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!

[Mr. Confederate Man]

I use well water and live in a damp, swampy area.

You may want to get your water tested for hardness and contaminants. Hard water could possibly be the root cause of your issue, especially if it's leaving heavy deposits behind.

 

[TooManyKittens]

I seek help from the council. My dishwasher cleans like shit. I've done a bunch of troubleshooting steps and it's still garbage, leaves a gross thick white residue on everything and has gotten moldy despite me frequently cleaning it

1. cleaned the filter - small improvements but still shit
2. switched from dishwasher tabs to dishwasher powder, citrus booster, rinse aid - minor improvement, still shit
3. tried to do a dishwasher cleaner with a wax seal - didn't melt the wax seal
4. tried some dishwasher cleaner that was just a powder - still shit
5. checked heating element - appears to be okay, water is steamy which is more than it gets out of the tap
6. turned up water heater temp because it was pretty cold - no improvement

facts worth knowing - I use well water and live in a damp, swampy area.

Any sage advice? My next troubleshooting step is to put it on the street corner and let the local tweakers sell the metal in it for meth and buy a new one.

This sounds like a water pump issue tbh. Which is probably a replace the damn thing.

If you have heat, water drains, filter is good, but water just doesn't seem to spray as it should you can check the nozzles on the arms where water comes out for clogs in the arms pr the nozzles themselves. But it sounds like a pump issue to me.

Water testing as the above posters said is also probably wise prior to replacing it

 

[Foxymophandlemama]

Coming back here to thank you Kiwis. I cleaned my bathroom yesterday and it smells really nice. The shower box glass is crystal clear

 

[CharcoalChkn]

Had a nasty coffee stain on a brand new brightly coloured shirt (first time wearing, RIP).

Tried the dishwashing soap + white vinegar + boiling water soak before washing and it completely came out and didn't fade the colour at all. I'm so relieved and happy.

I went a little too cowboy though with the ratios because I thought that half a teaspoon wasn't enough.....there were suds bubbling out of my washer and I had to put it through 2 short rinse only cycles to get it all out, so, don't do that....

 

[anliteralidiot]

Here's a recipe for anyone who wants an easy cheesecake this time of the year:

• 8oz brick of cream cheese
• 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs

Mix to all together. It doesn't have to be smooth just mixed. Pour it into your cheese cake crust and bake at 350F until brown. If you test it with a fork, it won't necessarily be clean when you pull it out. But it should be mostly clean.

My mom insists you can add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, but I don't agree.

Happy baking hoes

 

[A Cat in a Minefield]

I seek help from the council. My dishwasher cleans like shit. I've done a bunch of troubleshooting steps and it's still garbage, leaves a gross thick white residue on everything and has gotten moldy despite me frequently cleaning it

1. cleaned the filter - small improvements but still shit
2. switched from dishwasher tabs to dishwasher powder, citrus booster, rinse aid - minor improvement, still shit
3. tried to do a dishwasher cleaner with a wax seal - didn't melt the wax seal
4. tried some dishwasher cleaner that was just a powder - still shit
5. checked heating element - appears to be okay, water is steamy which is more than it gets out of the tap
6. turned up water heater temp because it was pretty cold - no improvement

facts worth knowing - I use well water and live in a damp, swampy area.

Any sage advice? My next troubleshooting step is to put it on the street corner and let the local tweakers sell the metal in it for meth and buy a new one.

My dishwasher had a similar problem. It turned out that the arms didn't spray any water. In the end it just got a steam bath. Check if there is an unusual amout of condensation on the walls of your dishwasher.

 

[Astro Loafo]

Have you tried the scrub mommy with paste?

IT FUCKING WORKS!

 

[Jacinda Ardern IRL]

A tip for those with cats - (maybe obvious, but I didn't know you could do this) when the sisal (rope) on a scratching post starts getting in rough shape, you can buy sisal from pretty much any hardware store for cheap and just re-wrap the post. I remove the old sisal, then use some glue on the post and staples to keep the sisal in place, then remove the staples when the glue is dry so kitty doesn't accidentally pull any out and hurt herself. I was able to make my ratty old cat tree good as new, and kitty seems to appreciate it!

 

[Mister Uno]

Here's a recipe for anyone who wants an easy cheesecake this time of the year:

• 8oz brick of cream cheese
• 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs

Mix to all together. It doesn't have to be smooth just mixed. Pour it into your cheese cake crust and bake at 350F until brown. If you test it with a fork, it won't necessarily be clean when you pull it out. But it should be mostly clean.

My mom insists you can add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, but I don't agree.

Happy baking hoes

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?

 

[Jacinda Ardern IRL]

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?

I turn mine in to rags for cleaning once they're in too rough shape to be worn anymore. When you have dogs and the weather gets muddy or snowy, it's helpful to have piles of rags and old towels available to wipe off their feet when they come inside. I could use more ideas than just cleaning rags and dog feet wipes though.

 

[one_time_user]

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?

I cut them up and use them as dusting rags or, if they're cotton, I save smaller parts of them for cleaning my (eye) glasses and drying them.

 

[glass_houses]

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?

I generally wear clothes until they literally fall to pieces, (unless I've wasted money by buying polyester monstrosity off the net that turned out to be unwearable). After that I generally cut them up for rags or bedding for my ratties. Rats like things that smell like their humans. That's why they're magnetically drawn to your favourite objects whenever you free range them.

100% polyester cloth tends not to work well as cleaning rags, you need to have a certain amount of cotton content. I've yet to find a use for polyester rags. I throw them out.

 

[CharcoalChkn]

After that I generally cut them up for rags or bedding for my ratties. Rats like things that smell like their humans. That's why they're magnetically drawn to your favourite objects whenever you free range them.

Thanks for the idea! I might try this with my cat to coach him to sleep in his bed since he generally gravitates to my office chair and my own bed (or my pile of clean folded clothes that I haven't put away yet).

 

[Mister Uno]

After that I generally cut them up for rags or bedding for my ratties. Rats like things that smell like their humans. That's why they're magnetically drawn to your favourite objects whenever you free range them.

100% polyester cloth tends not to work well as cleaning rags, you need to have a certain amount of cotton content. I've yet to find a use for polyester rags. I throw them out.

Making me miss having rats. They're great pets. Also fuck polyester. I absolutely hate it, especially as a blanket for sleeping. Been trying to find a good blanket but seems like the majority are polyester mix, least on Amazon. But I will admit, I haven't tried too hard searching for all cotton or alternative material.

 

[glass_houses]

Making me miss having rats. They're great pets. Also fuck polyester. I absolutely hate it, especially as a blanket for sleeping. Been trying to find a good blanket but seems like the majority are polyester mix, least on Amazon. But I will admit, I haven't tried too hard searching for all cotton or alternative material.

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?

 

[General Disarray]

For those of us that like to use melamine sponges. might wanna use plastic gloves. I noticed my fingertips were cracking and just generally messy and realized that yes, melamine sponges are essentially microfine sandpaper and will do a number on your skin. After using gloves religiously when handling the sponges my fingertips have returned to normal.

 

[retard strength]

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!

 

[CharcoalChkn]

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!

I am pretty low class about this, I just run it under the tap with the hottest water possible then wipe it dry with the micro fibre cloth.

ymmv with nicer frames.

 

[glass_houses]

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.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Glasses-wearers/people of glasses/person experiencing divergent vision: how do you clean your glasses?

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.