Swiss Army Knife in a bottle . . .
A bottle of Nail Polish should be in every household ‘fix-it-kit’, and not for finger or toe nail decoration, either. And for a complete kit, make certain there is one of Clear polish and another of the fairly new Glow-in-the-dark polish. Dozens of uses.
I find the Clear is great for a fingernail that has a roughness that nothing but growing out will eliminate. And, it’s the answer, if you happen to have one of those fingernails that ‘layers’, and not only looks bad, but are always ‘catching’ on clothes, and forever forming another loose layer. Keep it covered well with dull, colorless nail polish and let the nail grow out. Might take a month or two, but it’s worth the trouble and what other choice have we?
My husband, was one handy man around the house and before he ever knew or thought of colorless polish, he kept a bottle of polish, on his shop bench, and any color I happened to have would do. He didn’t care.
But when he was installing a screw into something, he would coat that screw liberally with the nail polish and then immediately tighten it into place and the screw would really be tight. And, making doubly sure, he’d also ‘paint’ the head of the screw.
When he became aware of colorless stuff, he would cover the heads of nails and screws on most everything he saw, for it keeps rust, dust, and other kinds of stains away.
I once had a pair of metal salt and pepper shakers at my stove, but they often were left damp, and in a day or two there were stains where they stood. One quick clean up and then with a coat of colorless polish on the bottom of the shakers, any staining was a thing of the past.
If you have a measuring bucket or whatever for measuring liquids, mark off, on the inside, the correct lines so you know when you’ve reached a pint, quart, cup or whatever you need. It works, and the time spent figuring out where the lines should be, saves you hours of time later on.
The Clear polish will fill in the dents on the top of wooden furniture, and if you coat the brass handles and knobs around the house with the clear polish they’ll never tarnish. Mix a bit of vinyl dust with the clear polish to repair any scratches on your vinyl flooring. Nice.
My husband would have grabbed onto the new Glow-in-the-dark polish, for it now spells the end of fumbling through the bed covers in the middle of the night, to find the Remote to turn OFF the tv or music when sleep came and left the programs going on forever. I’ve found that a few daubs on the edges, as well as painting the On and Off buttons are godsends. Betcha more bottles are sold for such purposes than for finger or toe nails.
Touch up the ends of a rope, string, or blind cord to keep them from fraying as well as mending small cuts or tears in window screens. And the Glow polish is a wonder in helping you find the key hole in your car when it’s dark, too.
When the knobs on your dresser or cabinets become loose, dip the screws into clear polish before tightening them and the tightening will be good for a long time.
Never tried it myself, but was told to use acetone polish remover to repair burns on wooden furniture. I think they were referring to hot ashes accidentally dropped from a burning cigarette, but of course, no one smokes any more, so cancel that one.
All together, I think we’ve found more uses for Clear and Glow nail polish than the makers imagined. Or maybe they did, and left it to us to find out. And we have.
I have used nail polish for some of the things mentioned but screws really seem like a neat idea. Will give it a go. Marie
Oh, Marie, thank you and for last week’s words, too. You are terrific. I saw, a day or two ago, a good looking pair walking down the street and stepped to the window to see them, and by golly it was you and Dean. Such class on our street ! ! ! ! Thanks again for your words. I enjoy writing them and it’s good when someone responds. Love to both of you. ethel