Tips on Shredding Documents

Now being the owner of a paper shredder,
I think it is a good investment.
You can get an 8-Sheet-at-a-time shredder
for a reasonable price.

It's nice to have in an accessible, convenient corner of your home office or work room.  Just shred bills or bank statements as you get them, but pay and read them first :)


Another alternative is a shredding service.  My local Kinkos does not offer shredding, but my local Office Depot does- at only 99 cents per pound.  Use a shredding service for big jobs.

The next alternative is getting statements and bills online.  It saves trees and frankly,  it's where commerce is going!

Remember to save your online documents and then save these- 'your records' on a back-up disk!

Prevent Ice Dams in Your Gutters

Prevent Ice Dams in Your Gutters... now.

You can thank me later.

Ice Dams form in your gutters after a lot of snow has fallen, snow starts melting and then refreezes in your gutters.  In the interest of full-self-disclosure- I had never heard of 'ice dams' or gave them ANY thought whatsoever before last week, or rather- before the DC Snowpocalypse of 2010.  I personally like the term- KaiserSnoze, which I've heard bantered about, a little better :)

With that said, it's a good idea to INSULATE your roof... especially insulate the ends so heat doesn't escape- right where the gutters are.


You can buy insulation and put it tightly at the bottom of your attic, where the roof and ceilings meet.

I found a thorough article about Ice Dams and Preventing them at Do It Yourself Life.

Please click on the link for more information!

Happy Households... and roofs and gutters!

Have a 'Cleaning Bowl'

This Tip is pretty straight-forward,
but it's amazing how 'little tips', like this one,
make life so much easier.
And that's really what we're about here at HouseHold Tips, after all!


Have a bowl, or a stack of different size bowls that are for NOTHING,
but cleaning.
No food is ever in these bowls.
Write 'CLEANING' on them (that's what I did).

Keep them under your sink, or somewhere else very accessible.

Whenever you get some kind of stain- Get Out The Bowl,

Mix Hydrogen Peroxide and dishwashing liquid,

And soak the article of clothing,

in the bowl.

POOF!

It comes out, even BLOOD.

One of my first posts on this site was about
Hydrogen Peroxide,

and how fantastic it is as a stain remover!

So, Tip of The Day:

Have a designated 'Cleaning Bowl'; if you have it right there- you'll use it!

Easy!

Another Great Linen Closet Solution... Use White!

I've gotten a lot of response about my post on rolling your towels in the linen closet... people love the idea!  Here's another great solution to organizing towels and linens-

Use white!

If you use white towels for your bathrooms, and especially for spare towels (for company, etc.)... THEY ALWAYS MATCH!

HOLD ON- I know what you're thinking... 'White?!  How do I keep them clean and crisp?'

Since they are all white- you can throw them in the washer WITH BLEACH,

No Harm,

No Foul,

No Problem!

Thank You to Kristin,  a great Mom and extraordinary 'HouseHold Tipper'-

for this great idea...

She's so smart!

'Buying a Dishwasher' Tip

When buying a dishwasher, remember what you are paying for:

NOISE... basically.

Recently I purchased a new dishwasher.  I went with a Frigidaire because it was discontinued and therefor, drastically reduced (to $179.00).  It frankly cost more to have it installed, but that's another story :)

It's a nice looking dishwasher, it's stainless steel and matches the rest of the kitchen appliances,

AND most importantly, cleans dishes well, without a lot of dishwashing detergent.

It has some kind of hyper-efficient cleaning mechanism that most dishwashers have now-a-days.

So is there any downside?  Well... noise.

It's pretty loud when it runs.  Let's put it this way- my husband joked that he's glad that our son is not a baby anymore, because the dishwasher would wake him up.  That's a little exaggerated, 

but not completely off the mark.

So the tip for today sounds a lot like the Blender Tip I gave recently,
Yet different...

1. When buying Dishwashers AS WELL AS Blenders-
DO NOT go with a brand you have NEVER heard of,
you just don't start a 'dishwasher manufacturing business',
it must grow and develop-
go with a name you've heard of- like Frigidaire, Whirlpool, Maytag, etc.

2.  Think about noise level:
Most dishwashers clean dishes well;
at this point, in 2010, you're paying for a
lack of noise.
Ours is a little noisy, but you get used to it.
And it's still not as loud as that cheap inexpensive blender I bought!
On the other hand, an Electrolux dishwasher is SILENT,
and it's price tag reflects that.

It's your choice- go with what your lifestyle needs!

Happy HouseHolds!

Use Baby Wipes For Clean Ups Too!

Baby Wipes are a necessity in a house with babies, obviously.
But they are a good helper for any household.

I keep Pampers Baby Wipes in the bathroom for removing make-up,

and generic baby wipes in the pantry of my kitchen.  Why generic in the kitchen?

Because when it comes to baby wipes- you get what you pay for... Generic wipes are a little tougher and thicker- hence: perfect for cleaning up a countertop or wiping up a quick spill!

I know this isn't the 'greenest' practice in the world, but you can put them in with your recycling!

