Tipper Point: The many uses of a freezer

There are always a bunch of things on our checklist that we keep pushing right to the bottom simply due to the enormity of the task! It could be anything from a boring chore to a new hobby we have been postponing. Somehow, we have convinced ourselves that the task at hand is so complex; we will never find time for it.

That is where ShopYourWorld walks in and presents some tips and life hacks that will make your life a whole lot easier. The first thing that we are going to tip you about at ‘Tipper Point’ is how to make the best use of your freezer. Yes, your freezer can more than just keep cold meats, beer and frozen foods.

There are some fabulous things that your freezer could achieve that you never knew about. For instance, did you know it could extend the burning time of your wax candle? All you have to do is freeze the wax candles before use and lo, they are going to shine their light for longer! The freezar also works its charms in increasing the life of your NiMH and NiCad batteries if you store them. Just remember you need to thaw them completely before use. 

Seeds that grow well in cold climes can be beautifully preserved in your freezer till you plant them. You could also place a sealed envelope inside the freezer for a few minutes to open it. So just in case absent-minded-you forgot to keep that document, this is how you can reseal it! 

Keep all your soft furnishings and delicate stuffed toys in the freezer before you wash them. This removes all dust mites. You could ‘cold clean’ your jeans by keeping it in a Ziploc bag and stashing it in your freezer. Be assured that the smells and dirt will disappear in a week’s time. 

We saved the best news for the last so you could savour it with a pleasant shock. So here’s the showstopper of a tip about your freezer: you can actually revive your cranky hard drive for a while, if you store it in your freezer for 3-5 hours in a Ziploc bag. Remove it from deep freeze and attempt to access it once again. Leap in joy, for your hard disk will work for a while. Quick, backup all the important data! 

So now that you are well equipped with all the other secret super powers of your freezer, remember to drop by the ShopYourWorld blog every once in a while for more tips and tricks. Be the know-it-all around the house and save yourself plenty of time, money and energy.

The battle of the books!

Many a childhood would have remained incomplete had Peter Pan and Wendy, Akbar and Birbal, Tom Sawyer and the Four Musicians of Bremen had not paid a visit. Kids would have grown up, for one, unaware of a Neverland; and wit and values would have remained lessons they had to learn the hard way, through life. Thank god for books, most of us lived vicariously - laughed, cried, suffered and rejoiced with many a feisty character - and our lives have been richer for the same. With a growing trend of e-book readers replacing physical books, one wonders if it is wiser to gift a Kindle e-reader for a 2 year old’s birthday or go for a trusted paperback edition of Grandmother’s Tales!

The battle of the sexes has taken a temporary backseat, all thanks to the battle between physical books and e-books. While each have their own pack of soldiers fighting the cause, one needs to take an objective look to understand the whole picture. 

Let’s first look at physical books – old world charm, musty odors that tug at memories and all the romanticism associated with it! Agreed that there is nothing more wonderful than the tangibility of a book – the whole sensation of flipping pages and literally moving forward in the story is beautiful. However, the same physical space books occupy, making us giddy with joy, also proves to be a burden when shifting houses! Thousands need to be spent packing these heavy tomes into boxes and parcelling them. But then, you don’t need to use up electricity to hold a book now, do you?! 

When a work associate, a know-it-all relative or a date you want to impress comes home, these very imposing hardbacks and paperbacks and their cracked spine give you leverage. They turn you from a nobody into a wise bibliophile who can quote Kafka, flirt with the transcendental verses of Rumi and discuss over wine, the Fibonacci numbers and the plumbing of Harappan times. That is, if you actually spend on rare books, fight crowds to make a beeline for signed copies of new releases and let many a tree get pulped to hold your physical copy. 

If you are still reading, let’s take a look at how e-book readers, like the Kindle and the Nook, can save you a guilt trip. You may have to shell out a lot of money as an investment. Please dig it out of that fund you had saved up for that gargantuan library you once wanted to build – this will still turn out cheaper! Without wasting wood or paper, you now have your own e-reader that can store within its circuits, thousands of books! Agreed you don’t get the tingling sensation in your finger when holding this gadget like you do while flipping a page. Technology, however, has mirrored reality as much as is possible – from textured screens to flip style navigation! 

Download your must-reads in a matter of seconds at cheaper prices, get extra information, character biographies, and share and discuss plots with fellow book lovers using your e-readers. If you are getting nostalgic about your neighbourhood library’s subscription, fret no more! Many e-readers are now coming out with lending facilities which let you share your library with friends. There is even a paperless library in the US where the entire facility supports e-reading! 

