Aggie’s Top Tips For A Perfect Home
Now’s your chance to pick up some handy hints from the queen of clean – you’ll be amazed at her canny solutions…
Chase those ants out of the house!
Are you sharing your kitchen with an army of ants? They love sweet things to take back to the nest to feed the queen and babies. They won’t spread disease, but they’re annoying, nonetheless.
The easiest way to deal with them is to find the source (look for small piles of earth pellets or check out the ants’ route) and pour some boiling water over. Follow up with a few puffs from an insecticidal powder.
If you don’t like the idea of killing them, a sprinkling of cayenne or peppermint oil along the skirting boards near the outside door should send them next door!
Peppermint oil deters ants. Pic: Shutterstock
Rock-hard brown sugar?
Isn’t it annoying when you’re about to bake, fetch out the brown sugar packet and it’s like a brick!
Prevent this by decanting the sugar the day you buy it into a plastic container with a couple of marshmallows.
Keep your laundry basket smelling sweet
In hot weather, damp, unwashed laundry left in the basket for too long can become a bit smelly.
Counter this by cutting the foot off a pair of old tights, fill it with bicarbonate of soda, knot it and keep in the laundry basket. Replace after a couple of months.
Banish laundry smells naturally. Pic: Shutterstock
How to deal with lily stains
Lily stamens can be a nightmare if you accidentally brush past and get your clothes caught against them. Whatever you do, do not rub at the pollen! All that happens is you’ll be pushing the strong dye into the fibres.
The remedy is to take a piece of sticky tape, keep pressing very lightly over the stain, and renewing the tape until every last particle is gone.
Watch out for more great home tips from Aggie next week! Check out her blog too.
