When I our first child was almost three, we bought our first home. I soon became friends with an elderly neighbor lady. Often she could be seen crouched down in her yard weeding. She was trying to get rid of those yellow flowers that thought they must be ever as pretty as the yellow daffodils. The tool of her choice to remove these abundant flowers, with the leaves that some people use in their salads, was a large slotted screw driver. She said that the screw driver works better than anything else to dig down and remove the entire root of the plant. After trying it myself, the screw driver became my tool of choice for getting rid of dandelions and some other small weeds with roots difficult to remove. My life is easier when I listen and learn from others.
Now, here is a tip I'd like to share. Purchase a bag of wooden skewers and add them to your household tool kit or drawer. They could be placed by some swabs that you may have found useful for things other than cleaning around your ears. (Note, I said "around," not in your ears. Much has said online about how it isn't actually good to use swabs inside your ears.) The following lists ways I have used skewers as tools: getting out grime from around the trim on the sink and stove, getting out lint that clings tightly to the lint screen and drawer of the dryer, and getting out dirt that has gotten lodged into the corners of the sliding door tracks, etc. Once in a while I've taped a swab to the end of a skewer to reach into narrow spaces to drag out some kind of debris. Have fun discovering the true value of these inexpensive tools. My life is easier when I experiment and repurpose things.
How has your life become easier when you listened and learned from others?
What items have you repurposed that made your life easier?
Write your ideas in a post, and link your post to Finish the Sentence Friday - My Life is easier. . . I'm looking forward to reading what you share.
You know what? I've never thought of using a screw driver to remove weeds but that makes so much sense! A trowel is just too large and removing them by hand all too often leaves the root in the ground. Cool! I stick paper towels on the ends of butter knives to get the gunk between the stove and the counter in the kitchen. Gross sometimes but less gross than leaving it there! So glad you linked up with Finish the Sentence!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that tip. I discovered a little of that gunk when the stagers pulled out my Mom's range when new floor covering was being installed. Our own range is built in.
DeleteWow that's for the tip. My sliding door tracks are horrible. Next time I'm on a cleaning spree I'll do them. So my tip related to cleaning sprees is listening to audiobooks. When I get a good one, I clean EVERYTHING.
ReplyDeleteYou also reminded me that there a dead baby from on the inside track of one of our windows. We had a hurricane last week. I guess he blew in there some kind of way. Yuck. But someone else is going to have to flick him out.
I meant "thanks" for the tip. ;-)
DeleteIf you love audiobooks as much as I do, you must check out Heather Ordover's CraftLit podcast. She audio-annotates classics and she's fabulous.
DeleteIt is so nice to have something to listen to when doing cleaning. I usually listen to music. You have left me wondering what kind of a dead baby is in your window track. It seems like it would have to be something fairly small.
DeleteBoth of these are so true... I love making a game of repurposing stuff!!!
ReplyDeleteSometimes if I make a game out of the cleaning it goes faster.
DeleteThanks for the tips! In a similar vein, I discovered that the best way to remove black mold from the inside of my hummingbird feeder was to tape a child-size toothbrush to a chopstick - works beautifully.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have come up with a good solution to keeping the feeders clean. My husband usually cleans the hummingbird feeders. He has some bottle brushes that he uses. I think he may have purchased them out a little store that kind of specializes in wild birds.
DeleteAh yes, The right tool for every job. And sometimes we have to rethink what that tool is, eh?
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. What was it that I used last time this happened? Ah, yes, now I remember!
DeleteI HAVE SKEWERS!!! Mostly we have them because we like to grill with them, but they sure are handy for lots of things. This reminds me of my mom using a butter knife for a screwdriver many years ago. :D
ReplyDeleteOh boy...my windows and sliding door tracks are terrible right now. Better get to it.
Yes, those little butter nights would work nicely as a screwdrivers. Lest you think my door tracks are in a state of cleanliness, they are not. It is time to tackle that job again, and I do have just the right tools to tackle the job. :-)
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