Did you spill some olive oil? Don’t try to dab at it with a cloth. This way, you’ll only push the stain deeper into the fabric. Instead, try this tip.

• Step 1: Use a tablespoon to sprinkle cornflour over the oil stain, using a generous amount of the powder. Leave this to sit and soak for about 15 minutes.
• Step 2: Take out your vacuum cleaner or hand held vacuum and use it to vacuum up the cornflour. The cornflour will have absorbed all of the oil.
• Step 3: Rejoice! The olive oil stain will have disappeared without using a cloth or your washing machine!

Turn off the television. That way, you’ll be able to spot where the dust and grease stains are located. Make sure the TV has been turned off for a while before you clean it. A cold screen is easier to clean than a warm screen. Take a look at the user manual that came with the TV. It often includes a section on how to clean the television and what not to do. By following these instructions you’ll prevent voiding the warranty. Always use a soft cloth, like a microfiber cloth. Carefully wipe the television clean with a clean, dry cloth. This will get rid of the dust but it won’t remove any grease stains or dirt. Make sure you don’t press on the screen too hard because this could break it. Are there still stains on your screen? Lightly dampen a cloth with clean water and carefully wipe the screen with this. Keep a microfiber cloth at hand to dry the screen. Are there still some stubborn stains left? Maybe you’ve touched the screen with greasy fingers? Then you can use a tiny drop of dish detergent mixed into a cup of water and dab your cloth into that. Wipe the screen clean. Then use a dry cloth to dry the screen.

A stuck zipper is incredibly annoying but it’s easy to fix with a bar of soap. Rub the soap onto the teeth of the zipper and you’ll see it will run perfectly smoothly again.

Apart from the fact that you should eat enough vegetables in general, there’s one vegetable that really arms you against the flu: the mushroom. Mushrooms are chock full of vitamins and mineral that do a lot of good for your immune system. In traditional Chinese medicine, mushrooms have been used for hundreds of years already for when someone is feeling feverish or feels the flu coming on. That’s because they detoxify the liver.

Are your nails a little yellow? In a small bowl, mix together one tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide with two tablespoons of baking soda. It will form a paste and start to foam a little bit. Rub the paste onto and under your nails and let this sit and soak for three minutes before rinsing it off. The result? Beautiful white nails.

Coloring your hair with potato peels sounds completely ridiculous of course, but it works! Potato peels contain an enzyme called catecholase. This enzyme is used in cosmetic products aimed at evening out skin tones. However, while it evens out your skin this enzyme can also add a little colour to your hair! The potato peels won’t damage your hair which can’t be said about most of the chemical hair dyes so it’s worth a try, right?  And it’s super easy as well. Follow these steps to get it done:

• Boil a couple of potatoes for about 20 minutes.
• Remove the peels from the potatoes and blitz them up in a blender (the peels, not the potatoes).
• Wash your hair like you normally would and apply the potato peel mush to your hair afterwards.
• Let the potato peel mush sit and soak for at least 15 minutes and then rinse it out with water.
• Treat your hair with a hair mask or conditioner to get rid of the potato smell.
• That’s it!

Freeze your onions! Although the fridge doesn’t do them a lot of good, you can freeze them perfectly fine. Now, we don’t recommend dumping entire onions in your freezer. Slice them up, put them in a resealable bag and you’ll be able to keep them in your freezer for up to six months. Cut up the onion and put the pieces in a freezer baggy. Try to push out as much air from the bag as possible before closing it. Also, try to divide the pieces of onion over the bag as much as possible, so you’ve got a single layer of onion. Freeze the bag like this and use the onion within six months.

A shirt that’s supposed to be white but no longer is is not exactly a pretty sight. Socks also discolor within no time which is less of a big deal because when they’re inside your shoes, nobody sees them anyway. When shirts lose their white shine after a couple of wears, however, it really is a bummer. It can make your clothes look a little dingy and that’s not what you want at all. So, should you throw the shirt away after wearing it only a couple of times? No! There’s no need to waste a perfectly fine shirt like that. With this tip your shirt will be back to being bright and white within a jiffy!

