Overwhelmed by Mess

If you’re overwhelmed by the process of cleaning your home, quit worrying about finding the best option. Stop trying to learn everything and start doing something. We all know that in a perfect world we’d make our own ecologically sound cleaners—not all homemade cleaners are, you know—always reach for a rag to clean, and never …

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Wash the Walls, Really?

Washing walls before painting helps the new paint adhere better, saving time and effort

Dear Home Ec 10, My living room desperately needs to be painted and I’ve rounded up a few friends willing to help sell their time for beer and pizza.  I really want to do this right, is it true that I have to wash the walls before I paint? Signed, Short-Cut Shelby Heather says: Look at it …

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How to Use Bleach Safely

I received a concerning email yesterday that made me realize it was time to send this post out again as a reminder. This is the first in our series on household chemicals. Over the past few years, I have gotten the impression that many people are using chlorine bleach in an unsafe manner. Chlorine bleach, aka …

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Oxygen Bleach an Introduction

Welcome to another installment of the series on Common Household Chemicals. I think I was a kid when Billy Mays first showed up on my radar. He pitched Oxyclean late into the night and I’d sit there fascinated watching the red swirl away and magically disappear. Oxyclean is just a brand name for oxygen bleach …

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Mattress Cleaning and Other Indoor Sports

Dear Home-Ec 101, What is the best way to clean a mattress? Dec 2008 I splurged and upgraded from a queen bed to a fabulously huge king size bedset. I’m wondering what is the best way to clean the mattress? I have a small “spot” cleaner by Hoover (I think) – and I use that to …

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PSA: Is Your Can Opener Clean?

 Bran says: This is a public service announcement from Home Ec 101. Let me ask you a quick question: When was the last time you washed your can opener?* Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m the dude who, when cooking in your kitchen, scrubs the can opener before I use it. And nearly every …

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