Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen
Joan Wilen and Lydia Wilen are folk-remedy experts and home tipsters based in New York City. They have spent decades collecting “cures from the cupboard” and are authors of several books, including Secret Food Cures.
Your home life doesn’t stop at your front or back doors. Gardening, barbecuing, and even something as simple as taking out the trash means going outside. This area of your home needs just as much attention as the interior, if not more. It’s exposed to winter snows, summer heat, and everything in between after all.
In this excerpt from the book Household Magic by Joan and Lydia Wilen the authors share their exterior home care tips to keep your house safe and pleasant all year round.
Have you devoted a lot of thought and attention to the outside of your home? Well, now may be the time to start—or improve on what you’ve already done. Make the great outdoors safer in cold weather and more pleasant in warm weather. Here are some ideas on what you can do…
◆ If the sidewalk or patio that needs de-icing is near your garden, DO NOT use rock salt. The salt will leach into the soil and poison it. Instead, use natural clay kitty litter, sand or granular fertilizer (dry, tiny pellets that are natural or synthetic…available at gardensupply stores).
◆ Distribute a dusting of baking soda. It will melt the ice and help prevent slipping. And you don’t have to worry about it eating away at the outdoor ground covering, or the soles of your shoes. (And if it gets tracked into the house, it may even help clean the floor.)
◆ When your wooden deck is iced over, get out the cornmeal. A sprinkling of it will provide traction without damaging the wood or harming your garden.
Mix 1 ⁄2 cup of clean sand into a can of paint, and paint the concrete steps with it. The sand in the paint will offer some traction when the steps are icy or wet.
If you are going to paint the steps, consider painting them white so they’re easier to see on dark nights, especially if your outside light burns out.
◆ Right now—no matter what the weather is in your part of the country—put a coat of floor wax on your snow shovel. It will help prevent a metal shovel from rusting, and when it comes time to use it, the snow will glide on and slide off.
◆ If you’ve neglected to do the floor-wax coating, and you have to use the shovel now, spray it with nonstick vegetable spray. Once it dries completely, get out there and start shoveling.
If you have a brick or stone walkway, this remedy should get rid of any moss overgrowth. In a spray bottle, combine two tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and one pint of water. Spray the moss with the solution, then rinse it away with a hose.
If any of the concrete on your property has grease stains, drench it with liquid dishwashing detergent. Let it stay that way for about one hour. Then pour just-boiled water on it. If the stain isn’t completely gone (and it probably won’t be), repeat the process once or twice more.
Spray metal window and door frames with nonstick vegetable spray to make this puttingup and taking-down seasonal chore much less of a pane in the glass.
If your key doesn’t go in and out of the lock smoothly, any of the following should help…
◆ Spray the key with nonstick vegetable spray and, before it dries, insert it into the keyhole a few times.
◆ Dip a powder puff or a cotton ball in baby powder and smack it on the keyhole. The idea is to have a bit of powder coat the inside of the keyhole.
◆ Rub the serrated side and the underside of a key using a soft lead pencil. (It’s not actually lead, it’s graphite.) Then transfer the pencil’s graphite from the key into the keyhole by putting the key in the lock and moving it back and forth until the key comes out clean.
Moisture, pollen, dust, dirt and pollution all conspire to make it practically impossible to remove an outdoor lightbulb from the socket shell. If you lightly coat the threaded base of the bulb with petroleum jelly before you screw it in, when it comes time to remove and replace the bulb, unscrewing it will not be a problem.
Ladder Safety
If a household chore has you mounting a ladder on soft earth, make it safer by putting each leg of the ladder in an empty coffee can, which will help stabilize the ladder, making it safer.
If possible, have someone hold the sides of the ladder steady while you climb up. (To be even safer, hire an insured contractor to do the chore for you.)
Dissolve four cups of baking soda in two gallons of hot water. When the water is still warm (but not hot enough to melt plastic), pour the solution into the plastic pool. Swish it around with a clean sponge, then pour out the solution and rinse the kiddie pool with clear water.
Create an Outdoor Dolly
Buy an old skateboard at a yard sale, thrift shop or from a teenage neighbor, and use it to cart around heavy or awkward things, such as moving your full garbage can to the curb or relocating big potted plants.
Make sure the skateboard is stable before you move anything, especially on an incline.
You’ll have a cleaner pool if you keep a tennis ball floating in the water. The ball serves to ab – sorb body oils. Don’tcha just love it?
◆ Spray the plastic furniture with foam shaving cream and let it stay that way for five minutes. Use a soft brush or a coarse sponge to wipe the dirt away. Then hose it down.
◆ After wiping the dust and dirt off plastic, wood, or metal furniture frames—not chair seats or any other parts that come in contact with people’s skin—buff the frames with liquid car wax. It will protect your furniture from pollution, bird droppings and anything else that may cause erosion.
◆ Protect and clean your white resin patio furniture when there’s a big storm brewing. (A small detail we didn’t mention yet—you need to have a swimming pool for this tip.)
Put the furniture in the pool and it won’t blow away. When the storm is over and you take out the furniture, each piece will be sparkling clean, thanks to the chlorine in the water.
While you’re at the auto-supply store buying liquid car wax, pick up some cleaner for a convertible car top. It will go a long way in cleaning and giving your sun-beaten patio umbrella a revitalized look.
◆ Before you fire up the grill, lightly coat the racks with vegetable oil or a nonstick spray. Meats and vegetables will slide off easily.
◆ Toss some fresh herbs on the coals—rosemary, basil, sage or a few bay leaves work well. As the coals get hotter, the scent of the herbs will subtly flavor the food. The herbs will also permeate the air with the promise of good eats.
Grilling Safety!
Keep antibacterial wipes close by to clean your hands after handling raw meat.
◆ When you’re finished barbecuing and the grill is still warm, sprinkle baking soda on it. Let it stay that way overnight. The next morning, wipe it clean, then rinse and dry.
◆ Sprinkle about 1 ⁄2 cup of borax powder (available at supermarkets and drugstores) on the bottom of the garbage can to help prevent mold from growing.
◆ If you have a severe fly problem around your garbage can, line the bottom of the can with a light coating of powdered dishwasher detergent. The smell of the soap will repel the flies. And when you want to clean out the can, just add water and rinse.
◆ To keep the flies away, dip a sponge in oil of lavender (available at health-food stores), and wipe the inside of the can and lid with it. Do this after every garbage pick-up.
◆ If neighborhood dogs or cats insist on dining out at your garbage can, sprinkle black pepper around the can. They should stop coming over for take-out.
You can prevent the lid of the garbage can from flying away on a windy day—just get some rope or wire and tie the lid to the garbage can handle.
To discover more tips for everyday living purchase your own copy of Household Magic from Bottomlineinc.com today.
