Hi Heather, Can you please post an article (or help me find it in your archives) about keeping that nasty linty space along the sides of the washer and dryer clean? Vacuuming with the extension works, sort of, but there’s always lint and stuff building up on the floor molding, and it just sticks there. My daughter and her …
Dear Home-Ec 101, Even though I leave the door open to air dry, my front loader has mildew in the fold of the rubber seal by the door. Do you have a natural way to get rid of it? I just tried running the Tub Clean cycle with 2-3 cups of vinegar, but the mildew …
Dear Home-Ec 101, My very nice, very expensive stainless steel Mikasa silverware is picking up rust spots. I know it’s not rusting, because it’s stainless, and the spots appear to be surface. How do I get rid of the rust spots on my flatware? I’m so tired of them looking icky, it happens to my …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I’m having some dining room table woes. The wood is super sensitive to heat. When it was given to me it had a couple of small white marks, but I just put a table cloth over it and called it good. Even with out the cloth they weren’t that bad. Well, at Thanksgiving I …
Dear Home-Ec 101,I’ve recently noticed a layer of scum around the agitator. I’d probably find it throughout if I could get my head in there. Is there a way to get this out without scrubbing the thing?Signed,Build Me Up, Buttercup This response focuses on top-loading clothes washers, but the same problem often occurs in front-loading …
The day starts out great. You got a good nights sleep, the birds are chirping, and there was bacon for breakfast! Then the mail comes and you notice an ominous little dark cloud start to form. The electrical bill has arrived, and when you open it you can distinctly hear Beethoven’s Fifth playing somewhere, and …
Dear Home-Ec101, I was changing out a light bulb in my bathroom, and as I was turning it, the base broke off the bulb and STAYED IN THE SOCKET. Can you please help me? How do I get the rest of the light bulb out without death and/or pain? Also? An unlit bathroom is not …
Tim says: Don’t you just hate it when outlets and lights don’t work or sparks fly randomly from an outlet? Many look on in despair, knowing the call to the local electrician means $80/hr plus scheduling hassles. I’d like to show you how easily, and more importantly safely, these problems can be fixed. Before we get into …
Dear Home Ec 101, I just read your post about cleaning hardwood floors, and using either very diluted Murphy’s Oil or Vinegar (and how you alternate between the two). My question is this: we are renters who have lived here for 4 years. Our hardwood is extremely old (from the 1950’s), and the entire time …
Heather says: This won’t be the world’s most glamorous post on Home Ec 101, but real life is hardly as exciting as we wish. Into every homeowner’s life a little aggravation will fall. Sometimes that aggravation occurs in the form of a plugged drain. That clog can occur in almost any plumbing fixture: toilet, tub, …