While reading under the sun is a delight that e books can’t completely offer, reading a paperback through the night is sure to burn midnight oil and some lamps! In the endless battle of physical books Vs e-books, people are losing out on the concept of reading! Ultimately, it is a story that needs to be read. Be it a biography of someone fabulous, or the crushes and sexcapades of a 20-something – the tale seems to be hanging between choosing which of these two methods one uses to read! 

Gift yourself a Kindle e-reader or go ahead and bury your head behind the piles of paper – never forget that what you are in search of are words that spell out intimate tales. And no matter how, the joy of reading, my friends, is still intact!

FOR THE PERFECT CUP OF COFFEE

There are two kinds of people in the world – those who like coffee, and those who like coffee. No, you did not read that wrong. Oh come on! Do you really still think there are people who don’t like coffee? Evolution happened long ago and everyone loves coffee! To honour this common thread of love for coffee that binds us all, Shopyourworld brings to your home, some amazing coffee machines, percolators, grinders and the like!

Read on, with a cup of strong espresso, of course!

 FRESH GROUND BEAN

If you are the fresh ground coffee type, these are totally for you. From space saving grinders that can pound a single cup (Black & Decker CG700 Spacemaker Coffee Grinder & Chopper)  to a slightly bigger one that can grind 20 cuppa worth (KRUPS 203-42 Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder with Stainless Steel blades), there is a coffee grinder somewhere in our list to suit your needs exactly! If you are fussy about how you drink your coffee and would like some variety, buy the Capresso Coffee Burr Grinder that comes with 17 grinding settings that can help you with any kind of brewing! If you are like us and dream of opening your cafe someday, you might as well invest in this bombshell – the Baratza Vario Ceramic Burr Coffee Grinder. Although it falls into the higher end of the price spectrum, it provides a flexibility (230 grind settings!), design and performance like no other! 

AWESOME TO BREW SOME!

These coffee machines fit snugly into your home, office or canteen. The Coffee Pro Commercial Automatic Brewer brews you 12-cups that could be perfect for an afternoon’s drink in your small office. If you just want your personal brew, then go for the Hamilton Beach Personal Cup One Cup Pod Brewer. Every morning you want to wake up to a cup of coffee, freshly brewed and exactly as hot as you like it? Then buy the Mr.Bean Programmable Coffee Maker which lets you select the strength of your brew and give you a steaming cuppa exactly when you want it, thanks to a timer. 

A NEAT BREW

You must be one of those people with a motley bunch of coffee accessories from various corners of the world. Friends probably spend hours finding the quirkiest and the well-crafted stuff for you. Yes, in other words, when it comes to coffee, you are a nightmare to please!  But never mind, we know how you work. 

We are sure you would fall in love with this beauty of a French Press from La Cafetiere. Your friends and you can sip the eight cups of coffee, while ogling at the lovely dreamy design etched on to its stainless body. If you are more vintage than that and prefer to sip your iced coffee maybe Bodum’s Ice French Press is more your kind. Simple design and operation, you can snuggle up with a cup of ice cold coffee to go on a warm summer evening . Bodum has another lovely geometric chrome- plated steel design on a borosilicate glass and stainless steel-bodied French Press – the Bodum Eileen! This ode to the great Irish designer Eileen Gray was also dedicated to all the coffee connoisseurs of Paris’ famous bistros. So if you consider yourself one of the coffee clan, go grab this. You might also like this Paula Deen Stovetop Percolator that is both old-fashioned and a valuable asset to your coffee collectibles. 

When talking about coffee machines, there is no dearth of variety, design and functionality in the market. As a true blue coffee lover, you sure know how you like your brew and can pick the one that perfectly aligns itself to your style. And then you are all set to welcome home an even better coffee drinking experience!

To the brown brew – cheers!

The Nut Factor

Our homes are filled with so many things - fruits, vegetables, processed food, medicines, clothes, electronics, furniture, and the list can go on. A growing phenomenon in most homes is stocking up on processed food items – jams, spreads and canned food. We use all these things daily, but do we ever stop to think and question where it came from or what else can we do with them? Nine out of ten times, we don’t. And that’s why we’re here; to give little ‘knoworthy’ information about all the things you interact with daily.

Knoworthy facts about Nutella

At some point, all of us have OD’d on Nutella – smeared on bread, chappathi, biscuits or just spoonfuls shovelled down with greed. And that’s one substance abuse we’re not ashamed of!

