It happens pretty often, I tweet some random “help me!” remark and then advice flows in. I learn all kinds of things on the internet. Sure there are search engines, but those are connected to answers from strangers. Getting advice or a tip from someone who is in your follow list is altogether different.
I even ask twitter what to wear:
https://twitter.com/DresdenPlaid/status/222071294114533376
Keeping track of things that I learn on-line is not something that I have been good at, but I want to be better. That is why I am now going to do my best to document all the stuff going forward. Feel free to share the best things you have learned on line.
Here are my favorite things that I learned on the internet:
How to get rid of ANY funky smell
Place coffee grounds (unused) in a jar in the room/ area with bad smell. In an hour the room will be 100% better. I know perfume counters have used a jar of coffee to cleanse the olfactory between sniffs of fragrance. I have also seen coffee beans in public restrooms – much preferred over potpourri.
This tip was from someone who was married to a trucker and hated the smell of gasoline.
How to get rid of kitchen ants
Place fresh mint in the corners of your kitchen and in the sink. For some reason ants hate mint. We have lots of mint in our yard so this was a very happy solution. I found this from searching for “natural ways to get rid of kitchen ants”.
I went through about half a gallon of white vinegar before looking for another solution. Skip the vinegar and go directly to the mint!
How to fix stinky shoes overnight
W and I are both wearing (and loving) our Keens this summer. I rinse them out when I remember but sometimes they just stink. You know. That HORRIBLE, awful, what the HELL is that smell, oh my gawd it is coming from your FOOT!!!!! smell. I have no idea where I heard this tip, but I moved a small box of fabric softener sheets into the playroom (aka the place where our shoe closet lives) and when we take off our shoes I put a sheet inside them. It doesn’t take the place of a good washing, but it does fix the immediate foot stench situations.
What has the internet taught you?
There is no tip or trick too large or too small to share. Also – if you have a question in need of a solution feel free to ask it. Maybe someone out there has the answer! (yup, this is a lazy Sunday’s version of my old Open Advice call)
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Our Keens get stinky too!! Thanks
If you don’t have tahini… you can use chickpeas, plain yogurt, and cumin to make hummus. I usually add lemon and dill or garlic for flavor. Actually, I get all kinds of substitutions from the internet when I am cooking.
I have such stenchariffic feet that the dryer sheet solution doesn’t work. It just makes it smell april fresh foot funk. However, I am happy to share the foot funk solution I learned at my podiatrist’s office: antiperspirant/deodorant. I use a spray can, and just give my feet a good spray before putting my shoes on, and it really works.
You just changed my life. Mr. Husband has the funkiest feet ever. I often send him away from the dinner table or sofa to “wash those stanky thangs!” I will bike by the drug store on my way home and purchase some for him today!
I just put that mint leaves recommendation to the test, as we have been overrun with ants this year. It really works! I surrounded by $16 quart of local honey with crushed mint leaves, and the surrounding area went from an ant orgy to an ant desert.
I learned from the internet that you can make small bags of rice, lentils, or chocolate chips tidy and leak-proof in the cupboard if you cut off the top off a water bottle, thread the bag through the hole, fold the bag over the sides, then screw the cap back on as usual. I’ve never leaked lentils all over the pantry floor since: http://twitpic.com/8kg4t9.
I haven’t learned anything particularly fantastic yet, but I am going to get some mint to plant all around my house because I am sick of the ants!!!
I did, however, find a recipe to make a DIY glow stick using Mountain Dew, Baking powder, and peroxide, and you can bet I will be trying that out one of these days! That’s my favorite thing about the internet – random interesting information.
I have been thinking about this and I think my answer is pretty much everything.
I have learned SO MANY things on the internet, I don’t know what I did before I became the unofficial, self-proclaimed Queen of Google!
Thanks for the mint tip for the ants, we are having a horrible problem with them this year!
Cinnamon also works for ants…just sprinkle cinnamon where you see them entering the house and they will disappear.
Oh, and if you have fruit flies: put a small amount of apple cider vinegar in a saucer or similar dish and few pumps of dishsoap. The vinegar attracts the fruit flies then the drown in the liquid because the dishsoap takes away the surface tension. Try it! (Thank you, interwebs.)
I’ve done the apple cider vinegar thing too. But I saw the other day on FB that a friend says beer works eve better. I have yet to try it.
I often say “How did our parents ever raise us without the internet?” I’ve learned so much over the years.
Most recently Pinterest has taught me a lot. Specifically that I’m a lazy, undomestic failure.