The following is a guest post from Kathy Tyson, who has been there, done that and whose advice I’m more than happy to take. Kathy says: My oldest daughter was recently shoved out of the nest. She left kicking and screaming – very unhappy because I made her move into a college dorm room rather …
The following is a guest post by Dr. Alice of Feet First. Dr. Alice says: “Cleanliness is next to godliness” is a well-known saying, but my recent experiences have changed my mind: It would be more accurate to say that cleanliness is next to survival. Granted, many readers might not go quite that far, but …
Heather says: Remember last week’s Put Your Crap Away? It’s about as close to a magic pill as a person can find. If you work outside the home, it won’t be as intensive a process. Get ready to go a few minutes early. Then just before you leave, take a walk through the main living area. …
Heather says: Builders and contractors don’t always use common sense when planning the layout of a home’s heating and cooling duct work. Sometimes the grille, or vent cover, is right in the middle of a wall. Even though I frequently run the soft brush attachment over the grille and occasionally spray it off with the …
Dear Home Ec 101, How does one remove dried milk from wood? Every low surface in my kitchen (chair legs, table legs, cabinets) is full of dried milk spots from spills that always go farther and cover more area than you can initially see. No matter how I try to clean them, I get the …
How do you stay on top of what needs to be done? It’s a very reasonable question. In our house, we use a weekly chore schedule to keep our house clean. Home-Ec101.com gets many requests for help figuring out how to get and keep a house clean. There’s no big secret here; it’s just …
Ivy says: As I’ve said here about 50 million times, Mr. Ivy is a restaurant manager. One of the common themes in our conversations is how other people manage the restaurant and how it meshes (or doesn’t mesh) with his own management style. Within your own household, you and your significant other will have different …
Dear Home Ec 101, We recently adopted another stray cat, and while two of the other three cats have adjusted fine, my oldest has not. He decided instead of getting chased around by the new guy, he would instead take up residence on the top floor of the house (where he was always most happy …
A dear commenter named Amy asked this: I searched the site and could not find exactly how a toilet cleaning is done. Besides the obvious – Outside first: top, sides, bottom then Inside: scrub. I have read you can use toilet bowl cleaner, diluted to clean the whole toilet. One must wear gloves of course. …
Hi Ladies,I have a quick question about washing my apartment walls. I desperately need to get my security deposit back, and they look nasty. Normally, I’d just use some soapy water and dig right in, but my landlords used cheap, lousy, thin flat white paint. I’m afraid that my washing will ruin the surface. I …