40+ Amazing Tricks That We All Learned From Our Grannies
These days, the internet is flooded with “life hacks”: obscure methods and techniques that make life simpler and more practical. But some of these methods have been around since before you were born, so they’re not all brand-new. Even though some of their own valuable tricks have been lost to the passage of time, Grandma and Grandpa still know a lot of them. Don’t let the elder generation’s outdated advice mislead you; it’s safe to say that it still applies.
Cleaning Dark Armpits
Have you ever experienced an issue with black underarm stains? For a variety of causes, it does occur occasionally. However, you don’t necessarily need to jump into the shower right away to find a solution. In fact, you may get rid of it by using the interior of a potato.
Cleaning Dark Armpits
Of course, using a slice of potato as deodorant might seem strange, but if you weren’t going to use the potato for anything else, why not? Just be careful that nobody sees you doing it in public.
Use Rubber Bands to Teach Proper Penmanship
Can’t quite get the right pencil grip for beautiful writing? Grandmas have a solution for that. Put a rubber band around your wrist and fasten a pen, pencil, or eraser that is pointed in your direction. After completing that, flip the entire tool 180 degrees and hold the pencil as you should.
Use Rubber Bands To Teach Proper Penmanship
Clean penmanship is much simpler and far less exhausting for any writer when done in this way since the writing implement is firmly held against your hand in the appropriate position without you actually having to hold it there yourself.
Cleaning a Dirty Blender Fast
Depending on what you produce in them, blenders can get quite dirty, and cleaning them can be difficult. That is, unless you are aware of this clever trick. Simply add dish soap and hot water to the blender, secure the lid, and start blending. This will either completely clean up the problem or at the very least make it much simpler to wipe.
Cleaning A Dirty Blender Fast
Just be sure to remove those blades before inserting your hand or using anything else to cover it. When it comes to cleaning, it’s better to be safe than sorry!
Remove or Weaken Stains with Salt
As you may already be aware, salt is fairly effective at absorbing substances. This may also apply to clothing stains. If you apply salt to stains as soon as possible after they occur, it will help absorb some of the stain and ultimately make it simpler to remove.
Remove Or Weaken Stains With Salt
This grannies’ method may actually completely erase the stain, depending on how quickly you act and how big or severe the stain is. However, if there isn’t any salt available, a thorough wash is still the best option.
Unclogging a Showerhead
At some point, everyone’s showerhead becomes clogged. In fact, if you have vinegar on hand, you could try to treat it. Vinegar should be poured into a plastic bag and tied around the showerhead for about an hour. After that, remove it to see whether your showerhead may be cleared.
Unclogging A Showerhead
We’ve been made aware of a trick from the grandmothers, so don’t ask us about the science behind it. Although we haven’t had a chance to test it out, we have no reason to think it wouldn’t function.
Use Lemon for Beet or Berry Stains
We are all aware of how difficult it may be to remove beet or berry stains from your fingertips. Traditional soap frequently merely makes the discoloration worse. Believe it or not, you may remove the stains much more quickly by using lemon juice or a real lemon.
Use Lemon For Beet Or Berry Stains
Naturally, if you want to use a lemon by itself, you might want to think about whether it would be worth it to potentially change the flavor of that lemon if you wanted to use it later in cooking or for something else.
Cleaning Stained Pans with Salt
Salt is useful for removing difficult pot stains in addition to clothes stains. Forget about the expensive specialty cleaners and simply boil a few teaspoons of salt in the dirty pot for about 20 minutes.
Cleaning Stained Pans With Salt
Although this won’t be much assistance if the stains are on the exterior of the pot for whatever reason, doing this will make it much easier to break down the stain and scrub it away. Thankfully, that doesn’t occur very frequently.
Making Clean Bread Cuts
When you try to cut fresh bread, does it crumble? Well, in a manner not all that dissimilar from butter, you can reduce the likelihood of this happening if you warm up the knife you are cutting with first. Grannies advise doing this by boiling water.
Making Clean Bread Cuts
Wipe away any remaining water from both sides of the knife after dipping it in the water long enough for it to heat up. Then, begin cutting. When you do this, you’ll get far better cuts and a lot less likelihood of the bread breaking.
