Clever Ideas Worth Knowing

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster..I didn't know that!

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of Spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up.Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg.Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size.You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them ina microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the foodmoist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will notget through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it. (Wonder if this works with rabbits? Sure gonna give it a try)


Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
Reducing Static ClingPin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... TA DA! ... Static is gone.

Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelopes

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside,

just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Visit http://www.callkim.net/ - 24/7 find a house with your mouse today!

Making a Simple Move

I received an article by Gregory Karp on moving, I thought
it a great idea to share.

Twelve Tips to Make Your Move Simple and Stress-Free (MCT)

Packing your belongings and moving is often fraught with high emotions and involves a to-do list a mile long. So, it’s tempting to give only passing attention to hiring a mover and the related incidental costs. That could be a mistake—for your wallet and your peace of mind. Moving can be quite expensive. A typical full-service interstate move costs about $4,300, while the same in-state move might cost about $2,500, according to the American Moving & Storage Association. And while the moving industry has many fine companies, it is notorious for fraud and dirty tactics by so-called rogue movers.

Here are 12 tips to make your move simple and avoid the hassle.

Choose a type of move: You have three basic choices: do-it-yourself, full service and a relatively new hybrid of the two. Going it alone is the cheapest alternative, costing the rental price of a truck, gasoline, packing materials and, perhaps, pizza and beer for friends you rope into helping. With full-service moves, moving within a state is charged by the hour, while moving across state lines is charged by weight and mileage.

With a hybrid move, a mover will drop off a large container at your home for you to pack. The mover will then load the container onto a truck, drive the belongings to your new location and drop off the container for you to unload. Because you’re doing the manual labor of packing and unpacking, it’s far less costly than a full-service move.

Hire a quality mover: If you hire help, get at least three price quotes and do your homework before selecting a mover. Seek recommendations by talking with family and friends, even your Facebook circle. Investigate a company’s reputation with the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org), Yelp.com

Check a company’s complaint history at the federal government site, ProtectYourMove.gov.
“People think a good reputation equals expensive, but that’s not true,” said Laura McHolm, co-founder of NorthStar Moving in Los Angeles. “You don’t get a good reputation by overcharging people.”

Look for two things when hiring a moving company:

1. A full-service mover should visit your home in person,

2. And not give a quote over the phone or online, and should provide a written estimate, experts say.

Declutter: No matter what type of move you’re making, taking less stuff is cheaper and less hassle. Set up a staging area, perhaps in a garage, with various piles, such as throw out, recycle, donate and sell. For many items, use the rule of thumb, ‘If you haven’t used it in a year, you probably don’t need it.’

Be flexible: Like airline fares, moving rates depend on when you book. The busiest time for movers, and thus the most expensive time for consumers, is summer weekends near the 15th and 30th of the month. If you have time flexibility, ask what rates would be for different days or seasons. If you have extreme flexibility, ask about moving standby: waiting until the mover has extra space and needs to fill a truck.

Save on boxes: Buying new boxes from a moving company is the most expensive choice. To save some money on packing materials, ask if you can buy used boxes from your moving company, visit the grocery store and see if they have apple boxes etc.
Cheaper yet is finding free boxes, ideally from somebody who just moved. Ask your real estate agent to connect you with other clients who recently moved. Specialty boxes, such as wardrobe boxes, might be cheaper to purchase at a do-it-yourself moving store, such as U-Haul, than from your mover.

Save on packing materials: If you’re packing your belongings yourself, fill suitcases, laundry baskets and plastic containers with unbreakable items. Use pillows, scarves and towels to wrap fragile belongings.

Mail books: If you have a large collection of books, pack them yourself and ship them at the postal media mail rate as it might be cheaper than paying a mover—a 70-pound box would cost less than $30.

Consider consolidation: For long-distance moves, ask about consolidating your stuff on a truck with other people’s as most homeowners can’t fill a full-size moving van. You might have to be flexible on delivery dates and times, but consolidation can be cheaper.

This is very IMPORTANT - Insure it: Check your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy to determine whether it provides coverage for your belongings while in transit. If not, you’ll probably want more than the basic free valuation coverage a full-service mover provides. The standard valuation is 60 cents per pound per item. That means breaking a 10-pound, $1,000 stereo system would net you $6. You’ll want full replacement-value insurance, which reimburses you what it will cost to replace broken items. But don’t necessarily buy that insurance from the moving company. Moving insurance is likely cheaper from a third party, but be aware that you probably cannot get insurance on boxes you packed yourself.

Be prepared: Plot out where furniture and boxes will go before moving day arrives. The less time movers spend rearranging, the less expensive it will be. In urban areas, reserve a space or two in front of your new home for the moving truck by parking your own vehicle there ahead of time. If the movers have to park too far away to unload, you could incur a ‘long carry’ surcharge.

Stake your claim: If you’re moving for a job, negotiate the best relocation package you can. Unreimbursed expenses might be tax-deductible. For details, see Publication 521 Moving Expenses at IRS.gov.

Tip: Tipping each mover $3-$5 per hour is customary, said Stephen Coady, marketing manager for Gentle Giant Moving Co. in Somerville, Mass.

(c) 2010, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.