Parenting

10 More Summertime Hacks to Know

Posted on July 1, 2015

We got such great feedback and response from the initial Summertime Hacks we shared earlier, here are 10 more from our Supernanny Pals to help you navigate the summer heat, bugs and other minor nuances. These tips also provide some great shortcuts to know. Enjoy!

1. Keep a dryer sheet in your pocket to keep bugs away. You can spend tons of money buying bug spray, and you’ll most likely end up feeling sticky, smelling like bug spray, and getting bitten by bugs anyway. An easy solution is to carry a dryer sheet with you, which is something most people have at home already anyway. By carrying it in your pocket you can ward off bugs; something about the smell keeps the bugs away from you.

2. Sprinkle baking soda in sweaty shoes. Running around in your shoes without socks is a regular occurrence during the summer time because everyone just wants to slip shoes on and go. Unfortunately, this also causes extra unwanted odor in your shoes. To fix this problem sprinkle the inside of the shoes with baking soda to absorb the odors. If you’d rather not have the powdery look in your shoes, you can create a sachet by using a rubber band wrapped around a few tablespoons of baking soda in a handkerchief. Just put a sachet in each shoe and the odors will disappear.

3. Trap fruit flies with apple cider vinegar. Did you bring home fruit flies from the farmers market? Fill a glass jar half full of cider vinegar and screw the lid back on. Punch several holes in the lid and leave the jar where you have seen the fruit flies. They will be gone in no time.

4.Cool a sunburn with white vinegar. Unfortunately, with the warm summer months comes the occasional sunburn. To take the sting out of a sunburn soak clean soft cloths in white vinegar, wring them out and lay them on the sunburned skin.

5. Coat feet with petroleum jelly and cover with socks at bedtime. This trick will keep your feet soft and sandal ready all summer. A little petroleum jelly on your elbows and knees will make sure they stay soft and smooth for all of those revealing summer outfits.

6. Mix a can of cola with ketchup for a quick and easy barbecue sauce. Figure out about how much sauce you want and add the cola to the ketchup to thin it out and add flavor and sweetness. Brush on chicken or ribs during the last stages of cooking on the grill to avoid burning.

7. Use conditioner to shave your legs in a pinch. Did you forget to pack your shaving cream for your vacation? That’s okay; you can use the sample bottle of conditioner that most hotels give you. This will leave your legs smooth and silky soft.

8. Apply coconut oil to bee stings and bug bites. Coconut oilhas anti-inflammatory properties and will help heal the sting or bite as well as soothe the pain.

9. Straws make great strawberry hullers. Take a normal straw and push it up through the base of the strawberry and come up under the hull. Keep pushing and the hull will usually come right out. Practice makes perfect with this, but it really works well when you get the hang of it and you won’t have all those strawberry seeds under your finger nails.

10. Use cute cupcake papers to cover your drinks this summer. When the weather turns nice eating and drinking outside becomes standard, and almost mandatory. The problem with eating and drinking outside is keeping the bugs away from your food and drinks. Get yourself some cupcake papers and use them to cover your drinks. If you’re having a party the cupcake papers can even match the theme. To make a drink cover you just need to punch a hole in the cupcake paper and stick a straw through. Just make sure there are no bugs inside the straw before you drink.

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Parenting

10 Summertime Hacks

Posted on June 27, 2015

Avoid and deal with some minor Summer-related annoyances and inconveniences with these 10 Summertime Hacks provided by our friends at SummerNanny.

1. Stop drippy ice cream cones with a marshmallow or chocolate. Ice cream is a delicious summertime favorite, but often ends up being a very messy treat when eating outdoors in the heat. To prevent your sugar cone from leaking, drop a couple of mini marshmallows into the bottom before you add your ice cream scoops, or dribble some melted chocolate down into the bottom of all of your cones. In addition to stopping leaks, there will be a yummy treat at the bottom, especially once it hardens, and both solutions will stop the drips from ending up on your kids.

2. Light up your next outside dinner party by using cupcake papers. Candlelight is a beautiful addition down the center of an outdoor table and works well because candles are generally low and won’t block the view of the person sitting across the table. The problematic part of using candles is that you have to invest in a bunch of candle holders and deal with the cleanup of all of the melted wax. Until now. Instead of using candle holders, use foil cupcake papers as your holders and tea lights for your candles. The foil will reflect the candlelight as well as capture the melted wax and make cleanup a breeze.

3. Protect your food from flying pests by using a pretty flower pot. Buy a few big clay pots. You can buy them already painted or paint them yourself. To make the pots easy to pick up you’ll need to add on a handle. You can do so by taking some pretty cording or rope and cutting off about 10 inches, then folding the cording in half and poking the folded end through the hole in the bottom of the pot. Turn the pot over and tie the ends on the inside into a knot to prevent the cord from pulling out. Now you are ready to cover your food for your next outside gathering.

