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I put a 1/2 cup of baking soda in my drain and follow it with 1 cup of vinegar (sometimes more). It foams (like the volcanoes in school) and cleans the drain of make-up muck!
Ooh, I need to try that on my necklace later. Thanks for the tip!
After using up lemons or limes, I grind them in the garbage disposal to freshen up the kitchen sink. That's probably a tip most people already know, but I can't think of anything else right now!
Milk takes blood stains out of clothing. Just soak the spot with blood on it in a little milk (a few teaspoons is all you need unless it's a lot of blood) for a few minutes, scrub the cloth on itself and then wash like normal.
That's my big 'home remedy' right there :)
This one is not so weird... we have hardwood floors, and we always use the hand attachment on our vacuum to clean the floors instead of sweeping. Same goes for the kitchen. I hate sweeping, and the hand attachment seems to do a great job. Our dog once got in to a full 1 lb bag of flour while we were gone one day. We came back to a kitchen floor covered in flour. Five minutes later and it was all cleaned up. It probably wasn't good for the vacuum, but SO much easier than sweeping, dustpan, etc. If I could use it outside without breaking it, I would!
The blood tip made me think of the next one.
This is for when you have children -- make sure to have a red washcloth on hand for when your child skins their knee or gets a cut. They won't be able to see the blood on the washcloth so they won't get freaked out! Of course, some kids think it's cool....
The book "How to Sew a Button: And other nifty things your grandma knew" by Erin Bried seems AMAZING to me...all sorts of tips like this, I really want to get it :)
@daydreamwanderer: That's awesome! I didn't know that! Great tip!
A woman at my old gym had a funny tip from her sister. She used to just hide a bowl of Mr Clean or whatever near the front door so when people came in they'd smell the cleaner, and it gave the illusion that she had just washed the floors, etc, LOL!!!! I thought that was awesome!
For gardening, I've been washing out all my eggshells, letting them dry overnight and then I crush them up into an air-tight container. I sprinkle the shells around the base of my lillies which slugs LOVE to eat to keep the little critters off. Plus eggshells are awesome for your soil. It worked while I was keeping it up ;)
Every few weeks I throw some ice down the garbage disposal and turn it on. My mom always said it was good for sharpening the blades and for cleaning out any muck that might be in there... but who knows :)
hmmm cant really think of anything else!! i'll keep thinking.
@torybrian -- my husband has a leaf blower type thing that vacuums! Yup, vacuums. The neighbors think he is off his rocker. He has two -- one for vacuuming and one for blowing. I think he vacuums the front yard more than I vacuum the house! (maye I shouldn't say that 
@MissAsB: Is that the one with the bristles on top? I can't remember which brand it is that I have (I'm 99% sure it's Resolve...) with the bristles on the lid and it's AMAZING. When we were fostering our kitten and first got her, she had some sort of awful parasite/stomach bug and had massive diarrhea on my white silk Christmas tree skirt twice (sorry if that's TMI). I used that Resolve and you would never ever know anything had happened to it. I was SO relieved! It's amazing!
I clean everything with vinegar and vodka. Tea tree oil can be used to get that "musty/moldy" smell out of furniture, etc.
Warm salt water helps get rid of a headache. If you have a sore throat/chest put Vicks on your feet and wear socks to bed.
@sudslover: That is a great trick. Works so well.
@bakerella: um... i have TOTALLY been guilty of just mopping right next to the door to make it smell just-mopped! especially bc i have the febreeze scented mr. clean. love it!
@bakerella: Possibly, but I use the Resolve that's actually for carpets/furniture on my clothing and scrub it with a toothbrush.
@CorgiTales: LOL! That's awesome! I should start doing that. I'm all about the "illusion" of clean, don't open my closet doors! LOL!
This thread totally reminded me I poured toilet bowl cleaner in the toilet two hours ago and forgot to go back and finish the job. Whoopsies.
I don't know if this really counts as a "tip" so much as a philosophy... but i was reminded of it bc of this "illusion of clean" stuff :)
So... I think that visual impressions of things rule. If I'm running late and don't have time to really fully clean before company i definitely go for illusion of clean over real clean. Priorities: clean off countertops (even just shove stuff into a drawer), hide stacks of stuff, and make the couch look nice!! Also light a candle or two and get the fireplace going.
If I'm serving dinner I make sure to present it in a pretty way. I actually saw some thing on tv about this study where 100 people were split into two groups... both groups got the EXACT same food but one was served in a fancy restaurant with fancy names and fancy presentation. the other was served on chinet. When everyone was asked their opinions the people served on chinet were not impressed. The people served on china thought it was delicious! So I definitely pay attention to serving dishes, etc.
If you spill nail polish in your carpet you can use Mens shaving gel to get it out. Also spray a little windex will help. ( I spilt a whole bottle of BLACK nail polish on brand new white carpet and I used that, you could never tell.)
A cracker in your sugar container will help it from clumping up.
Baking soda is amazing for everything.
