Blog - Home-Ec 101

We Save So We Can Splurge

Ivy says: My mom bought a new couch for her office recently. The day her couch came, her house was hit by lightning, frying most of her electronic equipment. I joked that the gods of finance sent that lightning bolt for buying something so expensive. She was not amused. I was. But she said something …

How to Rid a Pantry of Moths and Weevils

Dear Home Ec 101, My food pantry is completely full of weevils, I tried fog bombs, insecticide, you name it, I took out the flour and pasta packages and put them in the fridge, I also put the rice and beans in air tight containers, but still the little buggers are there. What else needs …

Ask the Audience: Taking Requests

Heather says: Today’s Ask the Audience is a chance for you to help Home Ec 101 better serve you. I try to be very thorough when testing recipes for this site as we are trying to provide a resource for those venturing into the kitchen with little experience and those working toward reducing their grocery …

Weekly Project #2: The great laundry debacle

Ivy says: This week’s project is going to be loads of fun. Well, loads of something, anyway. Yes, Home Eccers, it’s time to actually catch up on the laundry once and for all, and get rid of all non-fitting, ugly, stained, or otherwise not-fabulous clothing. Let’s look at the schedule, shall we? Monday: The gathering …

Retro Saturday: Why Home Ec

Ivy says: I saw this post earlier today, and while the original poster was actually talking about something different than the rest of us thought, it did make me think. (It’s a dangerous pastime, I know) Anybody ever read Dicey’s Song? When I was younger, I strongly identified with her hatred of Home Ec. My …

Grandma’s Home Remedies: The Good, The Benign, And The Dangerous

Ivy says:

When I was a kid, my grandma had one remedy for nearly every malady that befell us kids. If my brother and cousins read Home Ec 101, they’d be laughing right about now. See, no matter what was wrong with us, she had the same advice. Sick to your stomach? You’d better try to poop. Headache? Have you pooped lately? “Grandma! I have a broken arm!” “Your arm is fine, you just need to poop.” And if you told her you didn’t need to poop, she’d come running after you with castor oil, so you were pooping whether you wanted to or not.

Now, I don’t exactly get that excited about pooping, but I have noticed 9 times out of 10 when my kids come to me with a stomachache, they do just need to poop. Ah, well, grandma was right.

Now, pooping wasn’t my grandma’s only home remedy although it was the most frequent. There are a lot of home remedies that are actually good, some that are benign and may work by the “placebo effect”, and some that are downright dangerous. Let’s explore a few, shall we? (after the jump)

Fighting Off Chaos

Heather says: There are times where a home will fall apart. It may be sickness, a family emergency, a crazy schedule at work, or occasionally it’s a season of celebration ( a wedding, graduation, birth). Whatever the case it’s easy to fall out of healthy routines. Like a bad houseguest chaos rarely arrives alone, it …

Balancing your dreams with the reality of life

Ivy says: Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Heather and I- we balance each other out nearly perfectly. When I’m struggling or overly busy or sick or whatever, Heather’s doing well and picks up my slack. When Heather’s struggling, I’m doing fine. Sometimes we’re both doing fine at the same time, even. It’s pretty rare that …

The Great Refrigerator Cleanout- Before & After

Ivy says: I cleaned out my fridge yesterday, right on schedule. Some commenters asked for before and after pictures, and I’m glad to oblige! I’ll give you some tips on how I clean out my refrigerator as well. The first thing I do is fill a bucket with lukewarm water and either a cleaning product …