4. Gnats and flies love to walk all over food. Place a fan at one end of the table and create a breeze across the table. Gnats and flies don’t have particularly strong wings and won’t be able to fly through the breeze, thereby forcing them to stay away from the food and your guests.

5. Keep your food cold outside by using a baby pool. Baby pools are inexpensive and if you buy the blow up kind they are easy to store as well. If you want to keep salads cool just set the baby pool up on top of the food table and fill it with a few inches of ice. As the food arrives your guests can place dishes right on ice. Another use for the baby pool is to keep your drinks cold and easily accessible. You can set this pool anywhere, but placing it in the shade will help your ice last a little longer.

6. Jazz up your sun tea. Use different flavors of tea in your jar to bring a new mix to your tea. Once your tea has brewed in the sun add some mint leaves and fruit juice and refrigerate it until it’s time to serve it.

7. Keep unwanted ants away during your next picnic. Mix equal parts of water and vinegar in a spray bottle and shake. Spray the solution on picnic tables, under the table, and anywhere that people might be standing.

8. Stop wasting ice cream. Once open, ice cream is exposed to the air in the freezer and starts to form ice crystals, and if you leave it in there for too long the ice cream won’t be any good. To avoid ice crystals just press a piece of parchment paper or wax paper on the surface of the ice cream and it will stay fresh all the way till the last scoop.

9. Set a trap to keep the bees away from your guests. Find a spot that is at the edge of the area you are entertaining in and place a few bowls of sweet soda for the bees to drink. The bees will be too interested in drinking the soda to bother you or your guests.

10. Use corn starch to prevent chafing. Chafing happens to kids and adults alike in the summer due to their being more sweat forming between your skin and clothes. Corn starch is absorbent and it’s very soft to the touch. It works well to smooth it on legs or under bras to reduce the painful heat rash that occurs.

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BumpNews

10 Summertime Hacks you need to know about NOW

Posted on June 6, 2014

Summer is around the corner. Along with fun and sun, the season also brings bugs and unbearable heat! But you can beat the stresses of summer with these 10 hacks developed by our partners at Summer Nanny Jobs:

1. Keep a dryer sheet in your pocket to keep bugs away. You can spend tons of money buying bug spray, and you’ll most likely end up feeling sticky, smelling like bug spray, and getting bitten by bugs anyway. An easy solution is to carry a dryer sheet with you, which is something most people have at home already anyway. By carrying it in your pocket you can ward off bugs; something about the smell keeps the bugs away from you.

2. Sprinkle baking soda in sweaty shoes. Running around in your shoes without socks is a regular occurrence during the summer time because everyone just wants to slip shoes on and go. Unfortunately, this also causes extra unwanted odor in your shoes. To fix this problem sprinkle the inside of the shoes with baking soda to absorb the odors. If you’d rather not have the powdery look in your shoes, you can create a sachet by using a rubber band wrapped around a few tablespoons of baking soda in a handkerchief. Just put a sachet in each shoe and the odors will disappear.

3. Trap fruit flies with apple cider vinegar. Did you bring home fruit flies from the farmers market? Fill a glass jar half full of cider vinegar and screw the lid back on. Punch several holes in the lid and leave the jar where you have seen the fruit flies. They will be gone in no time.

4. Cool a sunburn with white vinegar. Unfortunately, with the warm summer months comes the occasional sunburn. To take the sting out of a sunburn soak clean soft cloths in white vinegar, wring them out and lay them on the sunburned skin.

5. Coat feet with petroleum jelly and cover with socks at bedtime. This trick will keep your feet soft and sandal ready all summer. A little petroleum jelly on your elbows and knees will make sure they stay soft and smooth for all of those revealing summer outfits.

6. Mix a can of cola with ketchup for a quick and easy barbeque sauce. Figure out about how much sauce you want and add the cola to the ketchup to thin it out and add flavor and sweetness. Brush on chicken or ribs during the last stages of cooking on the grill to avoid burning.

7. Use conditioner to shave your legs in a pinch. Did you forget to pack your shaving cream for your vacation? That’s okay; you can use the sample bottle of conditioner that most hotels give you. This will leave your legs smooth and silky soft.

8. Apply coconut oil to bee stings and bug bites. Coconut oil has anti-inflammatory properties and will help heal the sting or bite as well as soothe the pain.

9. Straws make great strawberry hullers. Take a normal straw and push it up through the base of the strawberry and come up under the hull. Keep pushing and the hull will usually come right out. Practice makes perfect with this, but it really works well when you get the hang of it and you won’t have all those strawberry seeds under your finger nails.

10. Use cute cupcake papers to cover your drinks this summer. When the weather turns nice eating and drinking outside becomes standard, and almost mandatory. The problem with eating and drinking outside is keeping the bugs away from your food and drinks. Get yourself some cupcake papers and use them to cover your drinks. If you’re having a party the cupcake papers can even match the theme. To make a drink cover you just need to punch a hole in the cupcake paper and stick a straw through. Just make sure there are no bugs inside the straw before you drink.

Stay cool!

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Summer hacks