Household tips and tricks! - Are you having trouble getting the wine stains out of your carpet? Do you clean your cookware with something extraordinary? Come share!

[AbyssStarer]

Gamers of the Beauty Parlor, clean off your controllers weekly with a mild cleaner. Get under the sticks and such with cotton swabs. If you have old controllers you never cleaned then use isopropyl alcohol on them.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

Gamers of the Beauty Parlor, clean off your controllers weekly with a mild cleaner. Get under the sticks and such with cotton swabs. If you have old controllers you never cleaned then use isopropyl alcohol on them.

Mice and keyboards too. And your phone! Pop the case off now and then and clean under the edges of the case and the phone.

 

[glass_houses]

If something goes off inside your fridge crisper drawer and you don't realise, it may contaminate your entire drawer with bacteria, making everything else you put in there go off, even after you've cleaned out the drawer.

The best way of getting rid of the bacterial loading is not a chemical cleaner or disinfectant. It's basic soap and water, and then wiping the drawer dry and leaving it to sit directly in the sun for at least a couple of hours. The bacteria contaminating the drawer like conditions cold, wet and dark. Making their home hot and dry, while at the same time exposing them to UV rays, murders the little fuckers more efficiently than anything else.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

If something goes off inside your fridge crisper drawer and you don't realise, it may contaminate your entire drawer with bacteria, making everything else you put in there go off, even after you've cleaned out the drawer.

The best way of getting rid of the bacterial loading is not a chemical cleaner or disinfectant. It's basic soap and water, and then wiping the drawer dry and leaving it to sit directly in the sun for at least a couple of hours. The bacteria contaminating the drawer like conditions cold, wet and dark. Making their home hot and dry, while at the same time exposing them to UV rays, murders the little fuckers more efficiently than anything else.

UV filtering is also a good way to clean water. Fill up a PET(plastic) bottle and lay it down in the sun. IIRC it was MIT that devised this method and it is currently used in africa.

If your cat is always surprisingly sticky you can solve that by feeding it less and at scheduled times.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

If your cat is always surprisingly sticky you can solve that by feeding it less and at scheduled times.

If you have to do something on a scheduled basis, like take medications - start giving your cats treats at that time every day. Before too long they will start reminding you it's treats time. However, not all cats are food motivated. This will really only work with those that are. Those that are it will really work very well with! Some of them will start reminding you before it's treats time! But they will never let you forget.

The ones that aren't will happily come when you give them treats but will be too lazy to come remind you. Ever. Cats are funny creatures.

Edit: bought a pack of These microfiber cloths and got them today.

Holy shit y'all. Get sum.

If you've heard of Norwex that's what they sell, microfiber cloths and other assorted crap. I did some Google Research and found a site where someone swabbed agar plates with different brand of cleaning cloths including no-name microfiber and Norwex to see how well they and water alone removed germs.

Both Norwex and no-name brands performed almost equally as well and better than just about anything else. There was almost no bacterial growth after using just the cloth and water.

As for these cloths I linked, they absorb a shit load of water and scrub up the most stubborn stuff with just a bit of elbow grease. I had some baked on grease from Pam kitchen spray on my stove (that stuff is the worst) and with a bit of rubbing it all just came right off. I've never gotten it off without degreasers.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

This stuff is magic. I've tried all the other pee killers during The Urine Wars -all of them!- and nothing works as effectively as this.

It looks like they also make a powder now too. I can't personally vouch for it, but I wouldn't hesitate to try it.

I used the powder yesterday and vacuumed it up this morning. The bottle doesn't go very far. I don't think I was heavy handed with it and it wouldn't cover even most of my bedroom floor. But! My room immediately started smelling fresh and clean. I let it sit overnight and vacuumed it about an hour ago. The clean scent is even stronger now. It's not a perfume per se it's just clean and fresh. Very nice.

I didn't even realize the room didn't smell clean until after I used it! I have cats who have peed on the floor in the past, but I (and my friends) swear they can't smell anything.

