Modern Living Tips

• For aluminum pans that are looking dull, just boil some apple peels in them. This will brighten up the aluminum and make your house smell yummy.

• Never put citrus fruits or tomatoes in the fridge. The low temperatures degrade the aroma and flavor of these persnickety fruits.

• To clean crevices and corners in vases and pitchers, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets. The bubbles will do the scrubbing.

• Find where ants are coming into your home and draw a line across their path with chalk or cover the hole with petroleum jelly.

• For a loaf of bread that’s going stale, put a piece of fresh celery in the bag and close it back up. This restores a fresh taste and texture to the bread.

• Dislodge sticky sap by rubbing on a pat of butter with a cloth or sponge. Wipe until the butter and the sap are gone. No scratches.

• To take glue from your hands, rub them with butter before washing them down with soap and water. Also, Cover pills with butter to help them go down.

• Beer rebuilds and repairs damaged hair, working as a conditioner and hair tonic. The proteins from hops and malt give locks a delightful glow.

• Pour beer on those brown spots in your lawn to help your grass grow. The grass absorbs the nutrients, sugar and energy it needs to be able to grow.

• Bananas are yellow, but they can help whiten stained teeth. Rub the peel in circular motions all over your teeth everyday for a few minutes.

• Bananas release gases which cause fruits (including other bananas) to ripen quickly. Separating them will keep them fresh longer.

• The life of a cut flower is pretty short, even if given proper care. If you add powdered aspirin to the water in the vase, the flower will stay fresh longer.

• To keep potatoes from budding in the bag, put an apple in with them. Ethylene gas released by the apple will keep any tuber from sprouting.

• Lubricate a lock rubbing a pencil over the key as if you were coloring it. Then put the key in the lock and move it in and out several times.