Put a big pot of water onto the stove and wait until the water is heated up. Cut a lemon in slices. Put your shirt (or another formerly white item of clothing) into the pot with water (be careful not to slosh the water over the edge) and add the slices of lemon. Let the shirt and the water boil on low heat for 5 minutes and stir regularly. Carefully drain the water from the pot. Let your shirt cool for a couple of minutes before taking it out of the pot. Now wash your shirt like you normally would in the washing machine. You’ll notice your shirt will look a lot more white when it comes out of the machine!

It’s very easy to repair a dent by yourself! All you need is a kettle with hot water and a toilet plunger. Fill a kettle with water and boil it. As soon as the water is boiling, you take the kettle out to your car and pour the water onto the dent and the surrounding area. Do be careful because the water is very hot, of course! Now it’s time to use the toilet plunger. Put the plunger around the dent and carefully pull it towards you. Slowly and carefully repeat this step a couple of times, making your way towards the dent. After a few minutes of careful work, the dent will be completely gone! It’s just as if there never was any dent in the first place.

Mix together some juice from a pickle jar with vinegar and honey. These substances are all good for your stomach. One sip from this sour mixture before dinner can properly prevent heartburn. It might sound contradictory to drink something so sour to prevent acid reflux but it really works.

How does it work? It’s very simple. Grab an empty paper towel tube or an empty toilet roll. Most paper towel tubes are a little sturdier than toilet rolls, so they work a little better but if you don’t have one of those a toilet roll will work fine as well. Push the tube over the opening of the vacuum. If the tube is too small for that, you should push it in the opening. The suction of the vacuum cleaner will cause it to stay put, but perhaps you’ll manage to wiggle it stuck yourself already as well. If the tube remains very loose around the opening, you should use a bit of tape to attach it properly. With your hand, squeeze the end of the paper towel tube (the part that’s not on or in the vacuum cleaner) into a nozzle. Now you’re ready to start vacuuming. With your hand, navigate the DIY attachment to the crevice you want to vacuum. If needed, flatten the tube with your fingers, so it fits inside the nook or cranny. Since the cardboard is flexible, it’ll adapt to the size of the space you want to vacuum. This way, you can make sure even the smallest crevices become free of dust and dirt.

You might have noticed before that gymnasts and weightlifters use chalk powder to dry their sweaty hands and gain more grip. This same trick works on all kinds of greases and oils. The next time you’ve accidentally gotten a grease stain in your favorite shirt, you can simply remove it with a bit of chalk. How? It’s very simple: just rub a bit of chalk onto the stain! White blackboard chalk is the best thing to use when it comes to removing stains. Like talcum powder, it’s extremely absorbent and it’ll remove grease and oil stains in no time at all.

When you want to get the perfect soft-boiled egg, it’s all about timing. Bring a pot of water up to a boil on the stove and then turn down the heat a bit. Carefully place the eggs in the pot and start timing at this point, no sooner. If you’re only boiling one or two eggs, five minutes are enough. The eggs will have a runny yolk this way. Do you want a slightly more firm yolk, but still runny enough that you can easily pierce it with a spoon? Boil them for seven minutes. Are you boiling three or four eggs? Add a minute to the boiling time. We wouldn’t recommend boiling more than four eggs at a time. Run them under cold water for 30 to 60 seconds. For the best result, it’s smart to set an alarm. Don’t just take a look at the clock, but actually carefully time how long your eggs need to boil. It’s quite a precise game since eggs don’t take that long to go from soft to hard. So, set an alarm to prevent ending up with hard-boiled eggs.

One of the easiest ways to ban mice from your home is using a used tea bag. That’s because mice hate the smell of used tea bags. Place multiple used tea bags in the spots you think the mice spend a lot of time. With this animal-friendly trick, you make sure that the mice keep their distance and go in search of a new home – one that’s hopefully a long way away from yours.

This tip is very simple: you fill a plastic bag with lukewarm water (don’t make it too hot!) and then carefully move it over the frozen windshield. You’ll notice the ice will melt immediately and your windshield will be clean in a jiffy. It’s best to wipe away the melted water on the windshield with a clean cloth afterwards. Otherwise, it might freeze again quite quickly.

Cut two lemons into slices or wedges and put these in the kettle. Fill the kettle about halfway with water and then turn it on. Pour out the water when it’s done boiling, but leave the lemons inside. Fill it halfway with fresh water again and turn it back on. Your kettle should look clean again after boiling lemon water two times. Is it not clean yet? Repeat these steps once or twice more.

