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!

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glass_houses said:
I generally just wipe them on my shirt if the view gets too hazy.

If this is a recent problem, check that you haven't been talked into buying the latest 'high tech, protective coating'. My dad bought his first pair of distance glasses, and proceeded to go insane because they smeared and smudged and no matter what he did, they wouldn't stay clean. He went to a different optometrist, who told him that the 'protective coating' was not designed to protect the lens, it was just a random chemical coating that more unscrupulous stores were pushing because it cost a lot for something cheap to produce, and didn't do anything other than show all the dirt. My dad got new lenses minus the coating, and he's perfectly fine with them now.
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They're the cheapest plain options from Zenni, but I was almost sold on the protective coating last time because of my issue so this is good to know.
 
Mister Uno said:
Well I know what I will make near Christmas for my roommate and I. Thanks.

What do you guys do with old clothes you no longer want? I have a bunch of graphic Ts that the graphics themselves have worn out. Feels like a waste to just throw them out, do you guys do anything with them?
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I do embroidery so I use old shirts instead of buying new fabric. Also, cotton shirts are good to dry your hair. My grandma used to turn old shirts into dustcloth.
 
Mister Uno said:
What do you guys do with old clothes you no longer want? I have a bunch of graphic Ts that the graphics themselves have worn out. Feels like a waste to just throw them out, do you guys do anything with them?
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Tee shirts are too stretchy to make into patches or sew much with (with my skill level).

If you're a crafty person, you can cut T-shirts into yarn and use them for chunky utility knits or shag rugs. I am more of a "cut into rags" kind of person, which is not very fun and quirky but one has to clean the window grooves with something.

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Aunt Carol said:
Tee shirts are too stretchy to make into patches or sew much with (with my skill level).

If you're a crafty person, you can cut T-shirts into yarn and use them for chunky utility knits or shag rugs. I am more of a "cut into rags" kind of person, which is not very fun and quirky but one has to clean the window grooves with something.

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The best I ever do is sew up holes, poorly I might add, but it's a learning process. Tired of throwing away perfectly good pants because of small holes that pop up. Never able to keep it sewed up long though.
glass_houses said:
In my country, cotton blankets are often called 'hospital blankets'. I believe in the US the same kind of blanket is called a 'waffle blanket'. Maybe use those terms in the search and see what comes up?
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Found some on Amazon. I've used these before. My mom's hospital often had cotton blankets that I slept in when I had to stay with her there. They're pretty good for summer nights so I might consider one. Also saw fleece blankets to, which would be a nice option during the winter. Polyester for me doesn't breath well and I sweat. Any other suggestions is appreciated.
 
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Mister Uno said:
Found some on Amazon. I've used these before. My mom's hospital often had cotton blankets that I slept in when I had to stay with her there. They're pretty good for summer nights so I might consider one. Also saw fleece blankets to, which would be a nice option during the winter. Polyester for me doesn't breath well and I sweat. Any other suggestions is appreciated.
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Army surplus wool blankets are going to be the cheapest wool blankets but bear in mind they tend to ship stinky. It takes a couple of washings and line-dryings to get that mothball smell out.

They're nice and warm, though. If you determine you like wool blankets, you can buy larger and prettier ones. The initial cost is high, but they last a long time; it probably pencils out to less than the cost of a series of plastic fleece blankets.
 
retard strength said:
Glasses-wearers/people of glasses/person experiencing divergent vision: how do you clean your glasses?

I had typed a whole tl;dr blog entry about my struggles, but would summarize with: there has to be a better way. I am spending too much time, multiple times a day, cleaning different pairs. I can't stand the oily feeling on the frames or any smudge on the lenses. There has to be a better way to manage this!
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Aunt Carol said:
Most of my life I cleaned them with hot water and a tiny dab of dish soap (anything without "ultra" in the name), then dried with a clean dishtowel. Worked well.

Upgraded to a cheap microfiber cloth to dry them off. Also good. You can't wash the microfiber with fabric softener; it softens the nap.

In the past few years I've been lazy and using glasses-cleaning spray. This also works well. It smells like it's mostly isopropyl alcohol and I'm sure there are DIY recipes for it.