It didn’t remove stains, which makes sense as its just a powder. I'm going to get the stain remover next to try to get the stains up/remove any odors permanently.

 

[Beluga]

Anyone know how to get rid of sweat stains and odours on clothes, particularly white shirts and t-shirts? I tried a few removers but they either did fuck all or ruined the fabric.

 

[glass_houses]

Anyone know how to get rid of sweat stains and odours on clothes, particularly white shirts and t-shirts? I tried a few removers but they either did fuck all or ruined the fabric.

I usually just a laundry booster powder added to the wash for odours, and if the odour is particularly obnoxious (i.e. my rats have pissed on me more than usual) I'll run the wash cycle with the booster in it two or three times until the odour is gone. Another odour killer is powdered Borax, also added to the wash cycle. It's also works as a whitener if you combine it with vinegar, or so I've been told, however I've never tried that personally.

Borax is an extremely effective cleaner. It's also an extremely effective killer. Keep it away from pets, plants, backyard wildlife, small children, and any idiots who don't know how to wash their hands.

 

[Character from a movie]

Mice and keyboards too. And your phone! Pop the case off now and then and clean under the edges of the case and the phone.

I made my own screen cleaner with two parts water, one part rubbing alcohol and a few drops of dish soap. I use it to clean -wait for it- the screens of my devices and my glasses as well.
I think you can't clean electronics with alcohol, it may ruin them.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

Anyone know how to get rid of sweat stains and odours on clothes, particularly white shirts and t-shirts? I tried a few removers but they either did fuck all or ruined the fabric.

I did a post on this earlier in the thread. I don't know how to find it and link it, so I'll repeat more or less what I did.

Big bucket/tote
Hot water (tap hot, not boiling hot)
1/2 C borax
1-3 T dishwashing detergent (I use Dawn)

Fill your container with hot water, leaving room for the laundry. Add borax and soap, stir to dissolve.

Dump the laundry in, make sure it's all covered by water.

This solution will fade fabrics if you leave them in it too long. Don't soak them more than 15 minutes. If it's all white fabric you can do more, but 15 minutes is plenty.

Drain the tub, wring out the clothes. This is the hard part, especially if you're doing sheets!

Throw the laundry in the washer and wash on a rinse and spin cycle if you can. That's all you really need to do, but I wash mine in a quick cycle with detergent to make sure.

If you're doing a small load and have an HE washer, only use 1 T of dish soap. The excess suds from using too much will, over time, ruin your washer. 1 tablespoon in what will probably be at least a gallon of water should be fine. If you do a big batch of laundry with four-six gallons of water then 3 tablespoons is fine. It will really suds up when adding the water, but not after adding the fabric and in the washer.

I've seen some people recommend 3 tablespoons of soap directly in the washer, but I don't think that is safe.

If you have a top loading washer you can use it for soaking the clothes. Run the water, turn it off, let the laundry soak, then run a full cycle. No heavy fabric to wrangle with. I love my front loading machine, but once in a while I miss the old top loader I had.

I used this on three sets of sheets, all three of them have no more sweat stains. One did fade a bit because I didn’t time things right to be able to throw it directly into the washer after pulling it out of the soak. But it only faded a little bit, and it's sheets so who really cares?

 

[TrainWreckSpotter]

For laundry, I use a 1/3 bar grated Fels Naptha soap (which is awesome for rubbing directly on a stain as well), 1/3 cup borax, 1/3 cup washing soda, and enough water to make a gallon. Heat it up on the stove to melt/dissolve ingredients. And then white vinegar for the final rinse. Best detergent I have ever used, and dirt cheap.

I use a silicone keyboard cover. Shake out the debris at the end of every day and wash it in warm soapy water once a week. I never have to clean in and around individual keys again.

 

[DoorPost101]

This isn't a particularly impressive cleaning trick, but deep cleaning supplies are not complete without a toothbrush to get into those small cracks that a sponge or hand-held brush might not be able to.

