50 tricks every housewife needs to know

In the rush of everyday life, it can be a great challenge to keep the house organized and to be able to perform all the household chores. In addition, minor accidents are common but we are not always able to decipher solutions quickly.

Did you accidentally scratch the couch with your pen? Did you put on the shirt without the deodorant drying and got stains? Did you dye your hair and end up getting your clothes dyed? Did she try to make a jello for dessert but it all fell apart when it was time to unmold? These things happen more than we’d like, but they’re no reason to ruin anyone’s day: the solutions can be much simpler than you might think!

To dodge the most diverse situations of everyday life, it is very useful to know some tricks. After all, leaving activities more practical – in the kitchen, organizing or cleaning – leaves much more free time to enjoy in other ways.

Check out below some simple, practical and quick tips that can change the way you face a domestic mishap, in the most different scenarios.

Food preparation and cooking

1. Sharpen the knife without a sharpener: sometimes knives let us down when preparing a meal and the sharpener is not always around. But using a sharpener isn’t the only way to fix that dull knife! Just take a box of matches and sharpen the blade of the knife in the same range where you strike the match.

2. Keeping sandwiches fresh: the sandwich is practical, quick and a great savior of times when even eating time is short. You can extend this practicality even further by preparing several sandwiches at once, to have a snack ready at various times. To keep them fresh, place some lettuce leaves on aluminum foil, place the sandwich on top, wrap and store in the fridge.

3. Thicken the bean broth: if you like the beans with the thickest broth but you don’t get this effect when cooking, remove a ladle of the cooked beans from the pan and mash the beans. Then return the paste to the pan, stir well and let it boil for a few more minutes.

4. Prevent roasting from drying out: Before you blame your oven for drying out a roast chicken, pay attention to the seasoning used in the meat! Vinegar and lemon added before the meat goes into the oven can make it dry out. Orange and pineapple are good replacements for these ingredients.

5. Soften cold butter: using cold butter can end up becoming a test of strength and patience, especially on colder days. To speed up the process and make it soft more quickly, heat a bowl of hot water and cover the butter with it, as if it were an oven.

6. Bake fish without sticking to the pan: this is a simple solution – and tasty! – to prevent the fish from sticking to the pan after roasting. Before putting the fish in the oven, grease the bottom of the pan with butter and line it with thick slices of potatoes, placing the fish on top. In the end, the reward is a non-sticky dish complemented by baked potatoes.

7. Keep ice cream soft in the freezer: Once opened, a jar of ice cream can lose its magic in the freezer. The accumulated ice makes the ice cream hard and even changes the flavor. To avoid this buildup and keep the dessert creamy, store the jar in the freezer inside a plastic bag.

8. Clean green corn: if you suffer from the difficulty of removing the corn strands that are stuck to the cob, adopt a toothbrush to help you with the task! The brush makes the wires break less often and come out more easily.

9. Cutting dried fruits: the difficulty here is with those more sticky dried fruits, which stick to the knife blade as they are chopped. To avoid this effect, heat a pair of scissors or a knife in hot water before chopping them.

10. Defrost red meat: didn’t have time to plan before cooking and the meat is still frozen? A quick way to defrost it is to marinate the meat for a few minutes in vinegar, which raises the temperature of the ingredient. Then finish defrosting in the microwave or with water.

11. Leave the salt loose: over time, the salt becomes thicker and it can be an adventure to get a salt shaker. To keep it loose, take a pan to the fire and, after heating, add the salt and stir for two or three minutes. For this, try to avoid aluminum pans and use low heat.

12. Unmold gelatin without breaking: for a whole and perfect gelatin after unmolding, count on the help of high temperatures! Dip the mold in hot water or wrap it with a towel soaked in hot water. After a few minutes, just unmold by tapping the container.

13. Cooking bacon in the microwave: want to prepare tasty, dry and low-fat bacon in a short time? Line a plate with two or three sheets of paper towels and place the bacon cut into strips. On top, place a few more leaves. Take it to the microwave for a minute on high power and, if necessary, put it on for another 30 seconds later.

House cleaning

14. Cleaning fabric upholstery: To remove odors, mold, moisture and disinfect fabric upholstery, start by choosing a sunny day to do the cleaning. Sprinkle baking soda over the upholstery and vacuum to remove excess. Then, spray white vinegar and let it dry in the sun.

15. Unclog drains: this tip is ideal for unclogging kitchen and bathroom sink drains. Put a cup of baking soda down the drain and then add two cups of white alcohol vinegar. When the mixture is no longer effervescent, pour boiling water and avoid turning on the tap for about 30 minutes.

