Laugh Now...But You'll Thank Me Someday!

'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'

Confucius

Confucius...he was a Chinese philosopher around 500 BC and his wisdom has stood the test of time don't y'think?  Everything we do has to start with the first step.  Depending on our size and ability that step may be pretty small, insignificant even.  Part of my philosophy behind this blog is to pass on tiny things you can do to make your life easier, smoother and to help you (and me) to glean moments which can be spent in better ways than the 'drudgery' of life maintenance, or housework as we more typically call it.

Call me sad over getting a kick out of discovering a tip that actually works, but I'm not sad at all...I'm delighted actually, because over my lifetime I am going to add hours to my fun-time allocation by cutting out a job that has always caused me some minor irritation.

Last weekend we had some cousins over. I was faced with a load of hungry children and adults after a day of enjoying ourselves.  It was getting on in the day and I didn't want to have to go to the shops for food so I made the recipe which always goes down well, it's quick, yummy, the ingredients are all store-cupboard things and (mostly) everyone likes it .  

Spaghetti Carbonara.  

For that many tummies I tripled up the recipe-thus needing my biggest pot.  Everyone fed, I took one look at the scrambled egg caked at the bottom of the pot and stuffed it out of the way to face later.  I think we all know scrambled egg is a curse to try and clean off .  As expected, it was no easier later after the soak in cold water.  I thought to myself there has to be an easier way, so I whipped out Wiki Answers, click, click, click...magic internet...tell me the answer...

Some (obviously wealthy) respondents suggested throwing out the pots and buying new non-stick ones.  That was a non-runner, so reading on down I spotted a suggestion which was novel, if unlikely. Fill the pot with water and throw in a tumble dryer sheet, let it soak overnight.  Well, worth a try except I don't use tumble dryer sheets, but I guess maybe I've bought a pack one time.  I rummaged in the back of the cupboard till I found the forgotten pack with two completely dried out sheets left in it.  So nothing to lose, I duly filled up the pot, threw in the old dry cloths and shoved it out of sight again.

Next day I threw out the water and to be perfectly honest the scrambled egg mess looked exactly the same as it had the day before.  Aah, I'll just have to remove it the usual way, elbow grease...picked up the dish brush and was amazed...ok...maybe not amazed, but certainly pleased, that the egg just slid off, leaving a sparkling clean saucepan with no effort at all.

So there you have it.  Some day you'll be glad I told you this...mark my words!

Oh...and now my #1 daughter has just told me that you can also use dryer sheets to smooth down your frizzy hair after a day at the beach!! Hey, maybe I'll throw a pack in my trolley next time!