Christy’s Simple Tips

Christy’s Simple Tip: Use a Whisk to Pick Up Eggs

Use a whisk to remove Easter eggs from a cup of dye without coloring your fingers, or to lift boiled eggs out of hot water without burning your hands and without dropping the slippery little buggers from a spoon. This also works to remove them from ice water if you cool your eggs after boiling.

Simple press the whisk onto the egg, and the little stinker should pop right through the loops on the whisk.

To remove the egg, separate the wires a tad and the egg should pop right out. If it doesn’t come out, it doesn’t deserve to be free.

Of course, if you like your kids to show up at church on Easter Sunday with dyed hands and wrists, you won’t want to use this technique. For our family the dyed hands on Easter are a tradition, and I’m not one to break with tradition.

I think I’m going to bring a whisk to the next egg-and-spoon race we’re invited to. That’s not cheating, is it?

To see your favorite simple tips featured on The Simple Homemaker (including a link to the page of your choice), please submit it through my contact page or send an email (pictures are optional) to TheSimpleHomemaker at gmail dot com with SIMPLE TIP in the subject.

Christy’s Simple Tips: Simple Storage Solution

Use a shoe holder to contain the little things that clutter up cupboards and shelves.

The one pictured above is hanging inside a laundry closet and is being used to store cleaning supplies.

We have one in our tiny bathroom in our travel trailer. We use it to store personal hygiene and first aid supplies—hairbrushes, shampoo, My Little Pony bandages—all the goodies!

We’ve used them for outdoor items, such as jump ropes, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk. We’ve used them, for dusters and rags. We’ve used them for random homeschool helps and putzy little game items, such as decks of cards, wrap-ups, card holders for little hands, and the all-important place to store lonely game pieces. Poor little lonely game pieces. And, get this, we’ve even used them for shoes—I know, crazy!

The pocket holders are simple and cheap, can be cut down to size, and hide easily on the back of a laundry room door, in a bathroom, or on any wall.

Best of all, they pocket all your stuff–most of which you should just get rid of anyway. Ahem.

To submit your simple tip and receive a link to the page of your choice (blog, Pinterest, Instagram, website), please use the contact page or send an email (pictures are optional) to TheSimpleHomemaker at gmail dot com with SIMPLE TIP in the subject.

Christy’s Simple Tips: How to De-Core Iceberg Lettuce

I thought everybody knew this technique, so I never thought to mention it. About two years ago my grandmother told me to watch the neat trick my uncle had just taught her, and she showed me the iceberg coring method my own mother–her own daughter–had been using my whole life.

Apparently, not everyone knows this. But you will.

How to De-Core Iceberg Lettuce

Take the iceberg lettuce in your hand.
Locate the core.
Slam the core down on a hard surface, like a counter–not like your head.
It will loosen so you can slide it out.

Super duper simple!

Oh, palm the lettuce like this or with both hands on the sides:

Don’t hold it with one hand on the bottom by the core. Ouch.

This simple tip comes straight from Mom down on the ol’ homestead. Thanks Mom! Love you! OX

Special thanks to Elisabeth for coring this head of lettuce for all you. You have lovely hands, Elisabeth. Go practice your piano.