Mix together equal parts water and white vinegar. Then, use a cotton cloth to dab this mixture onto your shoes. Dab gently and the white stains on your shoes will slowly disappear. You can also use the water/vinegar mixture on leather shoes. Are your shoes made of suede? Then you can just use pure vinegar. Want to clean sneakers? You can easily use a bit of water with soap. To dry them, don’t put your shoes near the heater but leave them to dry in a neutral spot.

Are you afraid you’re catching a cold? Try making an elixir of elderberries. Put a saucepan with water on the stove and add elderberries. Bring the water to a boil and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Then, remove the elderberries and boil the water down to reduce it to half its volume. Let it cool and consume two tablespoons to boost your immune system.

This tip is very handy because it’s easy to always have a bottle of hand sanitizer with you in your bag or purse. Of course, it’s useful to clean your hands with but it also comes in very handy when your car lock is frozen. Drip some of the sanitizer onto your key and then put it into the lock. Try to turn the key. Don’t force it because your key might break if you do! The high alcohol percentage in the hand sanitizer lowers the freezing point of the water, which causes the ice in the lock to melt pretty much right away. If the key won’t turn, you have to take it out of the lock again and drip some more hand sanitizer on it.

Depending on the area and how severe the pain is, mustard can relieve strained and painful muscles. By combining two tablespoons of mustard with two tablespoons of Epsom salt and rubbing it onto the afflicted area, you can relieve tired muscles. This technique is ideal for when you have been working out and you want to relieve the stress on your muscles, as mustard and Epsom salt help muscles relax.

Start off by properly cleaning the sink, using soapy water and a dishcloth. You can also use a spray bottle filled with some sort of cleaning agent – as long as the sink ends up clean. Dry it properly afterwards! If there’s even a little bit of water left, the flour will turn into a mushy paste and that’s not what you want. Use a clean and dry tea towel to dry the sink. Don’t forget the edges and the drain. Next, sprinkle flour in the sink so the surface is covered as much as possible. Use a paper towel to rub in the flour. Don’t forget the edges, corners, tap and the drain. Keep making circular motions while you’re scrubbing. When you’re done, wipe away the flour (don’t rinse it away through the drain!). You end up with a perfectly shiny stainless steel sink! Apply this tip once a month.

Put some olive oil onto a soft cloth and use this to rub the scratches using circular motions. It’s important you take your time for this, so you can properly rub in the oil. Afterwards, use a paper towel to wipe away the remaining olive oil, so you won’t have to worry about your sofa getting greasy.

Good to know: this trick only works on scratches that aren’t too deep. If your sofa has been damaged quite badly, olive oil won’t be able to save it either, unfortunately. However, the oil might be able to make sure the scratches are a little less visible.

Did you know you can use a simple household product to combat these liver spots? You’ve probably already got the two ingredients in your pantry: an onion and apple cider vinegar. It has been proven that the juice of an onion helps with getting rid of scars. Then there is apple cider vinegar which helps with removing dead layers of skin. With these two healing ingredients you can get your skin back to looking fresh and spotless very easily! Blend an onion to a pulp. Put the pulp in a cotton cloth or a sieve and push the juice out of it. Mix together the juice of the onion with apple cider vinegar and apply it to the dark spots. Repeat this on a daily basis for a couple of weeks and you’ll notice the spots will start to get lighter!

Tomatoes contain a lot of vitamins, like vitamin A, B6, C, E and K. These vitamins are very nourishing for your skin and help to shrink pores. The acidity of the tomato can help to restore the pH balance in your skin, which will help keep your pores clear. Tomatoes also contains salicylic acid, which is an enzyme that is used in tons of creams and lotions meant to combat acne. So, tomato is really an essential part of your skin care routine; it cleans up your face and helps reduce scars.

When you’ve got a burnt tongue, you won’t have to get to the stores to buy this product to soothe the pain. Most people will already have this in their kitchen cupboard. The product that will soothe a burnt tongue is sugar! All you need to do is let a little bit of sugar dissolve on our tongue. Before you know it, the pain will have eased. Don’t have any sugar at home? Not to worry; some honey will also work.