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Do you find yourself doing bizarre things at home? Like trying to save your homemade chicken noodle soup in a food storage bag only to pour it all over the counter and down the cabinets? I’ve done that more times than I want to admit. One at a time I working on finding cures for chaos around our home with these household tips.

The idea of 30 days of household tips came to me when Country Design Style first started its Facebook page. After several months of begging family and friends to “like” the page, it grew to 332 likes. I set a goal to double the number in 30 days.

I grabbed my camera at the time, {a notch above a disposable camera} and each day to a photo of a household tip. So please disregard the some of the photos.

30 Household Tips

Day 1

The first tip. Pull off a piece of steel wool {I use a third of the pad} and lay on the wire brushes of your BBQ grill brush. Cleans the grill amazingly but best of all, when it get’s too dirty, pull the steel wool off and add a new piece.

Day 2

We buy the large package of boneless and skinless chicken breasts. Some I cut in half lengthwise for thinner chicken breasts, some I cut in strips and the rest in pieces. Then bag and freeze. Easier to prepare when it’s cut to the size needed.

Day 3

Buy those empty spray bottles and fill with your favorite cleaners and label well. They work better than the spray bottles cleaners usually come in. Plus come cleaner come in economical bulk sizes. I even add water to some of my favorite cleaners to extend the use and they still work fine. Shhhh!

Day 4

Simple. Use a bottle brush to clean out those reusable k-cups for those coffee makers.

Day 5

I have been using this for years. I made a typed sheet of the common grocery items we purchase on a regular basis. They are grouped in sections of the grocery store. Dairy, fruit and veggies, bakery, etc. I keep this sheet in a cabinet in the kitchen. Easy to run down the columns for needed items.
I also note if there is a special brand or type we like. This help as I get older and there are more and more brands and types. I mean how many things can you add to tomato sauce??

Day 6

Day 6! This is for the bacon lovers. Raise your hand! I make a small “pizza box” out of foil to pour the bacon grease into to “set.” Makes tossing into the trash less sticky!

Day 7

my two favorite cleaners for the kitchen especially. White vinegar mixes in half with water in a spray bottle. And hydrogen peroxide {large bottle} with a sprayer attached. I’ve been using this combo for years and recently found hydrogen peroxide with a sprayer! Hum! I still like to add my own sprayer. They work better. See day 3!

Day 8

I grab my kitchen tongs to reach things on high shelves or that get behind a dresser or grab a doggie toy from under the sofa.

Day 9

This is for those that have to iron. I don’t like ironing but using liquid starch works better for me than the starch in cans. I can mix heavy or light according to the amount of water added. The spray will not clog up. The liquid starch does not leave starch stains and I can add a couple drops of my favorite fragrant oils.

Day 10

Put it in the way!  That’s how I remember to do something.
I always forgot to add dish washing machine cleaner to the dishwasher soap. So I finally started placing the container on top of the soap box. Now I never forget. Our dishwasher works better using the additional lemon cleaner.

Placing a book to take to a friend on top of my purse helps to remember. Sitting a medicine bottle in the middle of the table reminds me to order more.

Day 11

Freezer organization.
Arrange a shelf in the freezer to be narrow leaving a larger space below. Lay food flat in freezer bags until frozen.  Then move down and stand on the side like books in a bookcase. I started adding my labels down the right side to easily find the spaghetti sauce from the chili!
I’m getting hungry.

Day 12

Use a small dish of white vinegar to get rid of strong odors.
Don’t have any idea how to get rid of the vinegar smell though! Heh, heh. Actually, the vinegar smell goes away with the other strong odors.

Day 13

Use a can to hold your food storage bag open.  Keep from spilling all over the counter, down the cabinets and on the floor!  I saved a small, medium and large can that stacked inside each other to hold the 3 sizes of food storage bags.

Day 14

Keep cheese together in a plastic box. “Cheese box”
Yum!

Day 15

Add ground beef in a large food freezer bag. Close the bag leaving about 1 inch open for air to escape. Using your hands flatten the meat. Then using the edge of your hands or the handle of a wood utensil, press through the meat to form serving sizes. Seal closed.  Freeze and just grab the amount needed.

Day 16

Add a battery light on the inside of dark kitchen cabinets. This cabinet is the corner lazy susan cabinet and I added one light high for the top level and one lower for the bottom level.

Just remember to turn off the light or our cabinet will glow through the door.

Day 17

Sort mail as soon as you walk in the house over the trash and the shredder! Keep only what you need.

Day 18

When my son was little and still living at home {miss you} we had a quirky rule. No twist ties!
Instead, we clipped bags closed with clothespins. Love the farmhouse look of using clothespins around the house.
Lately, I use office binder clip for freezer items. Otherwise, I had clothespins in the bottom of the freezer!
Cutting off the top edge of a bag and using it to tie the bag closed also works in the freezer.

Day 19

A janitor tip to use at home. Keep your extra trash bags inside the trash can.

Day 20

Learn to use a squeegee.  Buy a professional squeegee with a good rubber blade and learn to use it. We have a glass front door and a dog.  It takes me less than one minute to clean inside and outside.  Our large floor mirrors clean in seconds.

Day 21

Buy ONE quality or favorite item and keep it in the same place. I found tweezers that I really like and bought several. Then promptly lost them. Now I keep one in the same place and haven’t lost it in years.

Day 22

I learned this trick to hang anything lightweight from an aunt years ago. Using a hammer you can tap in a straight pin into drywall. Then simply pull straight out leaving a very small hole.

Day 23

Time gets away from us all and never more so than on the computer. There’s an app for that! Several in fact. Find a timer app you like and use it. I’m amazed what I get done in a day using a timer.  And become overwhelmed on the days that I don’t use a timer.  I use a timer doing housework too. 🙂

Day 24

Housework…ugh! This helps…when I do it! 🙂 Divide your home into 4 areas. Then each week spend the bulk of your housecleaning time in the area for the week. At the end of four weeks, it’s amazing how clean your home gets. By keeping it up even the baseboards might get cleaned…might!

Day 25

I love grocery store flowers.  A big bunch is under $20.  Grab some and divided them by color. I got 7 small fresh flower displays to tuck around the house. Love it!

Day 26

If you have remodeling plans for your kitchen, make sure to add plugs inside some cabinets with shallow drawers to set the coffee maker, toaster, blender, etc.

Day 27

Okay, I may lose some of you with this one. Ironed pillowcases. Now, I don’t like ironing but I love having crisp ironed pillowcases. So once a week I spend 10 minutes and iron 5 pillow cases using wonderfully scented spray.

Day 28

I can get aggressive in the kitchen. Chopping, grating, mixing. Cutting out a circle of rug gripper stuff helps keep things in place. Below I used a clear plate so you can see the grip. 🙂

Day 29

Some of those flowers on day 25 needed a recut and rearrange. I like to remove flower at the main stem, gather together at the same height and trim. The tall arrangement is now a small tight bunch. Perfect for a small side table.

Day 30

This last tip is more of an idea for your health. Grab a 64 oz water container and fill it up each morning. Make sure to drink up and finish by bedtime. Heading out to work? Use a plastic container. Makes getting enough water a little easier.

Whew!

Oh, did I reach my goal? No! All that work and my likes increase by 237.  On to another goal and idea. 🙂