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9 . Cooking gem squash / butternut Gem squash and butternut are difficult to cut and remove the pips while raw . Simply cook them whole and cut once cooked . It is much easier to cut and the goodness of the pips have cooked in to veg .
10 . Marinade meat When a recipe calls for meat ( or any produce really ) to be marinated , place the marinade and meat in a plastic bag ( Ziploc works best ) and seal it well , removing as much air as possible . Now rub the meat freely and place the parcel in the fridge . The meat will marinate all over and not need you to keep turning it to get the next side covered in marinade .
11 . Dropped eggs / spilled oil I was given this tip by someone who worked at Spar . I was in the aisle when someone knocked a bottle of oil off the shelf and it shattered on impact . There was a huge puddle of oil and I mentioned that I am glad I am not the one who gets to clean it . But the Spar person laughed , took a packet of flour off the shelf and poured it onto the puddle . She then told me – eggs and oil are the easiest things to clean up without leaving a mess – simply add flour , allow it to soak into the flour , then brush up and give a final wipe .
12 . Paint smells There are a lot of articles on the web which advise you to add vanilla essence to the paint as it will reduce the smell of the paint and not interfere in any way . Instead of adding it to the paint , we simply put out dishes of vanilla essence and removed them the next day . The smell was so reduced that we could even sleep in the room painted that morning .
13 . Painting a ceiling Put a broomstick in the handle of the roller brush if using one . Also cut a reasonably large size of cardboard and attach it close to the roller brush or paint brush bristles . If using a roller brush , you won ’ t need to climb up and down a ladder as you move on , and using a cardboard will minimise the drops and paint splatter . Many people advocate using an umbrella – I find I cannot see where I am painting as the umbrella takes up too much space .
14 . Drilling holes When drilling holes in the wall ( or ceiling or floor LOL ), ask someone to assist you . Let them hold the vacuum cleaner up to where you are drilling . It will suck up the dust and reduce cleaning thereafter . 15 . Lock rusted
Simply drop a few drops of brake fluid into the lock and wait a few minutes
I know there are thousands of handy hints floating out there ( many of which you may have used with great success ) - these are just a few that I make use of regularly and can attest to them working for me .
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