Leigh-Ann shares her favourite 'everyday solutions'

Leigh-Ann shares her favourite 'everyday solutions' -- from flat ironing your shirt collar to a perfect pancake dispenser.

In this new feature, Leigh-Ann shares her favourite ‘everyday solutions’ — from flat ironing your shirt collar to a dispenser for perfect pancakes.

Leigh-Ann’s everyday solutions

Pant hanger cookbook holder

Instead of using a cookbook stand, free up counter space by clipping a pants hanger to the top of your open recipe book, and then hang it on the knob or handle of your upper kitchen cabinets. It frees up counter space and puts the recipe info right at eye level

A smart and simple alternative use for pant hangers is to snap the clip ends off and then use them as chip bag clips in the kitchen.

Straight iron collar press

If you’re tired of pulling out the ironing board and iron just to press down a pesky curled shirt collar, just heat up your hair straightening iron to flatten it out.

Nail polish thread saver

Never lose a shirt or jacket button again by adding a dab of clear nail polish to the front and back of your button threads.

Paint can rubber band

Avoid drips of paint collecting around the paint can rim by stretching a rubber band from the bottom of the can to the top opening. When you need to remove excess paint off of a brush, wipe it against the band, not the edge and then throw it after when you’re done painting.

Wrapping paper saver

Don’t be too quick to toss away your empty toilet paper tubes! Slit them down one side, wrap them around your rolls of gift wrap to protect them from unraveling and tearing, and secure the roll with a piece of tape.

Perfect pancake squeeze bottle

Next time you have an empty squeezable ketchup bottle, wash it out and fill it with pancake batter using a funnel. The bottle makes it easy to squeeze perfectly round pancakes into your pan, and any unused batter can be easily stored in the fridge.

DIY all-natural wipes

If you regularly use wipes to clean sticky hands and messy stovetops, here’s a simple recipe to create your own all-natural wipes using common kitchen ingredients:

Using a serrated knife, cut a high quality paper towel roll into 3 equal lengths.

Place one of the paper towel thirds into a plastic container with lid that is slightly taller than roll.

In a mixing glass, combine 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 cup vinegar, then squeeze in a quarter of a lemon.

Pour the mixture over the paper towel third and then seal the lid.

Let the liquid soak into the paper towel inside of the container for 10-15 minutes, and then open and remove the cardboard centre from the roll.

Pull and tear the sheets from the center when needed to wipe sticky fingers, stove tops, laminate countertops and more.

All ideas sourced and curated from various websites.

What’s YOUR everyday solution? Upload your video to YouTube and send the link to submissions@cityline.ca.