Housekeeping

Photo by sporkist

Sometimes the ideas I see for staying warm at home don’t seem to apply to me. Add insulation to the attic? Hmm. Put in efficient storm windows? I don’t think so.  

If you live in an apartment, there are still simple ways you can stay warm. It’s even more important if you live in an older building where the quaint architectural features that add the charm also bring the chill.

Let’s stay warm this winter:

1. Tape over leaky cracks along the edges of windows. (I use clear packaging tape.) Check to make sure it won’t hurt the paint, but I haven’t found it to be a problem.

2. Roll up a blanket or towel and place it under doors or windows to block drafts.

3. Put on a sweater.

4. Insulate the windows by hanging a clear vinyl shower curtain behind the drapes. We did this in one room with three exposed walls, and it really helped to stabilize the temperature.

5. Bake something.

6. Close air vents to unused spaces.

7. If you have a fireplace, make sure the damper is closed. (Speaking from experience here.)

8. Keep closet and cabinet doors closed (except for cabinets with pipes during a freeze warning).

9. Buy a programmable thermostat — you can take it with you when you move.

10. A humidifier causes the air to feel warmer.

11. Cuddle up under quilts.

12. Use a space heater, carefully.

13. Put an electric blanket on your bed.

14. Drink something hot.

15. Switch the ceiling fans to turn in reverse.

16. Cozy up with a hot water bottle.

17. Apply weather stripping to doors or windows (easy and cheap).

18. Soak in a hot bath.

19. Wear wooly socks.

20. What is your best tip to stay warm?

photo by Multiple fragments of tissueDo you procrastinate folding and putting clean clothes away?

It usually comes down to two reasons:

1.  It’s a pain.
2.  You don’t feel like it.

By the time you have gathered, sorted, pretreated, washed, and dried your laundry, you really just want to quit.  

The down side is if you don’t put your clothes away, they’ll just sit there getting wrinkly and ultimately put on the floor, so you’re not sure what’s clean or dirty anymore.  Then you end up washing them all over again!

Be kind to yourself, and finish the job. Put away each load as it comes off the clothesline or from the dryer.  Don’t wait until there is a mountain of it. It only takes a few minutes.

You won’t have to see stacks of clothes on the dryer, the couch, the floor, the counter, the basket, or the chair.

Is it too hard to put your clothes away?

It could be a sign that you have too many clothes for the storage space.  It’s not fun to have to cram clothes in a drawer or try to find an extra hanger when there isn’t one.  If all of your clean clothes won’t easily fit in the closet or the dresser drawers, see if you can make some changes.

An obvious solution is to do a closet cleanout and give away some clothes, especially if you’ve recently bought some new ones.  Store off-season clothes somewhere else to free up more space and let you easily see the clothes you can wear.

A few extra tips:

• You don’t need to fold your underwear unless you just want to.
• Socks can be washed in a bag. If you have a hard time identifying to whom they belong, write the person’s initial on the toe with a permanent marker.
• Most of our clothes go on hangers in the closet. I think it’s easier, and I like it better than trying to get a folded t-shirt off the bottom of the stack in a drawer.
• Shirts don’t need as much ironing when they’re hung up immediately. I also try to think about clothing care when I shop for clothes, and try to choose things that won’t need to be ironed.

If you need ideas to improve your laundry plan, be sure to check out the comments from the previous post Avoiding the Laundry Pileup.

What do you think — does having too many clothes make it harder to put laundry away?  Would you rather clean out your closet, or buy more hangers?  Any other ideas?

Oh, laundry.  It’s a job that never ends.  How can we keep the laundry from piling up so that we can have the satisfaction of clean clothes all put away?

In my college days I used to do laundry only once a month.  I would wear every single thing I owned before I finally made time to go to the laundromat.  

Now I think having a laundry routine makes it simpler.  When I worked outside the home, I made a plan to do laundry during the week so I could spend my Saturdays doing something else.  Years later, I still use the same routine.

My laundry routine:

• Monday - whites (includes white sheets & towels)
• Tuesday - jeans and dark towels
• Wednesday - dark clothes
• Friday - extra load if needed

Almost all of our sheets and towels are white, so it’s easy to include them with other whites on Mondays.  Towels are washed only once a week.  Sheets are washed and then put right back on the bed.  Bedding such as duvet and mattress covers are washed once every couple of months (but if your family has allergies, do it more often).

Sorting laundry is the part I dread, and it makes me not want to start.  It’s hard for me to look at big pile of laundry and then pull out the clothes to make a load.

A 3-compartment laundry sorter makes it simpler.  When we put away our clothes at the end of the day, it’s easy to sort the clothes into the different loads right then.  