Most research results show that both kids and adults love this creamy smooth Italian hazelnut flavoured chocolate spread unconditionally. So much so that people have Nutella on their monthly grocery list! For those of you who are constantly thanking the genius who came up with the idea of making Nutella, you might want to remember the name, Pietro Ferrero. 

It all started with a bar of solid chocolate (how we wish every story started this way!). In the year 1964, owing to World War II rationing, cocoa was on limited supply and the bar of chocolate needed a little revamp! The chocolate was hence mixed with hazelnut as it was the perfect substitute that maintained the volume of the chocolate and added to the taste. And that is how this creamy spread, which we know today as Nutella, evolved. Yes, it’s super tasty and addictive, and now we know what makes it so perfect too.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development used Nutella for a case study and came up with this map.

The green dots on the map represent the places from where each of Nutella’s ingredients is sourced. With the best of raw material going into making this jar of instant happiness, it’s no wonder Ferrero is producing about 250,000 tons of Nutella every year, to meet the demands from 75 countries all over the world.  

And here’s a bonus fun fact – 5^th February is celebrated as World Nutella Day! So the next time you’re indulging in this chocolaty delight, don’t forget these interesting and cool facts about your beloved Nutella. 

Source: oecd.org and nutellausa.com

Some Pet Love

“My pets are my babies and don’t you ever say anything rude about them!” If you find yourself making statements like this often, we are sure you’re going to love these pet products online on ShopYourWorld.

Cat-tricks

We believe every prince or princess should have a castle of their own, or a tower at the least. And your pampered cat is no exception. Get your favourite kitty this fun and entertaining Armarkat Cat Tree Model and see your bundle of energy fall in love with it. The Cat Tree Model B7701 is ivory coloured and is made of plywood covered with faux fleece. It is perfect for your cat to run up and down all day, give in to their itch to scratch without damaging any furniture, and they can even curl up and be cosy on it when they tire out. 

This easy to assemble tree model comes complete with a ramp and instructions to put it together. At 14 inches of height, the model can hold up to approximately 36kgs of weight. You can buy the ArmatkatCat Tree Model in India with ShopYourWorld.

Name tag

Do you love the name tag that Logan in the X-Men movies always wears? You think your super cool dog might like one too? If yes, ShopYourWorld is where you get your very own Brass Military Dog Tag. It comes in a pair, complete with a silencer, a long and a short chain. You can engrave up to five lines with a maximum of fifteen spaces in each line. We think it’ll make a great Christmas present for your dog or your friend’s pet. You know you want nothing but the best.

Birdie’s day out

Birds are probably one of the easiest pets to keep; lock ‘em in a huge cage, put some food and water in it and you’re good to go. But is that what you really want for them? For them to be locked up with nothing fun to do?As you know, they might be difficult to tame but they are also very difficult to entertain. Enter the Penn-Plax® Large Activity Centerfor Cockatiels & Medium Birds, the best playground-fitness centre for your beloved birds.

The activity centre has rope perches, ladders, swings, bells and whole lot of other fun toys. It comes in various sizes and is very colourful and bright, making sure it keeps your feathered friend attracted and entertained for hours. Be it a cockatiel, parrot or a parakeet, the Penn-Plax® Large Activity Center is suitable for all.Don’t think about it, just get one here at ShopYourWorld.

Fun in a bag

No matter what breed your dog or puppy is, stretching and running is essential for them. And if you are just beginning to train him or her to be the smartest and best behaved dog you’ve ever seen, the Agility in the Bag training kit is going to be of great help. 

The bag has some popular agility obstacles that can be used indoors as well as out. The set has a weave pole set (six of them), a hurdle jump bar with adjustable height and a tire jump with a 22" diameter hoop that slides up and down on side bars for adjusting, for a dog of any size. It also has a pause box, a substitute for the pause table and a tunnel and with an attachable chute to convert it into a collapsible tunnel. The whole Agility in the Bag set comes in a sturdy canvas bag with zipper closure and extra wide strap. It includes coloured vinyl tape for decorating poles and easy assembly and training tips.
Tempted to get this so your dog can be fit and have fun at the same time? Buy the Agility in the Bag training kit here at ShopYourWorld.

This list is just a glimpse into all the fun stuff you can get for you pets. So don’t forget to check out ShopYourWorld for the best food, toys, accessories and other online pet products.