In a pinch I clean my glasses with alcohol preps/wipes and dry them off with tissue. This works least well but mostly because the tissue leaves paper lint. If you have access to gauze 2x2s, those are the glasses-dryer of kings.
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I can vouch for the spray, but I recommend the gel kind because it cleans that weird spot in the nose pads where crap can build up.
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It's also super useful for weird little cleaning jobs around the house.
 
How to remove shit stains from the toilet?
I spent a few days away from home and my flatmate took a shit and forgot to flush. For 4 days. I swear the poop almost said "Hello Auntie!" when I went to the bathroom.
I flushed many times and used a few light products but it's still slightly stained. I am afraid to use heavier products and fuck up the plumbing.

(Why all my questions are related to the bathroom is beyond me)
 
Foxymophandlemama said:
How to remove shit stains from the toilet?
I spent a few days away from home and my flatmate took a shit and forgot to flush. For 4 days. I swear the poop almost said "Hello Auntie!" when I went to the bathroom.
I flushed many times and used a few light products but it's still slightly stained. I am afraid to use heavier products and fuck up the plumbing.
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Elbow grease and a standard powdered cleanser (like Comet or Ajax), then move up to a pumice stone if it's really stubborn.

I've never had a toilet/tub stain that didn't respond to that, but I don't know what your monster of a roommate eats.

Actually, hand your roommate the Comet. Maybe it'll help him remember to flush his poopies.
 
Foxymophandlemama said:
How to remove shit stains from the toilet?
I spent a few days away from home and my flatmate took a shit and forgot to flush. For 4 days. I swear the poop almost said "Hello Auntie!" when I went to the bathroom.
I flushed many times and used a few light products but it's still slightly stained. I am afraid to use heavier products and fuck up the plumbing.

(Why all my questions are related to the bathroom is beyond me)
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I think the best course of action here is to throw out the entire room mate.

How did he forget to flush for 4 DAYS, did he just piss his pants for the remaining days you were away?

In all seriousness, when I have stubborn stains (granted it is not 4 day old poo) I usually just put some domestos in and leave it soak for 15ish minutes then go to town scrubbing. I've not had something I couldn't lift with that yet.
 
Foxymophandlemama said:
I spent a few days away from home and my flatmate took a shit and forgot to flush. For 4 days. I swear the poop almost said "Hello Auntie!" when I went to the bathroom.
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Is your roommate some kind of trained chimpanzee? Hit them until they learn to shit right.
 
Lol thanks for the tips, everything is under control now.
I can't throw her out because of rent but I will make her BPD ass clean up her own shit.
 
My kids somehow broke a light bulb from an overhead fan/light combo, in which the light bulbs are enclosed by a thick glass cover that isn't even slightly broken. I'm not even that pissed because it's pretty impressive and also very unlike them, whatever. My husband won't be home from work for a few hours, and I'd really rather get this taken care of without him because work is hectic right now and I don't want to be giving him a to-do list when he should be relaxing.

How do I get this fixed safely? I'm a certified retard when it comes to anything electrical because my husband does the easy stuff and our electrical engineer friend does the harder stuff, lesson definitely learnt and I'll be paying attention next time. The bulb is broken but the filament is seemingly intact. I have the fan and lights off, but I presume I have to also do this on the breaker, right? How do I get the broken bulb off of the setting? Do rubber gloves actually work as a back-up plan if I somehow fuck up the breaker step, or did my brief interest in the Pokemon cartoon series mislead me and I'll get shocked all the same? Should I just wait for my husband and not risk it, or is my fear of electricity overblown and weird?

I know this is mouth-drooling tier lmao I'm really, really embarrassed.
 
Triple Flutz said:
How do I get this fixed safely? I'm a certified retard when it comes to anything electrical because my husband does the easy stuff and our electrical engineer friend does the harder stuff, lesson definitely learnt and I'll be paying attention next time. The bulb is broken but the filament is seemingly intact. I have the fan and lights off, but I presume I have to also do this on the breaker, right? How do I get the broken bulb off of the setting? Do rubber gloves actually work as a back-up plan if I somehow fuck up the breaker step, or did my brief interest in the Pokemon cartoon series mislead me and I'll get shocked all the same? Should I just wait for my husband and not risk it, or is my fear of electricity overblown and weird?
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With the switch off, the socket is getting no electricity. As long as the kids aren't going to run in and flip the switch while you're up on a ladder, you're fine.

Gloves are probably good because you've got glass around.

