Aug 3

Aug 3 Random home hack round-up

If you’re a regular reader of the Heydays newsletter (you know what’s coming now, don’t you - if you’re not, you should be! You can find it over on Substack and though I do say so myself, it’s really very good. You can sign up there or via the box at the bottom of this page) you’ll have benefitted from all manner of clever, surprising, unusual but always brilliantly effective planet-friendly home, garden and good-for-you hacks, which alternate each week in the newsletter with an equally satisfying and rewardingly easy recipe (see? I told you it was good).

Thanks to the various accounts I follow, on-line and on social media, books I read, and tips that friends and family share with me, I always have more of these invaluable suggestions than I can fit into my weekly missive (which arrives in your inbox at 9am every Friday, also includes a review of something to read, listen to or watch, some thought-provoking words of wisdom, something to make you laugh and takes no more than a few minutes to read. Have I convinced you to give it a go yet?) So this is a mop up of some of those helpful hacks and ideas that I’ve been gathering and which don’t necessarily quite fit in the newsletter but are remarkably clever and useful nonetheless.

They are, by dint of the arbitrary way I come across them, more than a little random, but you can use all of them in and around your home.

First up, one your flowers will thank you for

A charcoal chunk in a vase will make flowers last longer

Dropping a charcoal chunk into a vase will make your flowers last longer. The charcoal acts as a filter to keep the water clear of contaminants which cause wilting.

This is one I’ve used so often now I barely remember doing it any other way

A mess free, foolproof way to peel an orange

To peel a small orange or tangerine without the faff and mess of pulling off the skin and the pith, cut the orange in half then push each half inside out from the centre. The segments will peel right off the skin leaving all the pith behind.

I’ve found this one absolutely invaluable more times than I can count.

Remove stains from fabric with salted water

To remove blood stains from any fabric, dissolve a generous amount of salt in boiling water (it needs to be really, really salty). Stir the salt in until it’s complete dissolved and the water is absolutely clear. Then let the water go completely cold (this bit is very important, if the water is hot or even warm, it’ll set the blood not lift it off). When it’s cold, soak the stain in the water until it disappears. Which, I promise, it will.

Keep sheet sets together by storing them inside pillowcases

To make your bedding storage look a little more Martha Stewart and, more importantly, make it easy to grab whole sets together, fold the bottom sheet, duvet cover and all but one pillowcase together then slide them inside the remaining pillowcase.

This is another one I’ve been doing so long I can’t imagine doing it any differently now

Folding items in draws vertically rather than stacked

Store folded items in drawers vertically rather than stacked on top of each other. Not only does it more than double the amount you can get in, but you can see them all, so it’s easy to find/pick the one you want.

This next one isn’t one I use on account of not having a pet, but it comes from Mrs Hinch, who, if you don’t already follow her you definitely should (that’s her hand in the pic)

To get rid of any pet hair from your carpets or furniture, just use a shower squeegee. Simples!

Using masking tape to hang pictures straight

If you need to hang something on the wall that requires two precisely spaced hooks or nails, put a piece of masking or painter’s tape over the back of the thing you need to hang and mark the two points on the tape. Then stick the tape on the wall where you want to hang it (making sure it’s straight with a spirit level) and drill or hammer a nail through the two marked points then remove the tape.

I realise this one doesn’t fit the ‘in and around the home’ theme of the others, but it’s so clever and season-relevant I didn’t want to leave it out

You know how you can use powder to get sand off your skin (no? well you can). In spite of how well it works it can be almost as messy as the sand to apply. Not if you put it into a sock it isn’t. Just half fill the sock with talcum, knot it firmly at the top then rub it over the sand and it magically comes off.

Hope those have been as helpful to you as they are to me. Please do add any more suggestions in the comments.

Oh, and if you do decide to join the newsletter gang, there’s a bonus hack in this week’s one!