Hints from Amy

You can brush your teeth, wash your face (I do every morning), soak up cat vomit, safely scrub your pans, wash your clothes, deodorize your fridge/cat's litter box/ rug, and of course bake with it. What is this magic substance? Inexpensive and easily available baking soda.

I think this is the greatest thing ever, and so I wasn't surprised, just tickled pink, that one can also use it to remove the tarnish from silver. I had put some silver jewelry in storage in a very haphazard way, and most items greeted me with a dull, black coating when I unwrapped them. I have no patience for silver polish, and I was at the point of adding some less dear items to the the charity donation pile in lieu of spending the time/ money to clean them. A quick Google search gave me several options for non-polish tarnish removal, but none was easier or cheaper than lining the kitchen sink with aluminum foil, placing the objects in a single layer, generously coating them with baking soda and finally adding some boiling water.

Watch the process in action!

Silver items placed in a basket of foil covered by baking soda.

Boiling water catalyzes the reaction of the baking soda and foil.

Silver is clean and shiny!

Pin: before and after.

Jewelry: before and after.

Practical homemaking tips remind me of Hints from Heloise (hence the title of this post). Just discovered the HfH web site today while writing this post, and what did I find on the main page?: A post about baking soda and vinegar being her favorite cleaning products.

One more tip for today—using a razor to get rid of fabric pilling. I love the fabric on our couch (a vintage Alexander Girard design that I splurged for when I bought the couch years ago), but it does pill and having two cats doesn't help the cause. The look of the couch is diminished by the fibers matting on top of the fabric. I thought that I would have to buy a de-pilling gizmo until I read that one can shave away these unsightly nuisances. True one must be careful, but with a light touch the couch can safely look as good as new. I did discover that the cheapest single-blade razors are not quite sharp enough, and they end up costing you more as you run through them faster. An inexpensive, two-blade razor should do the trick nicely.

That's all the homemaking tips I have time for now. Hopefully one day soon I will be able to forward tips on how to make ones job easier (because that will mean that I have one!).

A ball of pilled fabric shaved and ready to be plucked off. Have fun!