Making a Pan Sheet
Naturally, you may simply trim a sheet to fit a pan if you need to build a pan sheet for a pan that is in an unusual form. However, all you need to do to transform a square sheet into a circular shape is fold it in half, then fold it into a triangle, and then cut off the tip.
Making A Pan Sheet
You’ll have a useful tiny circle after unfolding the sheet, which you can place in the bottom of a circular pan. It’s very similar to the homemade “origami” you used to make in school with some folds and scissors. nice and simple
Making Special Pineapple Cherry Desserts
Making this treat is quite simple. Take a muffin tin, fill it with pineapple rings, and then top it with cherries that have been preserved. Put a batter over this mixture and bake the muffins as you normally would. Simply pop them out and flip them after that is finished.
Making Special Pineapple Cherry Desserts
You now have a tasty pineapple and cherry delight that you can easily spruce up with more decadence if you choose, or you can simply enjoy them as-is. In either case, it’s a very simple treat to create with only a few ingredients.
Make Your Own Cleaning Spray
If you want to, you can actually produce your own mirror and glass cleaner. Although time-consuming, it’s fairly simple. Put some orange rinds in a jar, add vinegar, and seal the container. For two weeks, keep it sealed. After that, combine it in a 2:1 ratio with water.
Make Your Own Cleaning Spray
You can spray this combination directly onto windows and mirrors with a little shaking, then wipe it away similarly to how Windex is done. Additionally, it will smell fantastic, which is obviously quite significant when it comes to cleaning.
Easy Eggs for Breakfast
Egg yolks are added to a muffin tin, which has been water-brushed on the bottom, along with salt and pepper, and baked for fifteen minutes. In essence, you’ll have simple small egg slices that you may use in anything like a breakfast sandwich.
Easy Eggs For Breakfast
It’s just another grannies’ ruse to get you to consume more food with less resources in a shorter amount of time. If you were to ask us, that’s the best of all the worlds that are out there.
Cleaning a Microwave
Everyone is aware of how difficult it can be to clean a microwave when it is covered in a lot of stains, grime, and who knows what else. With lemons, it can really be made simpler. Microwave some lemon slices in a basin of water for five minutes.
Cleaning A Microwave
Once you’ve done that, cleaning the microwave will be lot simpler. Given that most people dislike doing this kind of work, it greatly simplifies the process. All it takes are some lemons, which is usually a huge benefit.
Sprucing Up Your Water on Demand
Want an easy way to flavor your water? Slices of lemon and lime should be placed in a muffin tin, covered with water, and frozen. You now have lemon and lime ice cubes that you may use whenever you want to dispense some water.
Sprucing Up Your Water On Demand
Actually, there are a lot of kitchen tricks you can perform using a muffin tray. Many of them have already been viewed by you, but there are still more on this list. In fact, the very next one also has to do with muffin trays!
Cleaning Silver Tarnish
The attractiveness of silver jewelry and other items might be destroyed if they become tarnished. Fortunately, removing that tarnish isn’t too difficult. Boil some water, add some baking soda, and a piece of tinfoil.
Cleaning Silver Tarnish
The tarnished silver can now be placed inside. After giving it some time to soak, you can remove it and inspect it for cleanliness. Put the silver in and out of the mixture repeatedly until all of the tarnish has been removed, and it will be as good as new.
Making Banana Pancakes
It’s not too difficult to make your own banana pancakes. Simply mash some bananas, add some eggs, and combine in a bowl. Then you can use the batter to cook a pancake in a pan as you normally would. It’s pretty much just a pancake made with bananas.
Making Banana Pancakes
Of course, for some people, that might be a little bit too much banana, but if you really love bananas and want to incorporate them into breakfast in a novel and unheard-of way, this is a fascinating thing you can try.
Grabbing Broken Egg Shells
There is typically a good likelihood that a piece of shattered eggshell may enter the bowl when you fracture an egg. There are several methods to go about trying to get it out, including this trick from the grandmothers, which can be a headache.
Grabbing Broken Egg Shells
It will be much simpler to remove those undesirable shells if you dip your finger in cold water first. This will enable you to push your finger directly into the bowl of eggs and grab the shattered eggshell with little to no resistance. Quick and simple!
