11 Surprisingly Useful Household Tips

Some actually useful and quite surprising household tips from some program on Japanese TV the other night.

• Make tangerines or oranges extra sweet by putting them in 40C water for 10mins before eating
• Old jeans are great for cleaning scum from baths and stainless steel basins
• If you’re trying to push a stalled car, don’t push from the back. Simply turn one of the rear wheels, it gives you a lot more torque than pushing.
• To remove burnt stuff stuck to a frying pan, sprinkle salt on it and heat for a few minutes.
• To stop babys crying, put sunglasses on them – try it!
• To stop dogs shaking off after they get wet, put a towel on their back.
• To write on material, like T-Shirts, use sandpaper under the material to hold it still while you write
• To keep lettuce or spinach fresh, put it in a plastic bag with a couple of small holes in it. Fill the bag with water and let it drain for a few minutes. Use a bit of tape to close the bag but dont make it airtight. Stores in fridge for a week or more without going floppy.
• If your lettuce does go floppy, put it in 40C water for 5 minutes to make it crispy again.
• To get a tight ring off your finger, wrap thread around your knuckle with a 1mm or less gap between each wind so that it covers your knuckle. Pull the end of the thread nearest your wrist through your ring. Now slowly keep pulling the thread, letting it unravel through the ring and ease the ring up over the skin of your knuckle.
• Wrap bananas individually in polystyrene wrap (to maintain temperature) to keep them fresh and yellow for 2 weeks in the fridge.