Handy Household Hints!

So I got one of those emails with all of the "Did you know that hydrogen peroxide will remove blood from clothing?" tips, and I find them fascinating as well as frustrating, since I know that I will be completely unable to remember any of them when the need arises.

• Candles will last a lot longer if placed in the freezer for at least 3 hours prior to burning.
• To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. Shake vigorously as the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt and leave your artificial flowers looking like new! Works like a charm!

And then I thought... how do we know that any of these are legitimately useful? What if someone's just messing with us? And I came up with these:

• To remove grease stains from jeans, saturate the area with vodka. The enzymes in the alcohol and the blue dye in the denim will break up the grease!
• To remove unused stamps from envelopes, dip the corner of the envelope in ice water & a small amount of lighter fluid for 5 minutes - the stamp will peel off and float to the top of the water!
• To kill weeds, spray windex all over the affected area, and watch them disappear in 24-48 hours!

I mean, who's to say if any of these tips actually work?! Don't these sound plausible? Yet I made them up as I was typing this. All this to say: don't be willfully gullible.