If you have any hints to share with your neighbors, please send them to me at:
Tomnbarb@nycap.rr.com or call me at (518) 355-1094.

June 2010
 
• If the “roll-up window shade refuses to roll” – take it out of its brackets, unroll it the whole way flat on the floor, then roll it snugly about halfway up. Reinstall and test it out. If it didn’t work, try again – it usually requires just some finessing of the tightness of the shade around the rod.

• If your gunky rubber tub mat “icks” you out – clean the mat in the washer with detergent and bleach in a short regular cycle with warm of hot water.

• If your couch sags – even when no one’s on it – Open the zipper in the seat cushions and add polyester fiber fill (Find it at any crafts or fabric store). Fluff loose handfuls of stuffing into tufts. Add a bit at a time until the dent is filled.

• If your cast-iron fry pan goes rusty – Scour off the rust with a stiff nylon brush, hot water, and a little salt (salt is a natural abrasive). If that doesn’t work, go with hot water and steel wool. After drying, lightly coat the pan, inside and out, with vegetable oil and place atop foil upside down in the oven at 350 degrees for one hour to re-season. Cool before using or storing.

• A great idea for those too-flimsy disposable paper plates in your pantry: Use them between stacked nonstick cookware to keep it scratch-free when stored.