Tips and Tricks For Around the Home

Published July 19, 2012

Furniture Fix-up

I love it when you find dual purposes for ordinary household products. Shoe polish is wonderful for disguising nicks and scratches on furniture. Available in a variety of colours, shoe polish is opaque and it’s removable. If you don’t care for the way it appears after you apply it simply wipe it away with a soft cloth. The best thing to do is to search for a shade of polish that is very close to the finish of the furniture. Once you have found the perfect shade, apply a small amount with a Q-Tip and let dry for 30 minutes. Gently buff the polish off with a soft cloth.

Duvet Dilemma

Placing a duvet inside its cover can be challenging. Sometimes to the point where you have to actually crawl inside the duvet cover to get the corners to line up just right. Well not anymore. Here’s a great tip for getting those corners inside. Place your duvet cover on the bed with the opening side facing up. Shake out the duvet to ensure all the filling is distributed evenly. Take one corner of the duvet and slide it through to one of the corners of the duvet cover. Secure it with a safety pin. Then slide the opposite facing corner of the duvet into its corresponding corner and shake out both corners of the duvet cover until the duvet falls into its place. Tuck the remaining two corners of the duvet into their corners and voila! (Don’t forget to remove the safety pin…ouch)

Quick Clean Up

Have you ever wondered if there was an easier way to clean up that burnt mess on the bottom of your pan after cooking? Soaking and scrubbing will eventually work but usually at the expense of your pan becoming scratched and damaged. Here’s a better idea that’s fast and easy. Simply boil a dishwashing tablet in 2-3 inches of water in the pan for approximately 3 minutes. Once this is done it will be good as new.