Dear Readers,
This is the final installment of tips from Maureen’s e-mail. I hope you find all of them informative and useful.
1. Goodbye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass and fill it 1/2 inch with apple cider vinegar and 2 drops dish washing liquid. Mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
2. Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal wherever you see ants. They eat it, take it “home”, and can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so to take effect, especially if it rains. But it works and you don’t have to worry about small children or pets being harmed.
3. Info About Clothes Dryers: The heating unit went out on my dryer. The repairman said he wanted to show me something. He went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes.) He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. (The line filter is made of a mesh material.) The hot water just sat on top of the mesh. It didn’t go through at all. He told me that dryer sheets produce a film over that mesh and that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t see the film, but it’s there. It’s what is in the dryer sheets that make your clothes soft and static free. You can actually feel this waxy film on the unused dryer sheets. It builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire and potentially burn your house down! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time and to keep your electric bill lower is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water, using an old toothbrush. Do this at least once every six months. He said that will make the dryer last twice as long.
Keep smilin’!