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Handy Hints Classics

By Our Readers

From The Family Handyman

Cleaning & cleaning up

Easy blind cleaner

Keep some cheap but thick cotton gloves around the house for cleaning your blinds. Just put the gloves on and run your fingers over the slats. When the gloves get dirty, throw them in the wash.

Hair and fuzzies be gone!

Does pet hair on your car seats or furniture drive you crazy? Here’s an easy way to get rid of it: Wrap masking tape around a 6-in. paint roller with the sticky side out, and simply roll off the hair. Not just for pet hair, it works great for all kinds of fuzzies, and on clothing, too. You can use it a dozen times before you have to replace the tape.

Fast floor squeegee

When you need to round up water on your garage or basement floor, try this quick and easy squeegee: Slip a piece of foam pipe insulation over the tines of an ordinary garden rake to push the water where you want it.

Magnetic sweep

Purchase a strip of flexible magnetic tape and glue it to the edge of your dustpan (some magnetic tapes are self-adhesive). When you’re sweeping up your workshop, all those nuts, bolts and screws you’ve dropped will cling to the strip.

Chewing gum

Gum stuck to the chair seat? Hold an ice cube on the gum to harden it, then scrape it off with a butter knife.

Rusted hardware

Fill a container with a mixture of half liquid chlorine bleach and half water, then soak the rusty item overnight. Use straight bleach for really rusty things. Keep the container away from children and pets.

Safe ash disposal

Safety hint from a fire marshal: Never put ashes or apparently dead coals from your fireplace, barbecue grill or wood stove into a combustible container. Put them in a metal container instead. Coals can stay alive for up to a week underneath ashes.

Concrete driveways

Wet the driveway and sprinkle a non-polluting powdered detergent over the surface. Attach a garden hose to the bottom of the handle of a stiff push broom with duct tape. With the nozzle directed in front of the broom, scrub your way down the driveway.

Spilled Kool-Aid

When you spill Kool-Aid on your dining room carpet, blot it with white paper towels, dilute with soapy water, rub with vinegar and water, then rinse with warm water.

Mini vacuum nozzle

Ever try to vacuum dirt from that tiny space where the windshield meets the dashboard? From inside an electric motor? Or from all those little nooks and crannies around your house?

Concoct this gizmo for tight spots: Poke a long plastic straw through the bottom of a stiff paper cup and run a bit of caulk around the straw. Just plunk the cup on the end of your vacuum hose and the suction will hold it in place. Use a straw with a flexible neck for reaching around curves and corners.

Shower enclosures

Apply a thin coat of car polish to your ceramic tile or fiberglass shower enclosure. You get a brilliant shine, and since water rolls right off, cleaning is a cinch.

No-bend shoe scraper

Screw a large, stiff-bristle scrub brush to a 12 x 16-in. piece of plywood. Your weight on the plywood base keeps it stationary while you scrape each shoe or boot on the brush. You can spray the brush clean with a hose, and store it out of sight when not in use.

Scuff marks

Scuff marks on the kitchen wall? Try rubbing gently with a ball of fresh white bread.

Rejuvenated shop vacuum

If your trusty old shop vacuum has lost its suction, don’t give up on it just yet. You may only need to restore the tight seal between the tank and the lid. Apply 3/8-in. wide by 1/4-in. thick self-adhesive foam weather-stripping to the inside of the lid where it meets the tank edge.

Shop vacuum for defrosting

Your shop vacuum is a great tool for defrosting an upright freezer. Use it to blow air into the freezer to melt the ice, then use it to suck up the water. You can get the job done so fast your food won’t even start to thaw!

Editor • DUANE JOHNSON

Art Direction • HOPE FAY

Illustrations • DEL ERICKSON and RON CHAMBERLAIN

From The Family Handyman - September 2000