends for all the wonderful comments. On Wednesday before lunchtime my broadband connection died. Today Thursday I was away from home until about 4pm. Thankfully the broadband returned and we are now friends again.
Normal comments will now resume.
stwidgie said,
June 27, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Please GM, for my 20 minute scalding anti-aging bath, do I use salt or vinegar, or both?
Grannymar said,
June 27, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Hi stwidgie,
I have to admit I never put salt near my bath, a drop of vinegar will soften your skin and help clean the bath at the same time. For luxury I add a tiny drop of baby oil to the water and my skin feels pampered!