practical solutions...your favorite household hints...

We had a laundry discussion a while back and it prompted me to think..".the best way to find new ideas it to exchange them." So here goes, a few nifty ideas for fabric softener sheets...I don't know where I got it from, however I know that I've used it often. Looking forward to all of yours

Bounce This Around!
Great Tip....Who woulda thought? My mail carrier
told me that the US Postal service sent out a
message to all letter carriers to put a sheet of
Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep yellow
jackets away.
Use them all the time when playing baseball and
soccer. I use it when I am working outside. It
really works. The yellow jackets just veer around
you. And all this time you've just been putting
Bounce in the dryer!
It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet
near them.
It also repels mice. Spread them around
foundation areas, or in trailers, cars that are
sitting and it keeps mice from entering your
vehicle.
It takes the odor out of books and photo albums
that don't get opened too often.
Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through
a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.
Eliminates static electricity from your
television (or computer) screen. Since Bounce is
designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your
television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to
keep dust from resettling.
Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with
a sheet of Bounce.
Freshen the air in your home. Place an
individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in
the closet.
Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.
Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded
needle through sheet of Bounce before beginning to
sew.
Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual
sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.

Freshen the air in your car. Place a sheet of
Bounce under the front seat.
Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a
sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight,
and sponge clean. The antistatic agent apparently
weakens the bond between the food.
Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet
of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.
Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet
of Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose
hairs.
Eliminate static electricity from Venetian
blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to
prevent dust from resettling.
Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering.
A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a
tack cloth.
Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an
individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a
laundry bag or hamper.
Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of
Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.
Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket
to keep the bees away.
Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent
before folding and storing them. Keeps them smelling
fresh.
And now that you know, print and keep on file or
pass it around!

Sk8m8, those are all such great hints. I use them in my laundry basket and it works super great. I also hang a couple in the closet, keeps the clothes smelling fresh.

Using the bounce for insects, mice and other things is a new one for me, Thanks for those.

Dee

Some of them aren't true - especially the ones about repelling bugs.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/bounce.asp

heyang, is that your experience or just the writing of the individual on the webblog?

Several of the hints that are listed are more effective than others, i.e, put bounce around and underneath a picnic and the ants stay away...lay your picnic out on an antbed or an antfile and I'm not sure any product will work.

It does work on soap scum (my most common use for them)...fabric softener is meant to break down soap in your wash so the same chemicals work on the tiles. Once again, if you have soap buildup of more than say 1/8 of an inch, I suggest a steam cleaner and steel wool.

as far as the books goes, I think it's a better preventative method than a solution. I know lots of friends that have lots of second hand books. They all swear by them. The bounce sheets do keep the odors away, and hey they are a used fabric softener sheets which is in the spirit of recycling and leaving a lighter footprint on the planet.

And,oh yeah, if you're gonna dump a weeks worth of laundry for a family and keep it there for a week, I'd suggest going to the dollar store, getting the generic bounce and dumping the whole 50 sheets in the hamper first.... Everest, even though proven to be scalable, is still to daunting a task for most to overcome !