Shaving Chocolate for Ice Cream
Want to top your ice cream with some chocolate shavings? Simple enough: grab a chocolate bar and use any suitable device to shave it. If you really wanted to, you could just use a cheese grater rather than an utensil like the one shown in this illustration.
Shaving Chocolate For Ice Cream
Grab a handful of the chocolate shavings you’ve made from your preferred candy bar and sprinkle them on top of the ice cream you wish to enjoy. It’s a simple method for enhancing the flavor of an already excellent food.
Making a Dough Bowl
You want to create a sort of pastry bowl for ice cream. Simple enough. It may be rolled out, easily cut to size with a bowl, and then formed into a little bowl using the back of a muffin tray. After baking, you’ll have a cute little edible bowl.
Making A Dough Bowl
Anytime you feel like it, you may add a little extra taste and intrigue to dessert by placing ice cream or anything else you like inside of this bowl and eating it alongside the treat after you are finished with it.
Getting Rid of Onion Hands
The key to our final tip is to use salt to get rid of any remaining onion odor on your hands. Fortunately, salt is all you need for this. Simply place salt on your hands and soak them in cold water. This will eliminate the odor in a short while.
Getting Rid Of Onion Hands
This was the last tip we had for you, but there are still a lot of fantastic things you can do with salt, baking soda, and other common household products!
Getting Rid of Shoe Odor
Filling a bag with two spoons of salt and placing it in the shoe overnight will help eliminate odors from shoes that have a particularly foul smell. That demonstrates the value of salt’s ability to absorb odors. It’s quite practical.
Getting Rid Of Shoe Odor
Just remember not to try to utilize the salt for anything else afterwards. After this little trick, it would undoubtedly need to be discarded given what it was used for.
Use Potatoes on Wounds and Bites
Okay, so that might sound strange and appear odd, but it works a lot better than you might expect! Potatoes actually assist to hydrate the wound and lower inflammation and irritation, which speeds up the healing process.
Use Potatoes On Wounds And Bites
Of course, it’s up to you to figure out a means to keep the potato slice against your wound, but if you don’t want to merely hold it against the cut for a few hours, there are a few other options. Just be prepared for odd looks and confused looks to come your way.
Baking Soda Pot Cleaning
This is the section of the list where we start discussing the countless benefits of baking soda. It really is a cunning one! It can be used to remove stubborn pot stains, for starters. Simply add vinegar on top of the baking soda in the pot.
Baking Soda Pot Cleaning
The filth you need to clear off the pot will significantly weaken as the vinegar and baking soda react, making the entire cleaning process much easier and much less of a nuisance.
Cut Rolled Dough Easily
For the treats you intend to make, do you need to cut some circles out of the rolled dough? You can also utilize part of your dinnerware to accomplish that. If you can find one that is the appropriate size for your needs, any glass will do.
Cut Rolled Dough Easily
Of course, much like the last method with the glass for a rolling pin, you should make sure to clean any glasses you intend to use. You wouldn’t want to consume something from a soiled glass, would you?
Cleaning a Dirty Sofa
The majority of homeowners dislike stained couches. Fortunately, you may easily fix the issue using items you already have at home. Combine water, alcohol, dishwashing liquid, baking soda, and fabric softener in one mixture.
Cleaning A Dirty Sofa
Spray it on the stains, scrub it with a brush to remove the spots later, and then use a dry cloth to remove any remaining moisture. This method will remove any type of stain from your couch, making it a clever tip from grandmothers everywhere.
Rolling Dough in a Pinch
You need to roll some dough, but you don’t have a rolling pin. Glass bottles are a simple substitute that the majority of people have in their kitchen! Whatever you need, such as a bottle of wine or olive oil, will work.
Rolling Dough In A Pinch
However, just for the sake of cleanliness, you should probably make sure to clean the outside of the bottle you’re using before doing this. It is only sensible to carry out such action before employing a glass bottle as a rolling pin for food.
Smoothing Out Your Skin
You might wish to take care of your rough skin if you have elbows or just rough skin in general. Thankfully, grandmothers know a technique or two, and it involves baking soda once more. It will significantly smooth down your rough skin when combined with water and applied to it.