One Last Tip for Today:  Keep wipes (and any cleaning product) where you use it.  If you don't have space for it- make space.  If it's right there, you will use it; If it's not, it becomes inconvenient and a chore.

A Great New Cleaning Tool

I found a great new cleaning tool
to get marks off of paint,
more specifically- painted walls!

I think everyone (especially those of us
with kids) has walked through a room and
thought,
'How did that mark get on the wall?'

My hallway was so marked up that I was
begrudgingly thinking of painting the whole thing again.

So I did something as simple as Googling 'cleaning painted walls',
and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers came up.  I think they are pretty new, I hadn't heard of them before, so I tried them...

* Mr. Clean didn't pay me or give me free Magic Erasers to try*

And...

They work Great!  They get marks off of paint easily!!  I'm so excited to find this new cleaning tool!

My hallway looks freshly painted, brand new!

My dining room looks great too- no chair marks on the walls!

To be fair to readers I went to CVS and found their generic brand of these 'Magic Erasers':

No Difference, the CVS generic brand works great too!

These erasers work on a lot of surfaces,

they are FANTASTIC on paint.

Enjoy!

Winter Roof Tip

Tip for Today:  Take Care of Your Roof!

We happen to have a slate roof,
but whatever type of roof you have-
take care of it!

We found a very good, honest roofer in our area,
and every March, after the snows and cold weather,
we have him come over to inspect our roof and
replace any slates that need it.  It doesn't cost very much, and frankly, you are gradually,
replacing your roof;
you never have problems with it,
and it's very cost effective.  

So take care of the roof you have, and it'll never give you any worry!

Snow Removal

Today some tips on Snow Removal!
You may have heard, the DC Region has gotten pummeled
with over 3 feet of snow this past week,
so I have become an 'instant expert' in snow removal.

1.  Dig out in stages.  Don't wait til it's all over.
It's easier to go out every 2 or 3 hours and dig out,
especially for your back, heart, and sanity.

2.  Don't pile up snow around your house (aka- your foundation).
This prevents possible leaks when the 'big thaw' comes.

3.  Have fun!  Make other paths that are 'snow forts'.
My son loves this!

Always Have Firewood

Okay, I tried to upload a cute image of firewood, but I was unable to.
That is because we are in the middle of our 2nd blizzard within a week...
And I'm using my husband's computer; my laptop is broken right now,
and I'm unable, once again, to get to the Apple store.

So now, for the HouseHold Tip: even if you never use your fireplace,
like us,
Always have at least a small pile of firewood on hand,
in case the power goes out.
We learned this the hard way,
so for this 2nd blizzard:
we are equipped with
firewood,
kindling,
newspapers,
emergency lights,
and batteries.
I'll be back with more HouseHold Tips in a couple of days when things... and the weather, are back to normal :)

Don't 'Go Discount' on Blenders

You live, You learn.

Case in Point: this blender, pictured on the left.

I have, believe it or not, never bought a blender before last week.  We got one as a wedding present and I've been using it for the last 12 years.

The blender we got was a nice one, but not a 'ridiculously-priced gizmo that that blends, dices and tells you the time of day'.  It was a blender, and it lasted 12 years.  So, since I have no experience with buying blenders, I figured-

'A blender is a blender.'

And that's not quite true.  The blender to the left was on sale at Target for $13.99.  What did I learn?

DO NOT buy a blender that is $13.99.

It is SO LOUD, it deafens the ears.  It even scared my 6-year-old son, and he doesn't really 'get scared' anymore.  I'm not mentioning the brand name (which I'd never heard of- another red flag), (I think you can read it on the front of the blender), because they didn't do anything wrong- they are selling a very, cheap, blender; 

It's just that I found out it is not worth saving a few dollars to go cheap on a blender.

It is worth a few more dollars to get a nice blender, that isn't CRAZY LOUD,

and rattles,

and scares small children.

So, I went back to Target and got an Oster 12-Speed Blender, that even crushes ice for smoothies... 

in seconds... silently,

for $37.99.

You know what?  Just about ALL the blenders at Target were between $30 and $40 dollars.

This is probably a good price range to look in when buying a blender :)

Once again- You Live.  You Learn.

Enough Said.

Use All Your Space... Coat Closets

Today we are talking about Efficiency.

One way to be efficient is to-

Use All Your Space!

Here is a great example:  you'll see in the picture to the left  that I'm using all the space in the bottom of the coat closet.

I got this little storage container from The Container Store. I put purses I frequently use on the top, my husbands' baseball caps in the middle drawer, and all gloves and hats in the bottom.  And there's a little space left over for my son's boots (to the right) and a couple of bags I use (to the left).

Now, everything has a place that is out of sight; no clutter, no baskets full of mittens- Yey!

Use Smaller Paper Towels

Here's an easy HouseHold Tip!

Make a point to buy those perforated,

half-sheet rolls of paper towels.

You usually only need a half a sheet anyway...

You'll save resources- you green, money-saving machine!