HOME HINTS

D-I-Y Tips

Home hints

EDITED by GEORGINA BITCON

READER’S PRIZE HINT

On a roll

Use the empty tube from a roll of paper towel as an extrafl exible crevice tool on your vacuum cleaner to clean window tracks and narrow spaces, such as under the fridge and cup holders in the car.

To remove persistent suncream stains that have made a perspex pool gate cloudy and white, rub gently with a cutting car polish and buff with a clean cloth. S. Burt, Fitzroy, Vic.

Travel companion Wet a couple of reusa make-up remover pa with micellar water a seal in a ziplock bag f face cleaning when travelling. Rinse and re-use at your destina

Shake it off To clean inside a narr necked vase or bottle in 2-3 tablespoons of coarse rock salt, add good splash of white vinegar, shake until gl is clean, then rinse.

Ask THE WEEKLY

Q: How do I get rid (and prevent the return) of a nasty odour in my front-loading washing machine? V. Stoyles, Hillcrest, SA. A: Every month or so, run a clothes-free hot wash with ½ cup of bicarb soda sprinkled in the drum and the conditioner dispenser filled to the maximum with white vinegar. Keep the filter and door seal clean, always leave the door ajar after washing and rinse out the detergent drawer frequently.

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The Australian Women’s Weekly | MARCH 2020 TTY IMAGES. Tight fi x If you wind a little steel wool around a screw that keeps coming loose before putting it back into its hole, the steel wool will tighten it up and keep the screw in place.

A tidy solution Keep appliance cords neatly coiled and stored by fi xing a self-adhesive cord bundler (from hardware and stationery stores) to the side or back of each machin

Paper cut If your local council won take shredded paper fo recycling, put it in your compost instead, or dam down in a bucket of wa spread it directly on the garden and cover with a more ‘conventional’ mulch.

Water wise In areas of water restrictions, cut the bottom off empty PET plastic bottles, drill holes in the lid, three-quarters-bury them near shrubs and vegies and fi ll with water to ensure precious moisture is delivered to the subsoil, rather than

To separate a cake into two even layers, insert several toothpicks at the halfway point around the edge of the cake, then take a long piece of non-fl avoured dental fl oss, wrap it lightly around the cake at toothpick level and pull the ends gently but fi rmly in opposite directions until the fl oss cuts the cake in half. Baker’s delight