You can make tomatoes get ripe by wrapping them in newspaper and leave them out for awhile.
Olive oil will stop wax from sticking to stuff.
If you accidentally explode something in the microwave and no amount of scrubbing will get it off, slice several lemons into thin little rounds and toss them into a microwave safe bowl of water. Throw the whole batch into the microwave and nuke it for 30 sec to a min. The lemons and the steam created by "cooking" the water helps loosen the gunk in there so you can get it all off.
Also, just a tablespoon or so of vinegar added to any household ammonia-based cleaner will rev it up a little. It sure does stink, though! Might not want to use this on glass, however...my dad insists it leaves a slight film on reflective surfaces (but I've never noticed it).
Another trick if you catch a light stain on clothing while it is still wet, run the item under the faucet at its coldest, but let the water fall on the spot from a height. Something about the chilly water siphoning through the fabric helps loosen the stain so you can pre-treat and it will come right up in the wash.
@PixelMePretty: Can you give more details on this nail polish - shaving gel business? How exactly do you use it to get the polish out?
If you get pen ink on your clothes, spray it with hair spray.
Microwave a lemon for 15 seconds, then roll it on counter (with some pressure) before juicing it and you'll get more juice.
If you have dogs, canned pumpkin is a home-remedy that helps both diarrhea and constipation.
Don't buy specialized craft/hobby storage boxes. Instead, get a fishing tackle box or a toolbox. (My "grooming box" I take to dog shows is a $5 toolbox, versus getting a grooming box for $60. My mom uses a fishing tackle box for embroiding/sewing supplies, works better than a container labeled "sewing box", and a fraction of the price!)
Don't like ironing? For most clothes, throwing it in the clothes dryer with a damp washcloth for a few minutes will unwrinkle it.
@teenybird: Along the same microwave thought, I throw a damp cloth in the microwave for about 20 seconds or so and then let it sit for a couple minutes once it's done. The cloth steams to soften the stuck on stuff, and then once it's cooled off enough to touch, it's ready to use to clean up the inside! My mom taught me that one.
Obviously baking soda is great for a lot of things. I love to use it to clean my sink.
If you have a glass top stove that gets stuff burned onto it, the Mr. Clean magic erasers work wonders.
I don't always scrub my shower, just spay some Clorox Cleanup or your product of choice and let it sit when you get out of the shower.
A friend taught me to use the Oxyclean spray spot remover (or whatever it's called) to get impossible stains out of dry clean only clothes. It involves soaking the clothes in cold water and spot treating, it takes a while but totally blew my mind and saved some expensive items.
I also vacuum the bathrooms before cleaning. Makes it a million times easier when there isn't hair and dust everywhere.
And I know this sounds silly, but DH and I always keep a big bottle of Pepto Bismol and Asprin on hand. I'm going to sound like a commercial, but they are the two most effective and multi purpose medicines that cure almost anything that we would regularly be effected with.
When you spill the nail polish, as soon as you can go get some Mens shaving gel. (Some people use foam but I only use the GEL)
Put ALOT of it on the stain over the whole spot and massage it in with your fingers down all the way to the base of the fibers, try to get it totally saturated until it's a little lathered. Then Pour warm water over it, you'll need a towel, Dab it up best you can, it's better to blot to get the polish up.
Then Repeat over and over and over:
Rub in mens shaving gel very well, until it lathers.
Pour water over spot.
Blot,Blot,Blot.
And Repeat.
You'll end up using almost all of the gel.
I did this for about 20-30 mins and got it all out.
It was so crazy, I wish I had taken pictures, I was freaking out because it was literally the WHOLE bottle of black on my brand new white carpet (I was renting). But it completely came out.
@PixelMePretty: Did you read this somewhere or was this a remedy you came up with in a moment of panick? Either way, sounds likes it worked out great!
Shampoo also gets blood out. Works for everything
This isn't a real trick, but a lot of people don't know about it...
Barkeepers Friend (it's super cheap and you can get it at places like Wal-Mart), works magic on getting rust spots of of knifes or silverware. It's probably something simple like baking soda and a mild abrasive, but it's so cheap there's no reason not to just buy it and use it.
Oh, I thought of another one! Old-fashion lye soap takes grease/oil out.
My parents' dog ran through a pan of old motor oil, they were trying EVERYTHING to get the motor oil off the dog (they didn't want her to get sick from licking it). They tried dog shampoo, human shampoo, hand soap, dish detergent, laundry detergent, basically anything that resembled soap or detergent in their house. The only thing that finally took it off was a bar of homemade lye soap!
@caszos: Don't give me too much credit. As soon as I saw the spot and the tipped over polish I jumped up, called my mom which was NO help, then googled it.
Google is amazing.
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Do you have any weird fixes for stains/cooking/gardening that you know of and use?
I'll start:
If I get a kink in a necklace I use a vegetable oil or baby oil to work out the kink...if there is also a knot I use a needle to work it out with the oil.