First, I want to talk about the "Listerine Foot Soak". The supposed recipe is
1 cup Listerine (or any antiseptic mouthwash)
1 cup Vinegar (white or apple cider)
2 cups warm water
You soak your feet in this (the amount of time I've seen varies from 15 minutes to an hour!). Then supposedly the dead skin just wipes off. I call bullsh-t! 45 minutes later, I dried off my (now bluish tinted) feet. Not only did the dry skin remain, but so did the blue. I had to take a foot file to my feet to get them a normal colour again. Did it make my feet softer? A little bit, but I attribute that to having to file and file to not have zombie-foot!
What's an alternative that works? Well, I'm glad you asked.... Before bed, apply a thick coat of moisturizer to your foot (focusing on the dry, cracked, or calloused areas). Wrap with plastic wrap all the way to your ankle bone. Put on a cotton sock. Repeat with the other foot. Go to bed (and if you have to get up, make sure to step carefully or you'll slip). Upon rising, take off the socks and plastic wrap. Already your feet will feel softer. Just a QUICK filing with a foot file or pumice stone will make a huge difference! If you have dragon-feet, you might need to do this two or three times. But usually, once is enough (even after neverending winter).
What's next? The "vinegar and Dawn shower cleaner". How does this one work, you ask? Not very well! Supposedly, you heat some white vinegar. Mix an equal amount of Dawn dish soap into it. Put it into a spray bottle and spray all over your shower. Let it sit (again, the time varies from "a few minutes" to "a couple hours"). Then just wipe it off. I was excited to try this one. So, I heated my vinegar, mixed it up, sprayed it on, and let it sit. Two hours later (read in "Spongebob" narrator voice), I went into the shower to wipe it off. The wet cloth didn't remove the mixture, just made it slippery. I kept trying to wipe, but finally I had to rinse (and rinse and rinse and....you get the idea). The slimy soap mixture finally came off, but the buildup remained. Needless to say, I had to take a scrub brush and some homemade scouring powder (equal amounts baking soda and salt) to get it clean.
So, what works? Make a paste of baking soda and water. Thinly spread it onto the shower with a cloth. Spray with white vinegar and watch it fizz. Repeat with more vinegar. Then wipe lightly and rinse quickly. Unless you've got a REALLY dirty shower, this will solve the problem.
Finally, there's what I THOUGHT would be a neat tip. You can make pudding with almond milk! All you need to do is add cornstarch and use less "milk". Sounds great, right (especially if you buy the almond milk on sale and a coupon or make it yourself)? Yeah, not so much. I followed these instructions EXACTLY. The result? It thickened slightly. SLIGHTLY. Even after sitting in the fridge overnight, it was the consistency of a half-melted milkshake....including watery and lumpy bits. Hardly appealing. By the time it DID thicken to a pudding-like consistency, it had gone bad (I kind of forgot the rest was still in the fridge).
So, what can you do? Well....there are some Mori-Nu Mates pudding mixes out there that are specially made to work with tofu. Or you could try making your own. Here's one recipe that should work for you (I've done something similar before, though not this exact recipe). If you're not a vanilla pudding fan, you could always add cocoa powder for chocolate. Or replace the sugar with brown sugar for a butterscotch. Pistachio is a bit harder, you need to make a pistachio paste and whisk it into hot milk before making the pudding (then you also will need pistachio bits and some food colouring). Only you could decide if that would be worth it. Let me add just one more recipe....a chocolate pudding recipe from Silk.
Okay, so that's it for my DIY fails for now. I hope you enjoyed this post and learned something new. Until next time.....