If there isn't much to grip, don't forget the ancient Potato Trick. You can also use pliers or a hemostat, depending on how much you have to grip.
 
Aunt Carol said:
With the switch off, the socket is getting no electricity. As long as the kids aren't going to run in and flip the switch while you're up on a ladder, you're fine.

Gloves are probably good because you've got glass around.

If there isn't much to grip, don't forget the ancient Potato Trick. You can also use pliers or a hemostat, depending on how much you have to grip.
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It worked with pliers, but I had a potato ready in case, thanks for the trick! That's so fascinating that someone thought of that, I thought it was just a saying when I read your reply. Everything went well, I appreciate the help!
 
I swear by this method taught to me by a professional:

Fill a clean spray bottle with (non-hard) water and add a few drops of REGULAR strength Palmolive dish soap. Makes an excellent all-purpose cleanser for light jobs. Safe for people and pets.

Get a handled scrubby sponge. Fold a microfiber cloth in half and wrap around the sponge. Really great way to clean large, flat surfaces- counters, windows, glass doors, mirrors (spray the cloths not the mirror, dark discoloration at the bottom of mirror is water damage) the front of the appliances, et cetera.

If eventually the sponge underneath gets grubby, I put it in a lingerie bag and toss it in the laundry and skip the dryer.
 
I don't know if this is necessarily a household trick. I used it working on my truck, but there's things in houses it could be used for.

Fucking baking soda and super glue. That shit's awesome. I was working on my brake lines and the fitting connecting it to the valve was rusted up and totally rounded off. I cut the line as close to the fitting as I could then I put tin foil on the bottom of a socket to cover up the square hole then filled it about 2/3's or so with baking soda then added one of those individual use size super glue tubes to it then quickly put it on the fitting and tapped it on with my wrench. Waited like a minute or so then put a ratchet in and tried loosening the nut. It worked. The nut cracked and it came out nice and smoothly. I sacrificed a socket but it actually fucking worked. I was so happy.

I got the idea from these videos I randomly came across a week ago or so
 
If you have a partner and if one you insists on running a fan year round at night while the other one freezes, check out the Slumber Cloud line of temperature regulating bedding.

We bought the thin blanket and it's amazing. Moves like a down comforter, is super light, and keeps your temperature regulated better than any other blanket.

It uses Outlast technology created by NASA to help astronauts in space. It uses teeeeeeny capsules filled with wax. The wax melts when you get into bed, trapping body heat. In the morningz when your body temperature drops the wax turns solid again, releasing the heat back into your body.

We had a cold snap here last week and the blanket and a regular cotton sheet (not flannel) kept us both warm and I didn’t need a fan. I can't speak to how well it works in the summer, we just got it a month ago.

You can't wash/dry it on hot, that will ruin the wax in the beads.

They have a whole range of bedding. We're going to try the mattress pad soon.
 
Foxymophandlemama said:
How to remove shit stains from the toilet?
I spent a few days away from home and my flatmate took a shit and forgot to flush. For 4 days. I swear the poop almost said "Hello Auntie!" when I went to the bathroom.
I flushed many times and used a few light products but it's still slightly stained. I am afraid to use heavier products and fuck up the plumbing.

(Why all my questions are related to the bathroom is beyond me)
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I'm surprised that no one has suggested a puma stone.
 
Anyone have advice for what to use to get rid of ticks in the yard? My area gets them bad, I mean, really bad. I won't delve too far into details so as not to give away where I live, but you can't even go outside without getting them literally swarming up your legs in the middle of summer, especially after a rain. My house doesn't have leaves/debris/flowerbeds/hiding places for them to be under, the yard gets raked to avoid them, and malathion is not working. Flea and tick medicine barely does anything to keep the damn things off dogs either, indoor dogs just carry them indoors- even if the ticks aren't biting on them and getting attached, they're still being carried inside. The ticks here do GREAT indoors. If I have to go through another year of ticks I'm going to just move somewhere new, I don't think I can continue to deal with them, which is a shame because other than ticks I live in a lovely area, it's just gotten that bad. It isn't just my place either, everyone around me is also struggling- the last two-three years have been much worse, before it was just a nuisance and you may find one on you every now and then when you showered at night, but now it's a genuine 'I can't believe I don't have lyme disease yet'.
 
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