Washing personal items

Baseball caps can get bent in the washing machine but hold their shape if you clean them in the dishwasher. Shin guards, knee pads, and mouth guards can be safely clean and sanitized when washed in there as well.

Get your drink cold faster

If you have about 20 minutes to wait, wrap a wet paper towel around the bottle or can and put it in the freezer (do not let your drinks freeze all the way). Placing your drinks in a bath of ice water will work even faster than in the freezer, 10 to 15 minutes. If you add salt to the ice water it will take about 8 minutes. But if you also add alcohol to the mix (1/2 bottle to each gallon of water), you will speed the process even more, and your drink will be ready in 3 to 5 minutes.

Iced tea stain

Iced tea do not set into fabric as quickly as hot tea. If you have a fresh stain, simply take an ice cube and rub it over it, and then pat the area with dry paper napkins or paper towel.

Position your sofa

A good rule for a living room is to place your couch facing the door, whether it is angled in a corner, floating or along a wall. If you do not have a choice and are forced to place it with its back to the entrance, add a console table behind it with items that you like so it looks more inviting.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!!!

Buttered corn stain

Sprinkle some sugar on the stain and pat it in to absorb the grease. Let it sit for a few minutes and brush off. Then, treat the area with a stain remover and wash in the hottest water possible.

BBQ sauce stain

Place a layer of paper towels over the stain and work from the inside of the fabric, flushing with cold water transferring some of the bbq sauce to the towels. Then, pretreat with liquid laundry detergent to break up the stain, let sit for several minutes and rinse well. Sponge the stain with white vinegar and rinse again. Pretreat again and wash.

Mustard stain

Stains from mustard are a little hard to remove, but scraping most of the excess off will make the job less overwhelming. Immediately, wash the splatter with cold water. As soon as you can, apply a prewash stain remover and wash in warm to hot water.