Smoothing Out Your Skin
Unbelievably, the same straightforward mixture can also be utilized to keep your hair’s color vibrant. Baking soda comes to the rescue once more, curing a multitude of issues that most people would never even anticipate.
Cleaning Stains From a Tablecloth
Wine spilled on the tablecloth? First, wipe it off with a paper towel. The next step is to mix warm water, one tablespoon of dishwashing liquid, and two tablespoons of vinegar. Use a sponge dipped in the mixture to remove the spots. Give it five minutes to rest.
Cleaning Stains From A Tablecloth
Then, wipe the area one again after dipping the sponge in cold water. The table cloth will be almost as good as new once it is finished. It’s a simple and reasonably priced approach to get rid of stains on your clothes.
Getting Rid of Fridge Odors
Do you have anything in your refrigerator that stinks strongly or is just starting to smell? Additionally, baking soda has a trick for this. You can solve the issue by placing a dish of baking soda near the smelly food because it can even absorb odors.
Getting Rid Of Fridge Odors
Of course, removing the stinky food is essential; else, the scent won’t ever go away. If the problem’s root isn’t removed from your storage, not even baking soda will be able to solve it.
Extending Flower Life Via Aspirin
More fast than you would want, flowers are dying? Aspirin can actually aid in the prevention of water deterioration, which has a significant impact on the lifespan of many flowers. You might be able to extend the lifespan of roses, chrysanthemums, gladioli, and carnations by adding aspirin to the water.
Extending Flower Life Via Aspirin
However, not everything can benefit from it. Grandmothers advise applying a little vinegar on dahlias and a little salt on daffodils. Similar to how Aspirin will lengthen the life of the flowers described above in a vase, doing this will also increase their prospective lifespan.
Cleaning Mug Stains
Cleaning mug stains is yet another trick that baking soda is capable of. Simply sprinkle some baking soda on a sponge and begin wiping. It is quite quick and simple. Even difficult coffee stains will go quickly.
Cleaning Mug Stains
As always, baking soda is a very versatile cleaning agent. Baking soda is a multipurpose product that needs to regain popularity in today’s society. It can be used to clean anything from mugs to pots to carpets to even the air itself. People, bring it back!
Saving and Reusing Sauce
After supper, did you have any surplus sauce that you didn’t want to throw away? The leftover sauce can be poured into a muffin tin and frozen into small sauce disks. Simply add the sauce to a hot skillet when you’re ready to use it again.
Saving And Reusing Sauce
It can be used immediately in a different meal because it will instantly thaw out into the sauce it was before you frozen it. By doing this, you can avoid throwing away expensive sauce that, if possible, you would rather utilize for several meals. This will allow you to assist it.
Calculating Time Until Sundown
Need a conventional, analog method to figure out how long it will be before sunset? You can benefit from this age-old technique. So that the sun is directly above your top finger, raise your hand. There are fifteen minutes left till sunset for each finger of yours between the sun and the horizon.
Calculating Time Until Sundown
The actual duration would, of course, be subject to some variation since this method is scarcely exact, especially given that it depends on the size of your hands and fingers.
Cleaning the Iron
Do you need to clean the iron’s bottom? This grannies’ trick can be useful. Setting the iron’s temperature to the highest setting and then ironing a newspaper that has been coated with salt is simple. This easy process will assist in removing burns and other debris from the iron’s bottom.
Cleaning The Iron
Everyone wants to live in a world where cleaning is a far less painful experience, and this is just one of the few things you can do with salt to achieve that.
Counting the Months
Okay, so a lot of people are actually aware of this tactic today. You may figure out the months’ sequence as well as how many days are in each month by counting your knuckles and the gaps between them. Really, it’s a classic.
Counting The Months
With the level of technology we have now, you obviously don’t need this, but if you ever find yourself in a tight spot, it might be useful. You never know.
Treating Your Nails
Speaking of lemons, they can also be used for other things. You can fortify your nails by putting a lemon slice, lemon juice, or both in water. Simply leave them in the mixture for a short period of time to improve the way your keratin emerges.
Treating Your Nails
As you can see, there are a lot of things you can do with lemons. Furthermore, many of these insider tips and tricks are only known to the world’s grandmothers. Since we just shared it, at least they were up until this point.
