Alternative uses for common household items...

[Tinner]

I've used a plastic putty knife to cook with ever since I've left home. In fact I have two of them - both industrial strength that my Dad got from work eons ago.QUOTE]

In contrast, I have a metal spatula with notches, that sees plenty of use as a paint scraper, and nail remover.
You can use a lightly floured glass to cut perfectly round biscuits, after you've used it, or a coffee can to roll out the dough first.
Never overlook the myriad uses for a regular flat head screwdriver. You can pry, stir, nail (with the handle), it's a versatile tool.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The homemade stuff is sour, nasty stuff.

You got that right. My mother-in-law is a cooking nut, and makes everything from scratch, from fresh, farm-raised ingredients.

It drives her nuts that I insist on canned, homogenized cranberries.

Even worse, both her daughter (my wife) and I prefer good ol' boxed Stove Top (tm) stuffing to the homemade stuff! We're the anti-Thanksgiving.

 

[Xath]

Not exactly alternative uses, but good laundry ideas:

- If your shirt has an applique (it has a printed picture or text on it), turn it inside-out before washing it. This will help the print last longer.
- To avoid a horrendous amount of ironing, take your dress shirts out of the dryer after about 15 minutes, so that they're still damp. Hang them. This lets them dry in more of an appropriate shape, while the 15 minutes dryer time insures that your shirt will be dry overnight, instead of next week.
- If you take your laundry out of the dryer as soon as it is done, fold it and put it away, it will have many fewer wrinkles.


When visiting a foreign country, make sure to read/look at the pictures on the box carefully. Dishwasher and laundry detergent may look a lot alike, but they are not interchangable.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

3. If you have a sliding board, a hose, and a tarp, you have a waterslide. Place the tarp at the bottom of the sliding board. Wet both the slide and the tarp, and then place the hose at the top of the sliding board and allow the water to run down. You slide down the slide, and across the tarp. (Note: If your slide is high, as in attached to a swing set, you may need two tarps.)

*sniff*...I miss living in my college dorm now. *wanders away, singing "The Way We Were"....

 

[Xath]

*sniff*...I miss living in my college dorm now. *wanders away, singing "The Way We Were"....

I actually invented that in high school for my little sister's birthday party. Of course...I had to playtest it quite a few times to make sure it was safe....

 

[reveal]

A bag of frozen peas makes a good ice pack.

Putting half a lemon in the garbage disposal and then turning it on will clean out any grease/grime in there and leave a pleasant scent.

Make your own piping bag: Place cake frosting in a large plastic freezer bag and seal it. Twist the bag to force the frosting towards a corner and snip off the corner of the bag to make a small hole.

Never drink Draino. Sure it'll clean you out, but it'll leave you hollow inside.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I actually invented that in high school for my little sister's birthday party. Of course...I had to playtest it quite a few times to make sure it was safe....

Well... at least you tested for safety. We just sandbagged the bottoms of our doors and the ends of the hallways, opened up the firehose and a bottle of Two Fingers Tequila, and went nuts.