Mal's Tips - Five Offbeat Tips You Didn't Know You Needed!

When cleaning your toilet bowl, it's best to remove as much water from the bowl as possible, so that liquid bowl cleaning products or powdered cleansers aren't diluted or dispersed by the standing water in the bowl. You could use a plastic or paper cup to bail out the water, but here's an easier way:

Add at least one gallon of water from the sink or tub into a bucket and then pour into the toilet bowl. By not using the flush lever, no water flows into the bowl from the storage tank. This results in most of the water going down the drain, with practically no water left at the bottom of the bowl.

Now, you have unrestricted access to the bowl interior and can scrub away to your heart's content!

To keep lettuce and other leafy vegetables fresher longer, place inside a plastic produce bag, then slide a second bag over the first from the opposite direction. By not sealing either bag, enough moisture is retained to prevent wilting, but any excess moisture is allowed to escape, preventing the leaves from prematurely rotting and turning to mush.

For those large rectangular semi-rigid plastic containers containing mixed greens or spinach, take a sharp tool and punch at least a dozen holes in the lid for ventilation. Now excess moisture can escape, and the greens last almost twice as long as they would in a totally sealed container.

Although the round metal ring on your set of measuring spoons is perfect for keeping the spoons together while using them, it can be a nuisance when you want to separate the spoons to ensure a more thorough cleaning in your dishwasher.

Place a dinner fork, handle down, in any section of your flatware basket. Most forks have three spaces in between the four tines. Slide the flat handles of each of the three largest measuring spoons between the tines of the fork, allowing the “spoon” ends to rest closest to the tines. Let the fourth (and smallest) measuring spoon dangle loosely from the ring, as ballast. Voila! The spoons will now remain separated for the entire wash cycle.

Don't throw almost gone soap slivers away. Scratch grooves on one side of the sliver with a fork, then moisten with water and place on top of a fresh bar of soap. Slide both back and forth with heavy pressure to create a gluey soap froth that will fill the grooves, then set aside. When dry, they will have bonded into a single unit.

When a towel is nowhere to be found, just wipe your wet or messy hands on the inside of your pants pockets. (This ranks right up there with turning your underwear inside out to get one more day of wear before having to wash them!)