Home Economics Tips and Questions

So Aaron mentioned a bunch of stuff here, and it seemed to me that at least half those things are going to be things that I need to look up because I have no clue. In order to make the thread useful, I suggest youtubing an answer or providing a detailed description of the solution rather than asserting that "everyone should know x", where such explanations are necessary.

So, for instance:
Knowing whether your dryer is running through a second lint trap/dryer vent built into your house is really important, since that also needs to be cleaned regularly. Mine is above my dryer, and it looks like a little box with a porthole and knob on it on the dryer hot air pipe.

Aaron mentioned dishwasher filters. Mine are not this brand, but both of them looked pretty much like the one in this video. Now they are clean.

The 2-second t-shirt fold is totally worth learning, but don't pack luggage that way. Roll your clothes instead.

We had greasy dishes until we switched to dishwasher powder from gel. Now everything is squeaky clean (literally squeaky--so satisfying). I can't find anything that backs up my assertion, though.

We use the little tablet things. No problems yet with greasiness or spots! I hate that they're all individually wrapped though.

It also helps that our water isn't shit anymore. The most surprising thing is that our wooden spoons had turned a dark gray from the iron in our water at the last place, and they've almost returned to their normal color since living here. Now they just look used instead of disgusting.

I've been acquiring a lot more used books than usual, including some pricier older books, and while with a crappy paperback I just leave it out for a bit with a whiff of febreeze I needed a more sustainable system to get the smell out of books. While there are many different tiers to book restoration, I found a lady who advocated using an elevated cookie tray inside of a sealed container whose bottom has a layer of baking soda. Then you just pop the book in, seal it, leave it alone for a bit until you remember a few days later, and swap out the baking soda as needed. I'm going to push the limits of sustainability with the crappy paperbacks later, but at the very least the fact that it's relatively harmless baking soda (and nothing touches the books) means it's a good concept in that sense.

Also, I have found that the Packing Folder style of luggage insert works about as well as my garment bag or the insert to my Tumi roller in order to pack formal or casual clothing, especially shirts. The downside is if you're staying in a bunch of different places you have to pre-pack in order of use and take them out accordingly as opposed to the easy to hang up built in ones. I just find that there are many situations where I don't want a roller or garment bag, or where the roller spaces are already claimed and I have to make do with what's available in the other bag (I learned the hard way that traveling with 2 roller bags is much worse than a roller + something else if you are the designated pack mule).

My father in law lived alone in the old house my wife grew up in. The washer/dryer was in the center of the house and the vent went up a chimney. A few months ago the cleaning lady put clothes in the dryer and left while he was at work. He got a call a few hours later that the house had burnt down after a blockage in the vent caught fire. Total loss. The lesson here? CLEAN YOUR DRYER VENTS!

This to that is an incredibly useful website.

I have always wanted to glue leather to ceramic. We have high standards for assless chaps around here.

Seconded or thirded or whatever the two second T-shirt fold.

Seriously, this needs to be kept under wraps. Folding laundry is about the only house task I have been able to avoid because of my utter incompetence in doing it.

Yes! Dissolve detergent, liquid or otherwise, in your washing machine first before putting in clothes. In addition to being able to use much less detergent, it works better and you avoid detergent residue in your clothes. Which makes you look like a bukkake enthusiast if you happen to get roped into, say, a black light bowling alley activity.

More experienced hands can opine on the proper method of employing it, but I've been using white vinegar on its own and with detergent to de-stink athletic clothes and dog stuff. I'm still not sure what's the sweet spot between efficiency and effectiveness, but it seems to help.

Ah, okay, I use powder detergent, which even says to put into the machine first (the times I forget and put it on top, there's detergent bits always left over that didn't rinse out).

Though now we have those fancy high-efficiency side-loading washing machines with a little pull-out tray for detergent. Haven't had any problems with it so far.

Is there a good way to clean the grates in the stove hood that doesn't involve an SOS pad and a garden hose? Mine need attention, and I'd rather not wait until spring.

I'm sitting here wondering what kind of washing machines you people have where you can put in the detergent before the clothes.

Old-fashioned, top-loading, ultra-low efficiency type. You typically put the clothes in, put the detergent in, then it all fills with water.

Have you learned nothing? Detergent, then clothes!

Are you buying stinky books or just don't like the smell of old books?

While febreeze is useful for various purposes, remember it's fabric softener so might not be the best for breathing (maybe).

Now that you mention it I've actually seen one of those, but it was back in 1989 when I was six years old. It stuck in my memory because I had never seen anything like it before, or since.

They make an aerosol version for the air.

They also make vacuum filters. Totally worth the extra 5 or 10 cents.

That was kind of my point: aerosolized liquid fabric softener.

I would think the formula would be different for the two, since putting in the fabric-softening parts would be more expensive than necessary (read: cutting into profits).

Keep a pizza stone (or some fire bricks) in the bottom of your oven (below the lowest rack. In addition to being useful for baking some things (like breads or pizza) directly on the stone, it will even out the temperature of your oven and make your baking more consistent.

Both. I'm not talking first edition quality paper books here that have a certain air to them, I'm talking secondhand stacked in a storage unit somewhere and dusted off before they mailed it to you. Even with the well-manufactured books, sometimes they have a hint of mold or mustiness. It's a minor irritation, but considering I live buried in books and use several a day, it starts to add up. I should say that I am gifted with both an excellent sense of smell and mild-moderate allergies, which can make for a nasty combo.

