Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Okay, Denise O'Donoghue, hello to you in Cork. Hello. And Denise, you are, of course, the Life Hacks columnist with the Irish Examiner, the Hacks Hack, and you have some summer hacks for us. Denise, can we start with flies? They're everywhere all of a sudden. What am I doing with a disco ball or an old CD?
This one did surprise me. So a disco ball, it reflects the light, as we all know, so you get quite the nice spectacle. But flies' eyes are so sensitive to any change in light patterns. So if you have one hanging outside and it's kind of bouncing a bit of light around, they're too confused and they won't land.
So you might have a fly pop along, maybe you're outside for a barbecue or a drink or anything. And if there's one, you know, twirling nearby and casting a few bits of light around...
Chapter 2: What summer hacks can help keep flies away?
It's just going to avoid it completely. It hates them. So it's a great one. And, you know, maybe disco ball's your thing anyway, so you might have one in the house. But definitely you can DIY the same thing.
So a CD on a string, if you're not listening to your CDs anymore and they're just in a pile in the corner and you're kind of sick of it, you can maybe make a little project with the kids and make a few little, you know, hangers and sun catchers from them and hang those outside. So it's a nice one to do.
Okay, now they will often congregate around the wheelie bins at this time of year as well and the wheelie bins will often get a bit stinky. You have some hacks for keeping the wheelie bins from stinking. Starting with positioning.
Yeah, so I suppose a lot of us kind of make use of whatever space we have outside to store them anyway. But if they're in the direct sunlight, they're usually dark colours anyway, so they just kind of absorb the heat a little bit more. And if it's your household waste or your food waste, that's just going to make it extra stinky.
So if you have them a bit more in the shade, you're already doing a good deal more to just prevent any pongs coming out of it.
And how do we wash our wheelie bins and how often?
Well, they say about every two months. Now, I'm not that diligent with it, but I think in the summer it's probably worth keeping a bit more on top of it. So maybe if you did it at the start of the summer to get rid of any of those kind of winter residue and then the end of the summer or maybe during, if we are lucky enough to get a bit of a heatwave,
So a few times, but definitely when the heat comes up. But it's simple enough. If you just pop in a cup of vinegar and a bit of dish soap and then fill it with some warm water and let it sit. Maybe give it a stir with a stick if you have one every now and again. Tip it out and give it a bit of a rinse. And if you have maybe an old sweeping brush,
You can use that to scrub it out as well, just in case there is anything after maybe embedding a little bit on the inside. So just turn the wheelie bin on the side, lie it down and scrub it out and give it a bit of a rinse. And you can kind of twirl the wheelie bin as well, so you're not rattling it around the place. You can just kind of use the bit that's on the flat and scrub that.
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Chapter 3: How can I keep my wheelie bin from smelling?
So it just stops the sweat kind of getting to the next level or the next layer. So again, very handy for that kind of stuff. And even, it's worth packing it for the beach.
Why?
so again when it soaks up all that moisture when you're at the beach obviously your feet get wet from the water and you're walking in the sand and the sand all clings to you and then you're trying to get into the car or putting on your socks and dad's car is going to get ruined yeah oh and you'll never hear the end of it yeah so a bit of baby powder it just takes out the moisturiser and the sand just brushes off so you're going to save a lot of heartbreak and hoovering down the line and baby powder in the bed as well yeah
Yeah, it's a very similar one to the clothes. It, again, just soaks up all the sweat. So if it's a hot night, you can have it on the bed sheets. It's not going to do anything bad to the bed sheets, which is great. And it just kind of soaks up any sweat or extra moisture that might be there.
Okay. Any holiday packing hacks for us?
Yeah, so I'm a big fan of the carry-on. I hate checking in a bag if I have to, especially if you're only going away for a weekend. So my own thing is I will roll everything. So if I'm packing my clothes, I'll roll it all up very small. So I kind of fold it as normal and then roll it as tightly as possible. And you actually squeeze in a lot more clothes.
I remember trying it the first time thinking, ah, no, this won't make much of a difference. But it really does. So you can pack in a few more bits, which is great for, you know, two or three nights away.
And do you use a hair straightener then to kind of iron out bits and pieces?
Yeah. Now, I know a lot of hotels will have a hairdryer, but you know, if you're staying somewhere that does, or not a hairdryer, sorry, an iron.
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