Smelly Plastic Containers

Next time you leave a plastic container with a meatball sandwich and hard-boiled egg in your car for two days baking in the sun there’s no need to throw it out; the plastic container, that is. Please, PLEASE throw out the sandwich and the egg.

To take the smell out of plastic containers, wet some newspaper, scrunch it up, put it into the container, and seal it up. Put the container into the freezer for a couple of days. When you take the container out, throw away the newspaper and the smell will go with it. I’ve used this method when my I left a salad with onions and garlic in my car for a few days and it really does work. FYI: I washed it in the dishwasher with very hot water before employing the newspaper method, but when it still had an odd odor to it I tried the newspaper method and it worked beautifully.

Water Saving Tips Using Recyclables

We all know by now (don’t we?) that recycling of water is an important part of living green. This project is a great water conservation for kids instruction because it encourages them to reuse soda bottles and plastic milk jugs, items that they typically use. This water saving tip is a two-fer on the “green scale”: using a recyclable item in a way that saves water.

Start by cutting off the bottom of a recycled soda bottle or recycled half gallon plastic milk jug to make it into a funnel. As you water your garden place this funnel right at the base of the plant, pushing it down below the surface if possible, so that when you water, all the water goes directly to the roots of the plant. You’ll be saving water and BONUS, you’re not watering the weeds.

Greens in a Bag

Another valuable contribution to Irish Attic from Debbie at ArtlinkGallery.com

I live alone and I don’t like shopping, so I buy several bags of the spinach and lettuce in one shopping trip. I found they spoil so fast.  And spinach not in a bag spoils even faster. What I found that works amazing is to open the bag as soon as I get home and put in a couple of paper towels, then seal with a rubber band, twist-tie or bag clip
. If I seal it well between uses and change out the paper towels for new ones when they get moist it lasts much longer.

If  you buy spinach and lettuce loose or in a bunch, wash the leaves and make sure they’re dry. Store them in a repurposed bread bag with paper towels just like above.

IA: Thanks Debbie for your dedicated reading of IA and your flow of tips and tricks to improve this blog!