Got walls you need to scrub down but can't reach the top? If it's a waterproof paint or latex based paint, use your mop to get the walls. (Works best with the mops with sponge heads, not the cloth-rope like ones.) Just make sure to dust your walls with a broom or long-handled duster, or you'll just wind up streaking the wall with dust/dirt.

 

[glass_houses]

My part of the world flooded again.

Third time in three months.

The mould. The mould is growing on everything. There's even clumps of it on the polished wooden floors of the kitchen. My tablecloth has gone mouldy. There's mould on the side of the leatherette lounge. The toilet room walls are covered in mould. All the walls are covered in mould. I'm going to ask our landlord if there's some kind of treatment he can put on the walls to try and stop it from coming back, but I don't like the chances he'll say yes, because the stingy old bastard says no to everything.

Give me your best mould killing tips and tricks, I beg you.


* The one thing that could really help us, a humidifier, isn't practical in this house. It's an extremely old wooden house, none of the windows or doors seal properly, and the floors aren't sealed either.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

Mold is definitely something the landlord should deal with, especially black mold. If he doesn't I think you can break your lease (in most areas) because it's a health and safety issue he's not taking care of. Then you have to move, which is yuck, but at least you'd not be living in a moldy house.

Bleach kills mold. Lots and lots of bleach. Bleach everything. If it can't be bleached throw it out. If you have carpet you'll probably need to replace it.

Mold is no joke.

 

[Fialovy]

Do organization tips count?

For clothes I have the two summer/winter rule. If I don't wear it at all for two summers or winters (with the exception of formal wear since there is some years where I don't have any special events) and it isn't completely in a state of disrepair, I get rid of it.
Sometime if you lose or end up gaining weight(!) there is always the question of getting rid of the clothes you have, I say if you gained weight, if you are serious about getting back on track, that can be a good motivation and you should hold onto them unless they are several sizes too small and they will go out of style by the time you lose it all or something, if you lose weight and you are keeping it off, then get rid of your too big clothes because it does get you in a mentality that you are never going back there again and should keep your new healthy lifestyle.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

, if you lose weight and you are keeping it off, then get rid of your too big clothes because it does get you in a mentality that you are never going back there again and should keep your new healthy lifestyle.

I found that if I wear pants that are too big that I often gain weight to fill them (or outgrow them!). So while I'm losing weight I at least get rid of my pants. I keep some shirts I really like - mostly t-shirts - and nightgowns. I can wear a baggy shirt around the house, or even out in public as long as it's not egregiously baggy.

 

[PandaChai]

I cannot recommend highly enough Peg Bracken's "I Hate to Housekeep". And the associated "The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book". They're from the 60s, and full to the brim with both useful advice and mirth. Get a hard copy to bonk your children with. Or a paperback if you're a little more fond of them.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Fabuloso is my floor cleaner of choice, but the instant they change their notoriously child-unfriendly label design, they've lost me.

100% serious. It works nice and smells nice, too.

 

[Shig O'nella]

My part of the world flooded again.

Third time in three months.

The mould. The mould is growing on everything. There's even clumps of it on the polished wooden floors of the kitchen. My tablecloth has gone mouldy. There's mould on the side of the leatherette lounge. The toilet room walls are covered in mould. All the walls are covered in mould. I'm going to ask our landlord if there's some kind of treatment he can put on the walls to try and stop it from coming back, but I don't like the chances he'll say yes, because the stingy old bastard says no to everything.

Give me your best mould killing tips and tricks, I beg you.


* The one thing that could really help us, a humidifier, isn't practical in this house. It's an extremely old wooden house, none of the windows or doors seal properly, and the floors aren't sealed either.

Carbolic soap. Works like a charm.

Wear gloves and exclude pets and children from the room.

 

[Mr. Confederate Man]

From the dirty world of being a mechanic, found out that Simple Green is a wonderful product on grease. Had some aluminum engine parts to clean up that would have been destroyed by my normal solvent of choice. Not sure how well it’d work on getting grease out of clothes, but that’s an experiment for another day