10 HANDY MUST-KNOW HOUSEHOLD HINTS
Did you know that separating bananas from the bunch makes them last longer? Or that the best way to reheat a pizza, so it retains its crispy base, is to warm it in a frying pan? No? Then read on, because these must-know household hints will change your everyday living!Bananarama
Pull bananas apart before displaying them in your fruit bowl. If you leave them connected at the stem, they’ll ripen faster and go brown quicker. Who knew?!

Flexible vacuum
To suck up hard-to-reach gunk under your fridge, or behind a bookshelf, insert an empty paper towel roll into the end of your vacuum cleaner and bend, or flatten it, to squeeze into these difficult spots.
Foot odour
If your feet smell less than swell, wipe them down with a vodka-soaked washcloth to get rid of the stench. It’s the same principle as rubbing alcohol (which works equally well if you’d rather drink your Grey Goose). Vodka contains alcohol, which is antiseptic and drying, so it destroys odour-causing fungus and bacteria, and dries out the moisture that lets these organisms grow.

Fend off weeds
Instead of tossing your daily ‘rag (newspaper)’ in the recycling bin, use it as mulch and deter noxious weeds. Simply wet the sheets and put the layers around your plants and garden beds, covering with soil as you go. The weeds won’t be able to get through the wet newspaper layers.

So cheesey
Wrap cheese chunks in aluminium foil and store in the fridge to keep your cheddar fresher for longer, and to keep mould out.

‘Mozzies’ be gone!
If you have the kind of blood that attracts mosquitoes like a moth to a flame, then listen up: To keep the pesky blood suckers at bay, place a fabric softener dryer sheet in your pocket. Mosquitoes are repelled by the scent, and you’ll smell like summer breeze all night!

Crispy leftover pizza
To reheat a pizza so that the base is out-of-the-oven crisp, heat your leftover slices in a frying pan on low-medium heat on the stove until warm, and wave goodbye to the days of soggy microwave pizza.

Reopening enveloppes
If you seal an enveloppe and realise you’ve forgotten to include something inside, just place it in the freezer for an hour or two and… Voilà! The enveloppe will unseal without a trace!

The microwave oven
To keep bacteria from taking up permanent residence in your kitchen sponges, rinse them with water at the end of each day, squeeze, then put in the microwave oven for three minutes. Let cool before touching. Do the same with your cutting boards, if they are microwaveable.

Blisters
The classic breath freshener—and powerful antiseptic—can also ‘do a number’ on blisters. Moisten a cotton ball with Listerine and dab it on your blister three (3) times a day until the area dries out, and no longer hurts