Each compartment holds enough clothes for one washer-load, so I can see if I need to do laundry just by glancing at it.

To avoid washing clothes that could be worn again, I put a clothes hook on the inside of our closet door.  Sometimes a shirt will only be worn for a short while.  It’s not dirty, but it’s not quite fresh enough to put back with the clean clothes.  We hang it on the hook to let it air out before we wear it again.

Update:  Find more helpful tips at Laundry: When You’re Almost Done

How do you keep laundry manageable? Can anyone top my college record of waiting for a month? And for those of you who have bigger families with more laundry, do you have any special tips?

As much as I like using natural cleaners in my home, sometimes they need a little oomph.  

Surface Cleaning

Vinegar mixed with water is my favorite glass and surface cleaner, but it’s not always enough.  I’ve found that adding a small squirt of liquid dish soap makes it much more effective.  It cleans spots off glass and smudgy hand prints.

The best method is to spray it on and then wipe it with a microfiber towel.  I recently tried paper towels instead, and then I realized just how much better and more absorbent the microfiber really is.

What about sanitizing?

It’s not good to go overboard with antibacterial products, and plain soap and water take care of most germs. Vinegar may even have antibacterial properties. Sometimes though, like during flu season, I want a stronger defense against germs. Isopropyl rubbing alcohol is an alternative to harsh cleaners with bleach.  I apply it with a cotton ball over door knobs, light switches, and other questionable surfaces.

Jenny emailed me this question about dusting:

“…I was wondering if you’ve found a good alternative to Endust or Pledge for dusting.  I’ve been using microfiber cloths or damp rags and they just seem to push the dust around.  All of my other cleaners are safe and natural except for that…”

I thought this was a good question about a problem I’m sure many others have experienced. When I dust I really do just use a microfiber cloth, and sometimes I dampen it with water. Pledge and Endust both advertise that they leave a shine with no wax buildup, and that’s true. The problem is that instead of wax they contain petroleum derivatives which leave a thin, oily residue on your furniture.

Pledge has petroleum derivatives plus silicones, which are hard to remove. One of the primary ingredients in Endust is parrafin oil, which is another name for kerosene.  If furniture has residue left from these products, then dusting with a plain damp cloth won’t be very effective.

The solution is to first remove the oily residue from the furniture.  To do so, you apply mineral spirits (paint thinner) with a clean rag.  I know it sounds worrisome to use mineral spirits on furniture — you wouldn’t want to harm the wood finish.  It’s really a mild solvent, though, and it’s recommended by Martha and Real Simple.  Once the residue is removed and the wood is clean, a damp cloth will work much better for dusting. 

What about shine?

If you miss the shine from furniture sprays and polishes, you have options.  You can protect your furniture with a thin coat of wax. You could try a natural furniture polish. I noticed Earth Friendly Products Furniture Polish was made from water, olive oil, and a little citrus oil. (I haven’t tried it myself.)  

Don’t be misled by wood products advertising lemon oil; they are essentially kerosene and mineral oil with a lemony scent.

Freshening Carpets

Baking soda works wonders to freshen carpet, but it doesn’t work like commercial fresheners that you sprinkle on and then vacuum up right away. It needs time to absorb all the odors. First sprinkle a box of baking soda generously over the carpet and then sweep it in with a broom. Let it sit overnight, and vacuum it up the next morning.

Liquid Dish Soaps

Here’s where I need some help.  I want to find a new liquid dish detergent.  The last one I purchased was made from several plant extracts and peppermint oil.  I loved the scent, but it was expensive and it really didn’t work.  I used four times as much, and it still didn’t get my dishes clean.

Any recommendations to share?

(And don’t forget, tomorrow is batch cooking day!  Bring your favorite tips, recipes, or links.)

You’d never know that a toddler ate played with blueberries in this shirt.

When our white t-shirts start to look a little grungy by midsummer, it’s time to freshen them up.  For stains that don’t go away after trying other stain removers, here is what works for practically anything:

1. Heat up some water in a big pot on the stove. Make it hot, but not boiling.
2. Add 2 scoops of an oxygen base cleaner and a small squirt of liquid dish detergent.
3. Put the clothes in the pot and cover it with the lid.
4. Soak for 4-6 hours, or more if needed.
5. Wash clothes as usual in the washing machine.

Tip!  The generic brand of oxygen cleaner at the dollar store works just as well as Oxi Clean.  It’s the same thing.

I like that it doesn’t fade colors (but it wouldn’t hurt to test a small spot first, just to make sure).  It can remove the yellow storage stains from vintage linens.  It can even help to lighten perspiration stains.  I’m not kidding, I tried it.

What’s your go-to stain remover?