Seniors, could you use and share some hints?

Question

I use a nut cracker to open bottles and I have an old metal bottle opener to pop seals with and open jars, I have a round rubber grabber I also use, I keep kitchen scissors to open bags with and cut pills out of plastic.
What are your hints to share?

I won't eat the spinach with anyone I don't know--don't you spit in the wind.

Pill bottle, use those nut crackers.

LadyG--thanks for the link, just added it to my favorites.

Shortstuf, if you have the big A you don't smack anything unless you want to be in extreme pain.

Answer 1

An athletic sock filled with rice and heated in the microwave 15 minutes and draped around your neck lets you keep the house 10 degrees cooler in the winter.

Tilting your head and saying, "Eh?" a few times keeps store clerks and waiters from asking you too many silly questions.

Answer 2

I use a bottle opener, the kind with one pointed end like you used to open cans with before poptops. Put the point under the edge of a jar that has a stuck lid and apply a bit of pressure upward. If you do this at one or two places around the jar lid, generally you can break the vacuum seal and the lid will just unscrew.

I also stick notes on mirrors and windows using a dab of toothpaste as "glue". Just a dab and a piece of paper sticks to the glass. Better than those post it notes if it's hot or damp. A message on the bathroom mirror is almost never missed! :-) Plus, it washes clean easily.

Another tip: buy a plastic tub with a lid and put presents for family and friends (birthday, Christmas, Hannukah, whatever) in it and keep it in the back of your closet under blankets. That way you can buy what you want when you have the money and aren't rushed for time! Holidays and gift giving gets a lot easier. Come the time to give, just pull it out and wrap it up. When I find the perfect greeting card I buy it and put it in there, too. It's amazing what fantastic presents you can give if you shop all year for them in twenty minute segments!

Answer 3

There's a lot of good hints here. I use a lot of them like the scissors and slapping a jar on the bottom before opening. Here's some stuff I also use. Not real earth shaking but they make my life a little easier.

* I use a tablespoon to spread mayonnaise or peanut butter or jelly on sandwiches. It's faster than a knife and you can really layer it on. I'm kind of an over-doer.

* When hand or bath soap gets down to a sliver, I open a new bar and use it a little to get it wet and "softer" then press the old sliver into it with as much force as I can with my hands. I do this just as I'm finishing bathing. The old and new soap dry together and the next time it's like one solid bar. I never waste any soap that way. Kind of chinchy I guess.

* I cook bacon in a George Foreman cooker. The bacon stays nice and straight and I don't get grease all over the kitchen unless I forget to regularly empty the little grease catcher thing.

* I trim my yard with a string trimmer prior to mowing rather than after mowing. That way, the longer pieces of trimmed grass are mulched when I mow.

* I took the handle off a 7 inch diameter sauce pan and use that for the cats' water dish. It has straight sides and the cats have never been able to spill it like they did with regular cat dishes. I was always stepping in that spilled water with my socks.

* For areas in the flower bed that are difficult to water because water quickly runs off rather than penetrating, I use an old, plastic cat litter bucket. I drill one or two 1/16" holes in side of the bucket near the bottom then fill it with water and set it in the bed. The water drips out slowly enough so there is no run-off and the bed gets the soaking it needs.

Answer 4

If you cant get those pesky sticky labels off glassware, a new appliance etc, without it leaving a gummy mess behind just smear it up with margarine and it will come right off, makes you wonder whats in margarine doesnt it?

If you dont have a pot scrubber use salt, just like you use sand to scrub pots when you're camping. Be sure and get all the salt out of the pan afterwards.

No metal polish? use ketchup or catsup depending what country you live in. Works good on copper.

Cant remember all your passwords? Write them in your address book as phoney phone numbers.

Added: pain medication kicks in a lot faster if you take it with caffine - and if your grandkids have a fever, give them baby tylenol with a cup of sweetened tea - their fever will go down a lot faster. My doctor told me that, he was old school, you dont need a prescription, you need some vitamins, some cod liver oil.

Answer 5

When opening glass jars, I use a rubber band, a fairly big
one wrapped several times around the lid. Works every
time. It's an old trick I learned as a Girl Scout. I too
keep scissors handy for opening almost everything.

Answer 6

When opening glass jars, I first smack the bottom of the jar with the palm of my hand & upon hearing a popping sound, the jar is then easy to open. Works every time.

Answer 7

For an insect bite place a penny over the bite/sting mark and hold in place with a band aid for about 15 minutes. I don't know why this works but it does. It takes the sting and the swelling out.

Answer 8

One of the biggest helps for me has been to convince my pharmacist to not put my meds into those childproof bottles. Took some doing, too. He seemed to think that my kids were still babies, even after they'd left home.

Before I got him convinced, I used to have to get the 5 year old niece to open them for me. She'd take a knife from her toy dishes set, and pop those lids off, no problem..

Answer 9

These are all great suggestions. I'll probably use every one of them.

I have a long handled gripper, actually two of them. One for inside to reach cans and bottles on high shelves, etc. And, one for outside to pick up trash.

This saves my back the pain of reaching and bending.

Answer 10

If you are not allergic to apple cider vinegar (rust colored vinegar), then put a teaspoon down the esophagus in a 8 ounce glass of water or in tea daily. This will erase that plaque buildup that no one needs and will build your circulatory system back up to normal. Try it and you will be glad that you did. Remember this, What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? - Romans 8:31. The Lord daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. - Psalm 68:19. Peace and God Bless.