So yeah, dust them off, then baking soda.

To be clear, I wasn't recommending that course of action. I was just explaining what I did before I had a better option. I'm sure it's terrible for the paper.

Ultra low efficiency is kind of an interesting thing, relative to my position as the owner (obviously I know what it means in terms of washer categories). While mine does use more water, it washes clothes really well and is just rounding out its first decade with absolutely no maintenance beyond when a sock got somewhere it shouldn't have. It has zero digital screens or anything like that, just a knob and some buttons, and it works the same even if interrupted mid-cycle by a power outage.

I did look at high efficiency washers at some point, but the cost-benefit just wasn't there to get something comparably high rated. On that note, I heard somewhere that the HE rated detergent works just as well for non HE washers, and that has been my experience as well. It just doesn't work the other way around. I expect then the water first, then clothes thing is even more important.

Yes, you can use non-HE detergent in HE machines, but you have to use about half of the amount you normally would.

Or, it may be dependent on the machine, but the ones we have here use non-HE detergent just fine.

OK, but find me a system that really truly lets you cart business clothes wrinkle-free in a carry-on and I'll nominate you for canonization. I've seen several different folding techniques but none seem very effective.

The wrinkle-free instructions start at slide 9.

I can't say I've tried that method myself, since I used the rolling method to live out of a suitcase for the better part of four months. I wasn't exactly wearing nice clothes at that point in time, either.

This book is awesome. Sometimes Martha Stewart does go overboard, but I find it a great reference, even though I have a lot of housecleaning experience (due to working as one in high school.)

It's also probably the best housewarming gift you can give anyone.

If it has a hole in which to place clothes, one need but place detergent inside said hole before said clothes. I hadn't seen a washer with a separate detergent-hole until only about five years ago.

If you are, say, eating lunch at the office and you spill chili or spaghetti sauce or whatever stupid thing you're eating on your white shirt because you can't even handle a basic task like feeding yourself without fucking it up and ruining something, don't panic. Immediately go to the bathroom, gently dab away any excess, take off your shirt and run the stain under warm water. Squirt some hand soap on there, and vigorously scrub the shirt fabric together at the stain. You're scrubbing the shirt with itself, essentially. Keep adding more soap and more water as needed, and don't give up. It's going to take a while, but you will eventually get that spot out. Hand soap works really well with organic things like tomato sauce, greases, oils and other things that seem like they're going to ruin your day. Concentrated dish soap works even better, if you have some of that handy in your break room. If you can get to the stain quickly enough, you can almost always fix it. If you let it set for the rest of the day until you go home, then toss it in the hamper until the next time you do laundry, your chances fall drastically. Now put your shirt on. It'll have to dry, obviously, so try not to get your whole shirt wet in the first place and don't do this right before a big meeting.

When you do wash that shirt, pay close attention to the previously-stained spot when you take it out of the washing machine. If there's any hint of a spot, DO NOT put it in the dryer. Scrub it again, wash it again.

Another shirt-related tip: if you ride your bike to the office and find that your previously crisply-ironed shirt has gotten all wrinkled and nasty on the way, just dab a damp paper towel on the most noticeable wrinkles and let your shirt air dry. No need to strip for this one. The water will relax the wrinkles and you'll be back to looking sharp just as soon as it dries.

I thought for sure this thread was going in a different direction, and it would have been the best answer there.

This is why I have an entire spare set of clothing at work.

Transcribing my list of reminders:

One-time
Household energy audit. Unless you're completely paranoid about insulation and maintenance, or you have a house under 15 years old, you should cough up the $100 to do this once.

Recurring
Air conditioner: Inspect the installation, insulation, and verify it's still working every year around March.
Bedding: Alternate clockwise spinning and flipping over your mattress every 6 months.
Food: Buy those baking soda fridge boxes and swap them out in the fridge and freezer every two months.
Furnace: Get your gas furnace inspected at least every two years, annually once it gets 10 years old or so. Eventually the heat exchanger will fail and it'll start putting out poisonous carbon monoxide. You should have these plugged into a floor-levle power plug on each floor.
Furnace: Clean the air filters every 90 days.
Fire: Check pressure/test your fire extinguishers and smoke alarms every 3 months.
Insulation: Check your door and window weatherstripping every September.
Washing machine: Annually check the hoses for leaks.
Water heater: Annually evaluate replacing your hot water heater once it's over 7 years old, beyond that it's a leak risk.

OMG, the original shit shirt thread! I never could find it.

Do you not clean your dishwasher filters? Because goddamn can those ever get cross.

My dishwasher has a grinder, and I just clean the filter of beans or whatever didn't make it into there every time I swap dishes and notice something.

Sounds like I need a better dishwasher. >.<

The grinders are awesome! Short of throwing bones in there they just get rid of it.

I was so, so mad that they don't really make mattresses that you can flip anymore. Or at least not within what our price range was when we bought ours.

Rolling does work, I've started doing it with my suit jackets for fairly good results. I don't enjoy the carry-on only thing though so this is in a mid to large size suitcase.

Admittedly it doesn't work as good on actual shirts, I just fold them in half

I've never travelled domestically in the United states though, where the rules for carry on vs checked luggage are very different, along with chances of losign luggage.