39 Alternative Uses for Everyday Items

I love doing these articles…finding ‘new’ uses for everyday things means we spend less and make better use of what we have. On that note…here we go.

1. Lemon juice has dozens of uses but a new one on me is as a stain remover on chopping boards. Squeeze it on, rub it in, leave it for 30 minutes and rinse off.
2. White vinegar kills weeds in record time. Apply neat and make sure it doesn’t get onto anything you want to live!
3. Condoms: I can honestly say I have never considered using an un-lubricated condom to hold a dressing in place. Cut off the tip and stretch over the dressing. Secure as well as it fits snug and waterproof as well. Brilliant.
4. Pantyhose have dozens of uses from storing newspapers and plastic bags to cutting up and using as garden ties. I like the idea of using them as a sieve. They are fine enough to take vegetation out of water or lumps out of paint.
5. Wasp spray makes a great flame thrower and a good attack deterrent with its ability to send a spray of liquid over 15 feet.
6. Baking soda removes wax crayon and ink marks from walls and doors. Sprinkle onto a clean damp sponge and rub gently. Rinse. Job done.
7. Another condom one. Apparently they are good for putting over the barrel of long guns to keep dirt out. As a deprived citizen in a lead free zone I wouldn’t have thought of that.
8. Got any stressed veggie plants? Put a couple of aspirin in two pints of water and when dissolved water the plants at ground level. Increases robustness and helps them recover.
9. Broken wax crayons make excellent fire starters when melted and poured over drier lint or shredded paper.
10. Acetaminophen (paracetamol) kills snakes, which is great because I hate snakes. Bait a dead mouse with half a tablet and wait for your unwelcome visitor to enjoy his lunch.
11. Pantyhose can make a decent fix on a screen door or window…just add duct tape.
12. Bleach and laundry powder cleans blocked pipes. Put the soap powder into the plug hole and add a cup of boiling water. Pour down a cup of bleach and put the plug in. The huge amount of foam moves forward through the pipe flushing out food deposits and cleaning as it goes. Follow up by leaving the hot tap running for a couple of minutes.
13. Bleach and drain cleaner mixed together makes chlorine gas…just saying
14. Sanitary pads make brilliant pressure dressings when taped tightly in place.
15. Tampons are great plugs for penetrating wounds such as bullet holes.
16. Petroleum jelly weather proofs and nourishes leather footwear.
17. Petroleum jelly with sugar in it makes an effective scrub for removing grease and sticky substances from hands.
18. Sugar poured into open shallow wounds or ulcerated areas will keep the wound clean and aid healing.
19. Credit cards can be used to seal a sucking chest wound caused by a penetrating injury. Tape over the wound on THREE SIDES ONLY. This allows air in the chest cavity to escape on exhalation and allows the lung to re-inflate on inhalation. You have effectively created a makeshift flutter valve.
20. Coke, even the really cheap stuff cleans stains and scale from toilets…just think what it does to your insides if it can digest lime scale!
21. Acetone dissolves super glue as well as nail polish.
22. Petroleum jelly seals small cuts and grazes and prevents infection getting in until you find a dressing. 
23. Dilute hydrogen peroxide literally fizzes grit and debris out of shallow wounds.
24. Yeast and a soda bottle makes a great mosquito trap. Cut the top off the bottle at the shoulder, take of the lid and slide into the base top down. tape to hold together. Put a strong yeast solution into the bottle and set it up under the table on the patio. The yeast gives off carbon dioxide which mosquitoes love. 
25. Plastic food bag plastic bags are excellent burn dressings. Burns are susceptible to infection which can happen very quickly if the burn is exposed to air. Slip a plastic bag over the burn, it won’t stick and will prevent contamination.
26. Coat your dogs paws with petroleum jelly to prevent salt damage on winter walks. More petroleum jelly uses can be seen here.
27. If there are smokers in the family empty all ashtrays into a lidded bucket half full with water. The nicotine tea is highly toxic and makes an excellent weed killer for block paved drives. Handle with care and wear gloves, wipe splashes off skin immediately.
28. Use pantyhose to strain off the butts for disposal before using your weed killer.
29. Use a mylar blanket to make a solar oven. See 27 other uses for mylar blankets here.
30. Eggs shells are very good at deterring slugs in veggie beds. Their delicate undersides can’t cope with the sharpness of the broken shells.
31. For the softies amongst you sink a bowl full to within an inch of the rim with  beer and place  at ground level in the veg bed, the slugs will fall in and drown…but at least you know they died happy.
32. Egg shells when throughly dried and ground make an excellent calcium supplement. Try to eat with crunchy food to avoid the slight gritty feeling when taking it. Alternatively place the dried egg shells in a screw top jar with lemon juice. When the shells have dissolved you liquid supplement is ready and can be sweetened with honey to taste. Use within 2 weeks and keep refrigerated.
33. Make an outdoor off grid fridge to keep your beers cool in summer. Take two large terracotta plant pots, one two to four inches smaller than the other. Put sand in the bottom of the larger one and then put the small one inside the big one and fill the gap between the two with sand. Wet the sand, firm down and add more until the sand is level with the top of the pots. Make sure the sand and the inside of the small pot is wet. Put the beer in and cover with a light coloured board or cloth. You have just made an African fridge…a Zeer pot. The temperature inside will be much cooler than ambient air temperature due to the water evaporating through the porous terracotta of the pots.
34. Avon Skin So Soft is an effective ant killer
35. It also removes gum from hair, work through the hair around the gum and it will slide out easily.
36. And it gets grease and oil off your hands.
37. Listerine stops the pain and itch from bites and stings
38. Toothpaste dabbed on a spot dries it up in record time
39. Cover a burn with yellow mustard and put on a cotton glove or dressing. The pain will ease immediately. 

Take Care

Liz