by Leslee Stewart
I'm someone who loves shortcuts. Just ask my husband. He likes driving the main streets, while I love traveling through neighborhoods and back roads, especially if it means I might shave a minute or two off my arrival time.
And nothing is as great as shortcuts that make life at home a little easier. A friend of mine posted this list on her facebook page, and I immediately started using a few of them at home (personally, I love the apple/rubberband idea). Try a few for yourself, and see if you, too, can shave (or save) a little extra time from your daily routine.
25 Clever Ideas to Make Life Easier (source: Ange's Web-Log)
1. Hull strawberries easily using a straw.
2. Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.
3. Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40 (also works on walls)
4. Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.
5. Overhaul your linen cupboard – store bedlinen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.
6. Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone / iPod in a bowl – the concave shape amplifies the music.
7. Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.
8. Add this item to your beach bag. Baby powder gets sand off your skin easily.
9. Attach a velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.
10. Look up! Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor.
11. Gotcha! Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.
12. Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid.
13. For those who can’t stand the scrunching and bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.
14. Forever losing your bathroom essentials? Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins (and tweezers and clippers) behind a vanity door.
15. A tip for packing. Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes. And you can find them in just about every hotel!
16. A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy. Magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip-resistant.
17. Bread tags make the perfect-sized cord labels.
18. Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones – so much more fun and easier for kids to eat.
19. Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag. Much healthier and cheaper than the packet stuff.
20. Brilliant space-saver: install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles. Genius!
21. Win friends at breakfast with this heart-shaped egg tutorial. Aww shucks!
22. Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila – you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream. Click here for recipe.
23. Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.
24. Gutter garden: Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.
25. Use egg cartons to separate and store your Christmas decorations.
