Smelly Shoes

If you have bad-smelling shoes, place a few dry tea bags inside each shoe to absorb the smell. If your shoes are not just smelly but also wet, fill them with a mixture of rice and baking soda and leave for a few days.

Tea bags work well for fighting odor because they are so absorbent. Normally they will absorb quite a bit of moisture during tea brewing. With this shoe deodorizer method we are putting those properties to use for other means and sucking the moisture and smell right out of our shoes.

Things you'll need: Tea bag/ A Cup of Rice/ Baking Soda




Start A Fire

Chips are not just a tasty snack. Fat, oil, and the chemicals in potato (or other) chips make them a perfect fire-starting material. The greasier the better, snack chips are high in fat – which equals a high fuel value. Light a small pile of chips with a match or lighter, and you can watch the fire grow!

Things you'll need: Lighter, any kinds of chip snack




Find Small Lost Items

Life is full of tiny things: wedding rings, teeny-weenie parts of kids’ toys, screws, hair pins…..the list goes on and on. Ever lost any of these small things? Trying to find something microscopic in your home can feel like, well, finding a needle in a haystack.

If you need to find a small lost item in your carpet or shag rug, reach for your vacuum and a cheap pair of pantyhose. First, stretch one leg of the pantyhose over the end of the vacuum tube. Then, vacuum over the area where you might have dropped that screw. Instead of getting sucked up into the vacuum, it'll get caught in the pantyhose. Probably along with some dust bunnies—just toss those out!

Things you'll need: Vacuum cleaner, pantyhose or stocking




Unclog Drains Easily

Like everything in life, cleaning with baking soda and vinegar comes with exceptions. And that exception is cleaning drains.When you’re cleaning your drain, you want to see a little plop plop fizz fizz. You want something else to do the dirty work. Like baking soda and vinegar.

Run hot water down the drain for a minute, and sprinkle 1 cup of baking soda down the drain. Then, slowly pour 1 cup of vinegar down the drain. Let it sit for five minutes and then rinse it one more time with hot water.

Why this works: The baking soda and hot water treatment will loosen up any grimy sludge that’s hanging out at the bottom of your drain, and the explosive chemical reaction with the vinegar will jolt it all loose. Then one final super hot-water rinse will make all the bad stuff go bye-bye.

Things you'll need: Baking Soda, Vinegar, Hot Water




Prevent Buttons From Falling Off

Of course, removing the buttons and resewing them is an option, but finding a matching thread color may be impossible. Instead of that headache, just use a coat of clear nail polish to seal the thread in place and halt the unraveling. Be sure to carefully remove any loose strands before applying the polish.

Apply a small dab of nail polish to the frayed threads. Make sure you cover all of the thread on the button face with polish but don’t over apply (which could make a mess--even though you are using clear polish). Allow the polish to dry before adjusting the button or adding any more clothing to your outfit.

Things you'll need: Colorless nail polish




Amplify Your Phone’s Speakers

Put your phone into a drinking glass or a bowl to boost the volume of its speakers. This prevents sound waves from moving everywhere.

Place your it towards the speaker-end first. This will create an echo chamber that amplifies the sound.

Things you'll need: A Cup That Your Phone Fits Into




Grow Roses From Cuttings

1. Remove the flower and leave about a 12 inch section of stem. The flower is using up all the plant's energy. By removing it, you encourage the stem to refocus its energy on survival and that means sending out new roots.
2. Remove all but the top 2 leaflets on the stem, cutting just above the top set of leaves.
3. Use your pruners to make a fresh cut on the bottom of the stem, just below a node (bump) and use your pruners to slice up into the bottom of the stem about 1/4 inch, quartering it.
4. Rooting hormones spur the plant into developing new roots. They are not absolutely required, but they do help. To use a rooting hormone, slightly wet the split stem tip and then dip it into the dry rooting hormone. Shake off any excess.
5. Plant the cutting in sand or potting mix. Poke a hole first, in the potting medium, and then insert the stem.
6. Cover the cutting loosely, pot and all, with a plastic bag or plastic wrap and keep the soil moist.

Things you'll need: Rose Cuttings