I’m still a helpful blogger

Everyone figures out ways to make everyday life easier for ourselves, and some folks share what they do so others can learn from their experiences. I often do that, too, but it’s been nearly three years since I last published a post specifically about shortcuts (so-called “life hacks”) to make life easier. It’s time to add another hint.

Just like my 2021 post, my first stand-alone helpful hints post was limited to one topic back in 2019, and dealt specifically with something to help dog owners. Today’s post is about a cleaning “hack”. First, though, some background is needed.

As I’ve documented here on this blog, New Zealand has been banning more and more consumer plastics, the most noticeable beginning of which was banning single-use plastic shopping bags in 2019. Since then, the New Zealand government has banned more plastics, and industry has joined the efforts, both of which I mentioned in a post last year. All of this has been awesome to see, and yet, some personal changes have proven harder than others, like doing without plastic bread bag tags.

I finally came up with a workable solution.

Of all the things I re-used those plastic tags for, the most common (and useful) was as small scrapers. In particular, I used them when scrubbing cooking pots, roasting trays, etc. (or cleaning up after painting), any time I wanted to scrape off something that had become stuck on something else. By using the tags, I could avoid using, and possibly damaging, my fingernails or scratching whatever I was trying to clean.

In 2022/3, those plastic tags started disappearing. At first, and sometimes still, they were replaced with brown cardboard, which are not only paper and too flimsy to use as scrapers, they’re also too small to recycle, so I cut them into small pieces and put them in my compost bin. Other companies have used other cardboard or hardened paper, which also don’t work as scrapers.

My solution was to use a cheap plastic paint scraper (example on the photo). Ordinarily such scrapers are used when using chemical strippers to remove paint or some other finish from wood (personally, I prefer metal ones for that work because they last far longer and removed the gunk better). What I use plastic scrapers for are using plaster filler to fill holes in the wall (life nail holes or whatever) because the plastic won’t scratch the paint. The one in the photo is part of a small bag of such scrapers that Nigel bought to use with his 3D printer, so I have plenty.

I only thought to use the scraper recently, and I’ve only had a couple chances to use it a couple times, but both times it worked really well. The fact I can grip it with my whole hand gives me more control and power than I ever had using one of those little bread tags. I highly recommend this method.

And there you have it: Another short, very specific tip to get small household jobs done better. What can I say? I’m still a helpful blogger.