Tips of all kinds!

[Patchouli]

Plastic mushroom containers are good seed starters too.

 

[joel]

Someone gave us ten pizza pans.
We started 200 tomatoes & 175 pepper plants . Many varieties for five families.
I planted way more than we put up, my friends had all they could use too.
You learn by doing.

 

[Caribou]

To make powdered milk for drinking. Dissolve the powdered milk in a little warm or room temperature water to dissolve well. Add very cold water. Shake well or stir in a lot of air. Serve cold.

 

[Weedygarden]

To make powdered milk for drinking. Dissolve the powdered milk in a little warm or room temperature water to dissolve well. Add very cold water. Shake well or stir in a lot of air. Serve cold.

I have read that it tastes better the next day as well. Also, some people add a little vanilla extract and that improves the flavor.

 

[backlash]

The only thing I hated worse than powered milk in the Navy was sterilized milk.

 

[Terri9630]

The only thing I hated worse than powered milk in the Navy was sterilized milk.

Powdered milk used to suck but its not to bad now adays, if you like skim milk. I use it for cooking and in cereal if we run out.

 

[Amish Heart]

Add chocolate syrup to it. That's how I'd drink it when we were first married and sent to France for work. I'm a big milk drinker. All they had was the shelf stable stuff. Then we'd drive to Italy and I'd order real milk.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

If you have a lot of family members or hard calcified or yellow markings in your toilet, scrub first to get the water lower, then you can clean the toilet by sprinkling citric acid in there let it soak for 30 mins or more and scrub clean. It does wonders to get rid of the marks .

To clean out the toilet cistern put in around 1/3 of a cup of vinegar in each side of the cistern if you have a duel flush, let sit for as long as you can and it gets rid of the built up calcification in there. We do this about once a month as we are on bore town water here. Also to clean your shower head put white vinegar in a bag and put it over your shower head and again it gets rid of the calcification in it too.

 

[backlash]

Our water is really hard. We have calcium deposits in the shower and can not get them off. I have tried everything available, including all of the homemade concoctions.
The water is so bad the windows on the back side of the house that got hit with the sprinklers are no longer clear. You can't see through them at all. Only thing I can do now is buy new windows. I have adjusted the sprinklers so they don't hit the house but it's too late.

 

[SheepDog]

Hydrochloric or sulfuric acids will work to get the scale off glass but you have to remove the window to clean it because both acids will degrade cellulose (wood) and aluminum while discoloring vinyl.
These acids also will burn your flesh - wear full arm gloves, rubber apron and a full face shield when using either.
It might be safer to just replace the glass.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Another idea @backlash is to put a splodge of ammonia in your window washing water as that pretty much gets rid of a lot of grease and grime and may work to get rid of the calcium build up on the windows. Again use with caution and add the ammonia outside to warm water in the bucket as it has a lot of fumes and you need to be in a ventilated area. Also try wetting the glass and using a blade scraper with a razor blade in it to get off most of the gunge and then try the ammonia. All worth a try rather than having to buy more glass for your windows.

 

[backlash]

I have tried about everything, except acid. The windows are in a vinyl frame and are double panes so taking them out of the frame is probably not easy. I had to replace a different window because it came unsealed between the 2 panes and it was around $150 so I'm guessing the windows will stay opaque. They're rear bedroom windows so it's not a real big problem, just annoying when I go in the rooms.

 

[Caribou]

Have you tried lemon juice or vinegar? I imagine that oxalic acid would work but I'd recommend extreme caution.

 

[SouthCentralUS]

 

[Weedygarden]

When you buy yeast in the 3 pack, each package contains 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast. If you purchase yeast in a 1 pound package, you can use 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast per recipe.

 

[Caribou]

I have a drawer that collects all the old electrical cords, power supplies, computer and TV cables, etc. a real spaghetti farm. I took old TP rolls and other smaller paper tubes, rolled each cord and wire separately and stored it in a tube with both plugs at the same end so that I can tell at a glance what I'm looking at. This greatly improves a search for a certain item.