Measuring on the Fly
This method of measuring objects is a rough approximation and not the most accurate way to truly measure things because it involves using your hands. However, if all you need is a general idea, a technique like this might still be helpful to you.
Measuring On The Fly
Use the illustration provided to determine the approximate distance between your fingers. You can roughly gauge something’s size without precise tools by knowing that quantity.
Cleaning Carpet Stains
Speaking of what baking soda is capable of, it may be used to remove significant liquid stains from carpet. Simply sprinkle baking soda on the stain, let it sit for a short while, and then vacuum it up completely. The majority of stains may be removed with this quick and simple technique since baking soda is absorbent.
Cleaning Carpet Stains
The fact that baking soda can be used for so many different activities that make life simpler and more convenient serves as just additional evidence that everyone should keep some on hand in their cupboard.
Know Your Angles
Another advice or trick that differs according on the size of the hand is this one. However, in general, this method will provide you with a rough means of determining angles using only your hand. Although it isn’t the world’s most exact thing, it is unquestionably an alternative.
Know Your Angles
In addition, how many folks are simply out and about carrying along a protractor and all that? Yes, not a whole lot of people, that’s correct.
Putting Out Fires
Despite popular belief, baking soda has additional useful properties for pots and pans. Baking soda is an excellent way to rapidly and successfully extinguish a sudden pan fire. Pour it right onto the fire’s ignition source.
Putting Out Fires
Since the majority of these baking soda uses have long since been forgotten, only grannies who are familiar with old-fashioned hacks and techniques are likely to be aware of them. And what a treasure of information it is!
Freezing Spaghetti Sauce
Making sauce for pasta might take a long time, and the pre-made stuff can be pricey. Why not attempt storing any extra spaghetti sauce so you may use it in your subsequent batch? Simply put the sauce onto a baking tray covered with parchment paper to freeze it into a manageable form.
Freezing Spaghetti Sauce
Add some bamboo skewers to the parts after it has been distributed equally. After it has frozen, just take out the skewers, and you’re ready to go!
Get Your Bearings with a Wristwatch
Today, the majority of us have GPS on our phones, but if you ever find yourself without it, you can apply this time-honored tip from the grannies if you wear a wristwatch. Take a look at your watch, then turn the hour hand to face the sun. The angle between the hour hand and the number 1 is then divided in half.
Get Your Bearings With A Wristwatch
The angle will be divided by a line that points south. We realize that explaining this in words alone can be a little complicated, so carefully examine the illustration provided to understand how this works!
Halving a Big Pastry
Do you need the top and bottom of a particularly large pastry separated? Place toothpicks along the side at regular intervals, then take a long thread of floss and line everything up using those toothpicks as a frame of reference.
Halving A Big Pastry
Despite your challenging angle of choosing, the floss will undertake the laborious work of slicing the crust in two when it becomes taut around the pastry and is pulled from both ends. Simply take out the toothpicks after that and call it a day!
Getting the Most Out of Nail Polish
The difficulty of keeping dry nail paint in a container is well known to women. It’s not useful! But is it? Utilizing nail polish remover will enable you to liquidize the dried polish and repurpose it, giving you greater value.
Getting The Most Out Of Nail Polish
However, you must exercise caution when adjusting the amount of nail polish remover. If you do that, you run the danger of making the polish too watery to apply effectively, which would obviously go against your goals.
Cleaning a Greasy Stove Filter
A slick stove filter might be a serious issue. Additionally, cleaning one might be a major problem. There is a way you can make things simpler, though. You may quickly get rid of all that grease by mixing some baking soda with boiling water.
Cleaning A Greasy Stove Filter
The only real restriction is having a container large enough to accommodate the stove filter, but chances are you already have a pot or pan that size lying around for such an unconventional use.
Keeping Your Boiled Eggs in One Piece
The flavor and experience of eating an egg can be significantly impacted if it cracks while being boiled. However, you can avoid it if you cook the egg in salt water! The egg may still shatter, but the egg white will remain with the egg if it does.
Keeping Your Boiled Eggs In One Piece
This helps maintain the desired flavor and gives you a full egg to eat rather than a possible mess of white when an egg cracks while being attempted to be boiled.