16. Remove hair from the drain: hair falls out and accumulates in the drain – it is inevitable. To avoid the unpleasant feeling of wet hair in your hands, use a crochet hook to remove the strands.

17. Clean smoke stain from brick wall: fireplaces and grills can be the great villains of stains on the wall. To get rid of them, just rub a soapstone on the damp wall and then rinse with water.

18. Prolong the cleaning of the bathroom shower: washing the bathroom is one of the most dreaded activities of everyday life. But, it is possible to prolong the cleaning effect a little longer, preventing the growth of fungi in the grout and preventing stains for longer. To do this, simply sprinkle white alcohol vinegar on the area every two days.

19. Clean blender: because of the blades, the blender can be a tricky object to clean. To remove dirt quickly, whip some ice cubes, warm water and dish soap at high speed. In a minute or two you have a clean cup and blades!

20. Clean burnt oven: burnt food remains can resist rebels when cleaning. To make it easier, place a cloth dampened with liquid ammonia in the hot oven and let it act for a few hours. After that, the burnt pieces will have come off and you can do normal oven cleaning.

21. Clean Flower Arrangements: Dried flower arrangements may not need watering, but they still need care! With exposure, it is common for arrangements to accumulate dust. To clean them, boil enough water to cover the flowers and add a spoon of baking soda for every liter of water used. Soak the flowers for up to 15 minutes, then let them air dry.

22. Wash walls: the trick here is how to get started. Washing walls becomes easier starting from the bottom up than the other way around – after all, the mess when cleaning the drips on the surface that is already clean is much less.

23. Remove pen stains from the sofa: even the least clumsy of human beings can end up smearing with the pen what shouldn’t be scratched. To remove paint streaks from upholstery fabric, simply apply white alcohol vinegar to a sponge and rub until it comes off.

24. Sanitize dish sponge: the process of cleaning sponges is important to eliminate bacteria and germs that accumulate with use. Put a spoon of bleach in a liter of water and let the sponge soak for three minutes. Then just rinse and let it dry.

clothes cleaning

25. Moisturize the leather: it started to get cold and you are going to take the leather jacket out of the closet? After being stored for a long time, you can moisturize the leather so that the piece is renewed. On a damp cloth, drip drops of liquid Vaseline or sweet almond oil and rub the entire piece. After ten minutes, finish the process by wiping with a dry white cloth.

26. Accelerate the drying of clothes: this is a good tip for those who want even faster time to spin clothes. Place a dry towel in the centrifuge, along with the wet parts. The towel will absorb some of the water and the clothes will come out of the machine much drier.

27. Removing Deodorant Stains: Oh, hurry! Nothing is more common than putting on your blouse before the deodorant dries and getting a whitish stain on the piece as a gift. To get rid of it quickly, just rub a dry sponge on the stain.

28. Ironing leather clothes: although it has a heavier look, leather items are quite delicate when ironing. It is important not to use a steam iron and to set the temperature below 80°. To protect the piece, place a clear cloth over the leather and only iron with the cloth serving as an intermediary.

29. Drying thread clothes on the clothesline: have you ever wondered what to do to dry a thread blouse without stretching the entire piece? Remove excess water with a towel, then run a pair of pantyhose through the sleeves of the shirt. By attaching the socks instead of the sleeves to the clothesline, your blouse is safe from deformation!

30. Remove Sock Odor: If you’ve washed socks and they still smell unpleasant, it’s time to exterminate bacteria from the fabric. To do this, soak them in a mixture of water and vodka (yes, vodka!) for about 30 minutes.

31. Remove hair dye from fabric: it’s common to be dyeing your hair and end up with a stain on your clothes or towel. To remove it while it is still fresh, apply hydrogen peroxide over the stain and rub it in with a toothbrush in straight lines. Then, dry with a cloth and wash the piece as usual.

32. Ironing pieces with sleeves: to be more firm when ironing the sleeves of a piece, roll up a magazine and place it inside the sleeve. It will unfold and turn into a great support for the activity.

33. Ironing silk clothes: want to renew the fit of a piece of natural silk? Dissolve a sheet of white gelatin in a liter of boiling water. Then, add this mixture to an amount of cold water that covers the piece and wet it. Twist the piece, let it dry a little and iron it while it is still damp, covered with tissue paper.

34. Keep towels soft: Did you know that using commercial fabric softener on your towels can cause them to lose their absorbency? To keep them soft and without taking this risk, just replace the fabric softener with vinegar when washing.

35. Pre-wash heavily soiled clothes: to remove stubborn stains from clothes – such as makeup and sweat, for example…