 

[The Lazy L]

The black plastic containers of single serving microwave mac & cheese. Excellent for holding small parts while fixing or repairing stuff.
Plastic quart containers of ice creme. With or without the lid, store items for storage.

 

[LadyLocust]

I use egg shells for starting seeds. When you crack them open, just crack towards the little end.
Also, as long as they are clean, our senior center appreciates the plastic tubs so they can send soup etc home with some of their members. The heavier ones with screw top lids (read peanut butter) work better for nuts and bolts and the like.

 

[Caribou]

A friend of mine complained to Amazon about being charged sales tax. she gave them her tax exempt number and will not be charged sales tax anymore. Amazon also refunded her tax back to 1 January.

 

[LadyLocust]

Make a meatloaf about twice the size you need. Put the leftover in the fridge. Next night cut the meatloaf into 1” cubes add spaghetti sauce and you have easy spaghetti and meatballs- technically cubes but they taste the same

 

[Caribou]

An old muffin pan is a handy way to keep screws etc. sorted when disassembling an appliance or other item. The screws and other parts from each separate step go together and can be easily assembled in reverse order.

 

[LadyLocust]

@Weedygarden In depression era times they would collect bottle caps (metal like off old coke bottles) and thumb tack them to the bottoms of their boots. If one was so inclined, it might be a good reason to empty a few beer bottles this summer. ;-)
Also, a tip: if you just need some decent mixing bowls, I found ceramic coated metal bowls inexpensively in the automotive section of big box stores. We use quite a few bowls when we're cutting up meat and/or making sausage.

 

[Amish Heart]

Found some large, low, oil changing pans at the dollar store to grow wheat grass fodder in

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Found that a dustpan is good for scooping out the bottom of grey water tanks along with plastic ice cream containers to get out the gunge and to scrape down the sides of the tanks with too.

 

[Weedygarden]

@Weedygarden In depression era times they would collect bottle caps (metal like off old coke bottles) and thumb tack them to the bottoms of their boots. If one was so inclined, it might be a good reason to empty a few beer bottles this summer. ;-)

People also used bottle caps turned up and screwed down to a board to scrape the excess mud off their shoes, in addition to a scraper, a metal piece which had been inserted vertically into the concrete pad by the entry way. Farming and ranching people probably have to scrape their shoes frequently when there was any moisture.

I remember my grandfather cutting out pieces of cardboard to insert into his shoes like an insole to extend their life. This was in the late 1950's and 1960's.

 

[hiwall]

Those dollar flip-flops could be purchased now and used as insoles during end times. Or placed inside home-made moccasins to make them nicer for walking on rough ground. The flip-flop soles could also be put in boots that are too big to make them fit better.

 

[Caribou]

In days of old muk-luks were stuffed with dry grass to provide insulation. Today the Eskimos build muk-luks around insulated boot inserts.

 

[backlash]

You can use a flip flop sole to clean a sanding belt.
If my Aunt wasn't close enough to a misbehaving boy she could hit you from across the room with her flip flop. You had better not pick it up and run off with it either.
You can find 20% off coupons for Harbor Freight on line and keep a copy on your phone. You can use your phone to store coupons and just show them at the check out counter. I have a couple of coupons for free stuff at HF and use them when I shop there.
I bought 10 scrub brushes at the Dollar Store and keep them in my shop. I just used one to brush off the carpets in my wife's van.

 

[Amish Heart]

Our Harbor Freight is next to a grocery store I go to once a week. So I always keep coupons in my purse and get a free item and a cheap with 20% off item every week. I am well stocked up on free tarps now. I have a stack of coupons for free 24 pks of AA or AAA batteries, and $1 pair of rubberized garden gloves (with 20 % off, too). So that's what I've been getting. I see their prices for garden hoses are good, so I'll be getting another one of those and 20% off.

 

[masterspark]

Looking for suggestions to get rust stains off of my granite front steps. Just removed a wrought iron railing and have stains where it was bolted in.