Tips for the Homemaker

I have never claimed to be a homemaking guru of any kind, but I have found some things over the years that really really work, and I swear by them. Here are a couple:

1. I read a comment on someone's blog about her write on-wipe off board, and how she ruined it by accidentally mistaking a permanent marker for a dry erase kind. Ouch! We once had a permanent marker incident with our youngest daughter. I left her in the car once, while I walked my older daughter to the door where she was being dropped off, and when I turned around I realized the stinker had gotten into a "marks-a-lot" permanent marker that her daddy left in the door pocket. She drew on every surface in the car - the dashboard, steering wheel, seats, etc. I was SO upset. I remembered someone telling me to use hairspray on ink, and although I doubted it would work, I decided to try it when we got home. I sprayed the hairspray on enough to saturate the ink spots and then wiped - and it CAME RIGHT OFF of every kind of surface, cloth, vinyl, leather. When my husband came home and I told him about it, you couldn't even tell that it had happened. (thankfully - later that same child took a rock and walked all around the same car leaving her own "artistic impression" - that did not go over quite as well!)
2. A few months ago when my dog Jett was in a fight with another dog and had his ear torn, it bled profusely. When we took him to the vet to have it sown back together, he bled everywhere. I felt so bad that he was dripping blood and making such a mess, and even got blood on the nurses. They told me it was no problem, and that all they do is hit it with a little peroxide. I was thinking that they do that to kill the germs or something - but they informed me that it actually takes blood out. I came home and tried it on the end of my new bedspread where Jett had slung blood when he took his bandages off, and IT VANISHED! I was wondering why more women don't know about this handy trick, and wanted to make a point to share it with everyone else. You just pour straight peroxide on any blood stain and it will dissolve. We also used it all over the front porch, and it worked great!
   

So there are my helpful tips for the homemaker. Share your best ones with me!