1. Problem: Crock Pot with no case or band.
Some crock pots are sold as just the crock pot with no case or band for easy travel. This is great if you never go anywhere, but if you're like me, and need a crock pot to travel for an event, then this trick with a dish towel may be what you need. This is my 2 quart crock pot. I needed to transport some cocktail weenies for a cookout and had no idea how to do so in my car without risking it tipping over.
My crockpot has loops through the handles, which allowed me to put a dish towel over the top,and tuck it in through the handle holes. It wasn't perfect, but it held the lid in place so nothing spilled or tipped during the transport. This would work best with small and medium size crock pots. I suppose if you have a thin, larger dust cloth or hand towel it could work with bigger sizes.
2. Problem - Kitchen Drawer Chaos
I have a drawer full of random kitchen 'things.' All of these we use at some point, but rooting around in a drawer to find them is tiresome. In our last move, I found a really nice desk organizer for pencil drawers. The tray is about 3 inches deep and in various sizes. On the right, are 4 compartments that are holding our meat thermometer, egg slicer, corn butter-er, and my ricer. In the middle, tw3o compartments hold my ice cream scoop, cookie scoop, corn kernel cutter, garlic press, and tart shaper. The left is the full length of the tray and is holding grease trays, a zester, and my candy thermometer. There was some extra space around the outside where I have a pastry blender, crinkle cutter, and beaters for my hand mixer. This drawer is deep enough that I can put my small cutting boards on top, too. Easy, organized, and no more digging through 'junk' drawers to find what we need! 3. Problem - Your pantry has wire racks / Everything keeps falling over
I love shopping at stores like Aldi where they let you take boxes if you need them. I've used this trick in many places, but my favorite is the pantry organization. We eat a lot of rice and pasta sides in small packets. What we found with wire pantry shelves is that they fall through, or just fall over. It looked like a mess before I got in there! I grabbed a few boxes from my last shopping trip to Aldi, and voila! Managable, organized pantry cabinet. I find that the open top and sides work best for things like packets, cookies, baby snacks, etc.
For my shelf with canned goods (not pictured), I have a box with an open front and high sides. I have my cans stacked 3 high and they are confined within the box walls to help build up and not out. Try this type of box for things that need to stand upright - Spaghetti, paper towels, etc. The open front lets you reach in easily and the sides help prevent things from falling on you or the shelf. Building up has helped me gain so much pantry space!
4. Problem: You have cups / pitchers / vases displayed on top of your cabinets, but hate cleaning out the dust.
No more afternoons spent cleaning out your display items when they get dusty! Use Glad Press 'N Seal Wrap around the top, and then trim the overlapping edges to make a custom sized, snug, fitting top.
The beauty of this style of wrap is that it's frosted (not quite clear), so in most cases you can have it on a clear pitcher/glass/vase and when standing on the floor, nobody will ever see it - Unless maybe if they are looking for it. Anything in a solid color would never be seen from the floor! The wrap across the top keeps out dust and grime that accumulates - especially if you have anything close to the stove. Grease and steam plus dust = Sticky mess! When you notice dust on top of the plastic you can take it down, do a quick wash and put on brand new wrapping. Easy!
5. Problem: Children's socks get lost in the laundry!
This idea I've seen others do, too. Grab a lingerie bag for the washer and get in all the socks for that load of clothes. Keep them in there for the dryer, too and there's no more random, lost kid's socks!
6. Problem: When vacuuming with a bagless model, emptying the dust cup sends a cloud of dirt back into the air.
When I vacuum, I carry two grocery bags with me. I tuck one inside of the other, and when it's time to empty the dust cup, I put the entire cup into the grocery bags before I open it. After emptying, I gently pull the dust cup out and gently tie the bag closed once. I'll vacuum some more, and when it's time to empty again, I do the same thing. I keep going until I'm finished. There's no dust explosion in my trash cans, no puff of 'stuff' going back into the air, and it's so easy to just throw in the outside trash can when I'm finished. Easy!
7. Problem: Your nylon turner is dirty / You only have a metal turner to use on your cookie sheet
If this has ever happened to you, let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes. Grab your plastic kitchen scraper and gently use it to loosen the cookies. With any non-stick cookie sheet you want to prevent scraping from metal utensils so always use nylon. When you remove all of the cookies, use the scraper to chip away the cookie remnants before washing.
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