Listerine for Blisters

"Home cure: Listerine Use it for: 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 3 times a day until the area dries out and no longer hurts"

This is another one of those that is commonly seen in a large strip of home remedies on Pinterest. I have no doubt this would work, but it still seems silly. Unless you're out camping and forgot the first aid kit and have been walking barefoot through a swampy lake only to realize your blisters have popped, in which case I could understand using this. You see, the main ingredient of Listerine is Ethanol. Yep. It's basically booze. Sure it has a hint of other things, like menthol, thymol, and a few other herbal flavors, but at 26% pure alcohol, that's what's really getting the job done. Really, you're probably better off leaving the listerine on the bathroom shelf and reaching for the rubbing alcohol (a solution of either ethyl or isopropyl alcohol), or even a bottle of rum or vodka in a pinch. Due to its natural antimicrobial properties, tea tree oil is another, more natural route you could go that will help fight germs and dry the blister out if need be. 

I've also seen this pinned stating that "Listerine contains antiseptic and disinfectant ingredients; it has been used for everything from curing gonorrhea to cleaning floors." and that's true--or, at least, it was over 100 years ago when it was created and used as a surgical antiseptic. But when at looking at the turn of century, it's important to remember that it was the era of Cure-Alls; it was fairly common for a lot of items to be toted as a universal solution for anything and everything. For example, Lysol was originally created as an antiseptic disinfectant to fight against cholera. Soon after, in the 1920's it was recommended as feminine douche and preventive for pregnancy after all. Interestingly, this was around the same time as Listerine was suggested as a mouthwash to help fight bad breath (which, prior to that time, wasn't considered such a terrible thing).

So all in all, yes you can use this for blisters, but it's so silly I don't see why anyone would want to.

Good Idea Friday - How To Open A Bottle Of Wine With A Shoe

"Open a Bottle of Wine with Your Shoe Maybe the most useful thing anyone needs to know, ever."

This is a trick I found on pinterest a while back that I was really excited to try. I watched the original video posted, and it looked easy. But if it's so easy why isn't this a common party trick? So I decided to test it out myself and film the results: 

I decided to skip the idea of hitting it on a wall because A: I didn't want to damage my walls and B: I figured this is best used when away from home and without a corkscrew handy, so chances are you won't have a wall to hit. Despite hitting it on various things, my husband was unable to get the cork to even budge slightly.  However once it was opened, and recorked, we tried again with far easier success.

I've since watched a couple more videos on youtube of people trying this, and it seems those who did succeed were hitting the bottle for quite some time before it started to budge. So I'm going to go ahead and say this will work, but it would be easier all around if you opened the bottle, recorked it, and then did the tree/wall method like we showed. 

So has anyone tried this yet? What were your results? Do you have any other tricks and tips to opening a bottle without a corkscrew? 

Magic Toilet Cleaner

Magic Eraser uses... did you know you can cut a piece off and float it in your toilet overnight and voila! no more toilet ring! The website has a list of about 100 uses!

Magic Erasers.. they clean like magic. I honestly love these things and use them in place of typical sponges on most everything. (Though I personally prefer the generics.)

But will they be so magical as to do the work for you? 

No. No they won't. You can't just cut up a sponge, toss it in the toilet, and expect to wake up to having the bowl cleaned for you magically over night. The way these sponges work are that they are basically like super fine sandpaper (which is why they tell you never to use on skin. Though I'm surprised I haven't seen it posted a great DIY micro dermabrasion facial on pinterest yet.) So you actually need to scrub with these. Plus you still need to fish that out of your toilet come morning anyways so wouldn't it be easier just to clean it the old fashion way?

Honestly if you keep your toilet fairly clean then in a pinch you can add anything from your usual bowl cleaner, bleach, or even baking soda and let it sit over night and then just flush in the morning to get rid of the ring.  I've also read where people have had good results with the old 3rd grade science fun of mixing equal parts baking soda and vinegar to clean with out scrubbing. However if you have hard water or mineral build up that isn't responding to the usual cleaner and brush it's best to slap on the industrial rubber gloves, grab a pumice stone and get scrubbing. 

Jello Legos

"Wash mega blocks, fill them with jello, and chill. You will have lego jello!" 

Hey look! It's a picture of Jello, in the shape of Legos! What makes people assume that it's as simple as just filling empty legos with jello I will never understand. I have kids - kids have Legos. I've played with them before and took a look at the underside of the blocks - they don't look like just an inverted Lego.

But the pin says Mega Blocks, which we don't have. A quick google search though shows the same thing on the underside of the blocks. There is no way you can just pour Jello in there and get a lego shape. Not to mention the blocks are so ridged that it would be really difficult to get the Jello out once it's set up. 

So how DO you get Lego shaped Jello shown in the pin? With a silicone mold of course! You can order one here at amazon . Those are made by Lego it appears, but there are several other companies that make them as well. And because Pinterest is all about DIYing, here's a great blog write up on how to make your own silicone mold if you're feeling fancy. 

Crafty Corner : DIY Lego Mold

Heat Sealing Cellophane Bags

This is one of those that isn't THAT bad, but still had me puzzled -

Ok. So this isn't going to burn down your house or maim you. But unless you happen to have a curling or flat iron laying around you don't mind getting plastic burned into, it's probably best to skip this one. Not to mention the seal created by something like this isn't going to be the best. Ether buy something made to seal bags, or go the easy route and staple it. I've seen some really cute simple card stock topper ideas on pinterest for sealing bags: 

Not only would this look better, but can be sealed with with staples or double sided tape easily. Plus it would be a lot easier than trying to seal it with a curling iron.