Hi All! I think I may have mentioned this before on this Forum. But if not here goes. How to keep stained hands clean? Do your best not to get them stained from the beginning. How? Rubber Latex Gloves. BJ's sells them by the box at a nominal cost and to cut down on that cost, you can use them over and over again even when they get holes. When the holes get to big or the cuff might rip when pulling them on because of stress it's time to discard. What I do before taking them off is spray them with a garden hose or wash off the dirt just the same as washing your hands in a bucket of rain water. Then I quick dry them with a dry cloth or rag. But the most important thing is having a large container like a 34 or 39 oz coffee can with a plastic lid. Put a fair amount of inexpensive talcum powder or corn starch in the can. Then before I take off the gloves, I rub the powder on the outside. Then I slip the gloves off and put them in the can. Then I put on the lid and shake vigorously to get the powder on the damp or wet inside of the gloves making them dry. Some of the powder will reach into the inside also. You can easily put several pairs in the can as there all the same size and there's no left or right. So if a hole gets in the stronger left or right hand side of the wearer you can put that glove with the hole on the opposite hand. When I take the gloves out of the can obviously the outside has the most powder. I turn the gloves outside inward and then blow a little air into the cuff and then squeeze to pop the fingers out. Now the powdered side is inside and this helps to generally make the gloves slid on quite easily. Hope this info helps someone. Jim

States Ban Phosphate-Laden Dishwasher Soap July 2011 started a ban in sixteen states of the sale of dishwasher detergents that contain high levels of phosphates, a source of pollution in lakes and streams. Stores will not be allowed to sell detergent with more than 0.5 percent phosphorous. The bans do not apply to commercial dishwashing products, and detergents for hand-washing dishes generally contain no phosphorus. States instituting the rule include Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. One major cause of problems in dishwashers and cloths washers is most people use way too much detergent, more is NOT better. In a dishwasher fill the cup half way and use Cascade Complete liquid. Powder does not dissolve as well and be sure your rinse agent (JetDry) is full. If you are using a HE cloths washer use 2 tablespoons of 2X HE detergent. If you have a mildew smell in your front load washer then that is soap buildup, use a cup of white vinegar on its hottest or "tub clean" cycle to clean it. DO NOT mix bleach in your dishwasher! A posted comment:"my black dishes are white and my glass dishes are dirty looking " Try soaking them in CLR, if that does not work then they are permanently etched and there is nothing you can do. A posted comment:"I occasionally use Brillo to clean my white dishes" Noooooooo no no, you are scratching your dishes making them worse. Never use Brillo pads or Comet type cleaners on anything except stainless steel and that is not even necessary. If you do use one of these products on stainless than only rub with the grain, if you rub cross grain than you will permanently scratch the surface giving it an old warn out look. Here is a link that might be useful: NPR, Dishes Still Dirty? Blame Phosphate-Free Detergent

Any more offers? 1. If you like to save margarine or other plastic containers with lids to store things, here's a handy storage for the lids, which tend ordinarily to slide all over and make a mess. We get our milk in square boxes, just under 3" square, about 9" high, with top folded like a roof, squeezing open part of the roof to pour it. I pull open the rest of the roof, measure the width of the largest lid that you want to store up from the bottom, then cut from there down the middle of one side of the box, then fold each cut side down and staple. Then cut down each corner of the box to just a bit above the space needed, then fold the four sides over one another, cutting off extra material if there is any, and staple. To make the sides a bit stiffer, after you cut down the side of the box, slip a yardstick at the fold of each of the flaps and fold the flap down over the yardstick, to make an edge about 1/16 - 1/8" just before the flap turns down. If you do that, it helps if you lay the box on a board just wide enough to fill the hole in the side of the box and staple into it from the outside, rather than using the bottom of the stapler, which will push down the folded edge of the wall that you want to make. That will hold your lids in one place, in order, on edge, taking up only a small space in the cupboard, drawer, etc. 1a. Cut to a different length, they make handy storage containers for letters, as well. Slip two together, top to top, then staple to make a box for business-sized envelopes. You'll soon learn that you'd like to use the fold-over-the-yardstick system for the outside one of them, to make the sliding easier and to add strength to the sides, even though there may be two of them for most of the distance, I think. 2. Use frozen orange, etc. juice containers when empty to hold pens, pencils, etc. on your desk. I use them to hold nuts, candy, etc., as well ... but have had some trouble with Indian grain moths, whose larvae love nuts, cookies, etc. and whole wheat (but not white) flour. We have individual yogurt containers with sloping sides that fit just nicely into the tops of those juice containers, to foil the larvae and the webs that they spin (in addition to the residue from their behind that they leave behind). I can leave the various processed breakfast cereals out in a dish on the table for a week and those critters won't touch them - smarter than we are, I guess. ole joyful

This is an old thread but the tips are still useful! I'd like to add another tip to clean coffee makers. You probably heard, seen or have used Brew Rite and Dip It cleaners. It will save you alot of money if you just go to the laundry isle of Walmart or other stores and purchase a box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Washing Soda = Sodium Carbonate = Brew Rite. Sodium Carbonate is also in Dip It cleaner. They are all the same stuff but in different bottle and a whole lof of cost difference. I believe at Walmart, an 8oz. bottle of Brew Rite is $4.98, but a box of 55oz. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is only $3.24. If you do the math, you'd be saving at least $30 using washing soda. I know there are many type of coffee makers out there. I'm going to give 2 methods, for percolators and for dripper. If you have another type, just use one of these methods. For Percolators: Use 1 tablespoon of Washing Soda for every 4 cups of Water. Pour into the carafe, stir these well to dissolve the washing soda. Assemble all components (stem, cup & lids), and brew/perk as usual according to your type of percolators (stovetop, electric, etc.). Turn off the heat or unplug, let it sit for an hour while the unit is cooling down. Discard the mixture and rinse each component with water thoroughly. For Drippers: Use 1 tablespoon per 4 cups of water. Mix the washing soda well to desolve before pouring the mixture into the water reservoir. (Do NOT put just washing soda powder into the water reservoir.) Then, brew as usual. Discard the mixture and pour just water into the reservoir. Brew again to rinse. Do this for a total of 3 times, each time changing with fresh water. It should clean just as well as Brew Rite and Dip It.