Dear Reena:I bought a brand new salt听and pepper shaker set to place in听the middle of my brand new dining听room table. The set is quite nice,听but I find that the holes on the salt听shaker were made too large. Salt听pours out of the holes very quickly听and I end up over salting my听food. Do you have any ideas in your听bag of tricks as too how I can fix听the shaker?
Carolyn
Replace table salt with coarse salt so听that each grain is larger making it听more difficult for salt to pour out of听the shaker. Also, store rice inside salt shaker to keep it fresh longer. If听all听else fails store something besides salt in the shaker such as; cinnamon, sugar or baking soda.
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Extra Salt Tips:
鈥� Salt and lemon juice made into a paste and rubbed on fabrics is a simple way to zap many stains.
鈥� If you soak fish in salt water before removing the scales, they will fall off easier.
鈥� A tiny pinch of salt with egg whites makes them beat up fluffier.
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Dear Reena: I live in the tiniest apartment that you have ever seen. It is embarrassingly small but I can鈥檛 afford anything else. My problem is that I听keep pillows and blankets at my apartment in case company ever drops by and they take up a lot of room (the pillows and blankets, not the people lol). Can you recommend a way to store them so that they don鈥檛 take up so much of my house?
Butch
In order to reduce the amount of space that pillows and blankets take up, put them inside a garbage bag. Put the nozzle of your vacuum inside the bag. Wrap the opening of the bag around the nozzle to trap air inside, hold onto the bag around the nozzle. Turn on the vacuum. The vacuum will suck out all air and compress pillows and blankets greatly. Close the opening of the bag with an elastic so that no air escapes.
Whenever you need to use the pillows or blankets, open the bag and they will immediately fluff up once again.
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Dear Reena: We recently bought some clay candle holders in Mexico and when we got home and started unwrapping the holders, (six in total) we could smell gasoline. It appears the gasoline has impregnated the holders and during the past week, we have left them outside, washed and soaked them in detergent and water, and even sprayed them with Febreeze. Unfortunately, none of this has helped. Do you have any suggestions?
Frank
Over time, old clay can start to smell and who knows how long the candle holders had been sitting before they were purchased. Some clay will start to听smell after only two weeks, depending on the materials used during manufacture.
Here are a few ideas to try: Freeze the candle holders in your freezer for a few hours. This has had good results, but you do run the risk of the holders cracking from the temperature. Or soak the holders in a mild solution of bleach and water. Lastly, coat the vases with petroleum jelly combined with a few drops of tea tree oil (found at many grocery stores in the pharmacy). If the smell remains, it may decrease over time.
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Dear Reena:I purchased two custom-designed Huppe ultra suede chairs for my living room a couple of years ago. The arm rests and foot rests now have dirt stains and I do not know what solution to use to clean this. I hesitate to use commercial furniture cleaning products. I鈥檝e tried using just water but that hasn鈥檛 worked. What would you recommend?
Colette
What I would do in this situation is to zap marks on suede using a soft eraser. For larger areas, make a paste of baking soda and water. Apply to each area and wipe back and forth using a stiff brush. When cleaning the entire chair use either commercial cleaner or a brush that has been dipped in vinegar. Do not over wet. If your furniture is very expensive, you may want to get it professionally cleaned, just to be safe.
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