As you can see our desk is built into our (rental) apartment’s wall. It’s a solid rock countertop with no holes for feeding wires through or anything. We want to make this look much neater. I’ve thought of those white tubes for wires but we just have so many that I’m not sure it would fix the problem.
I’m really hoping someone can help me with this. It might be a really dumb question, but long story short I got a late start in life so I’m still learning how to clean and do certain things around the house.
I live with my amazing fiancé and he likes to fall asleep on the couch.
I’ve tried to get him to sleep on a top sheet without much luck.
We live in a building with shared laundry, and I tried to wash the covers as often as possible but it is a pain in the butt walking down three flights of stairs.
I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what to do to keep it clean in between washes. I’ve tried letting baking soda and white vinegar sit on it and then vacuuming it but I don’t think it made much difference.
If anyone has any suggestions or advice I would really appreciate it! (And no, he won’t change his habits and I love him lol
My partner switched us to reusable paper towels. The problem is that he uses up to 10 a day and leaves them in wet piles in the sink and all over the counters. At any given time there are damp, food-covered towels sitting around the kitchen.
I find it absolutely disgusting. It looks messy, smells gross, and makes the kitchen feel dirty. I literally can’t stand being in the kitchen when they’re there, so every day I end up gathering five or six at a time, rinsing them out, and hanging them in my shower or outside on our patio to dry.
I’ve suggested rinsing them out and hanging them up, or even putting them in a designated bin, but he refuses and insists on leaving them in wet piles because he says he washes them every day.
Am I overreacting, or would most people also find piles of wet reusable towels sitting around the kitchen pretty gross?
To me, no matter how hard you scrub it’s still surface cleaning.
so around the end of last year (july-sept) my utensils started having this weird soapy sweet taste everytime i eat using them, i thought it was just because i forgot to properly rinse my utensils when washing, but even after i made sure to rinse my utensils properly the taste is still there.
eventually, i found some rotten pears in the cabinet that my old housemate had left before they moved and thought that might be the source so i threw those out, but it still tasted like soap, i thought it was only my utensils (which are stainless steel), but my plate and bowl (plastic) also have the weird soapy taste when i eat from them.
what do i do to fix this or should i throw everything out bcs it genuinely ruins my appetite and makes me wanna puke when i dig into my food and it just tastes like sweet soap
I noticed today a huge swarm of ants under my desk. There’s no visible crumbs or stains. I wiped the carpet, wall, and part of the desk down with water in case I was missing something, and it helped temporarily with the amount, but they came back full force in about an hour. please help!! I can’t tell where they’re coming from exactly— maybe the carpet or walls? I don’t know what to do and I can’t sleep because I’m so freaked out!
edit: I am experiencing the current heat wave if that changes anything and my apt is warmer than normal.
Mold spot on my shower grout, been there about six weeks. finally looked up mold remover options and now i’m more confused than before. every product has people swearing it dissolved mold instantly AND people saying it did absolutely nothing after an hour of scrubbing. how does the same spray get both reactions? makes me think half of them are just bleach water with a markup.
not trying to redo grout or call anyone, just want something that actually penetrates into grout specifically. anyone had a mold remover actually work on grout and not just a flat surface?
When cleaning, do you organize or just toss everything in bins? My friend just chucks into her toy bins and claims it’s helped her mental health but I have to organize toy bins! I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and both ways make me feel crazy!
So I, personally, have ADHD. I have NEVER been the "good house wife" perfectly clean kind of person. In fact, during some dark periods in my life, you might have said my living space qualified as a safety hazard. I have tried OVER AND OVER AGAIN to LEARN how to clean because my mom did everything for us going up until it was FAR too late to instill it. I never wanted to make that mistake with our daughter but no matter how hard I tried I could NOT improve. And my house began to show it BIG TIME when my kid reached the "toddler who dumps everything on the floor stage" and she REFUSED to clean up after herself so I just did it and made a half-hearted attempt to have her help. It never worked. Then, one day I saw my kid take the wrapper off a string cheese, look at it, and then throw it over her shoulder onto the ground. I thought....oh hell no...I am SERIOUSLY fucking this up. I KNEW she cleaned up at school so what was the problem? I decided then and THERE to change things.
After I implemented this plan, my child (and I honestly tips for THAT after the kid tips! ) now not only cleans up her toys EVERY TIME she even: Cleans her room, makes her bed, and washes her own dishes!!!
Here are the things I did to help the TODDLER get better:
1.) I COMPLETELY cleaned and organized her toys placing items into bins and shelves. (IMPORTANT WE USED CLEAR PLASTIC CONTAINERS THIS IS VITAL everything went onto a shelf or in a CLEAR Bin).
2.) I made SURE that EACH AND EVERY ITEM had its OWN INDIVIDUAL STORAGE spot ALONE in a bin/shelf. I started on my own with the toys I knew she loved/used every day. Then, when I started to run out of room I had her watch the "Monkey Jocks" episode of Bluey (Season 2 Episode 37) where the main characters give up toys they don't use to help other kids and it's pretty heartfelt. She and I then paired down the toys till everything fit.
3.) I took a picture of the CONTENTS of each bin, and what the bin looked like IN PLACE. The CONTENTS picture went on the outside/front of the bin with simplified word descriptors to work on our reading as we go. The IN PLACE pictures went on the SHELVES themselves so that if a bin is taken out and emptied (or more likely MULTIPLE BINS given how she plays) she can figure out what goes into each bin and then where the bin goes/what goes on that shelf. I used printable sticky glossy photo paper I go for like $6 a pack at Walmart (Note it took 2 packs for ALL of her shiz cause there is only 10 pages in a pack).
All of this cleaning and organizing and labeling took me about 3 solid days of work straight I am not gonna lie to you but MY GOD was it worth it!
4.)Then what I did was dump out two easy to understand labeled bins that were located near each other and picked one up and asked her "what goes in THIS BIN" and had her sort the toys. Then I showed her the shelves/places and asked her which bin goes where. We then talked about the importance of cleaning up your own mess!
5.) At FIRST I had to be ON HER EVERY TIME she switched toys I made her pick up the old one. At first she didn't mind because she had been seeing ME do all this cleaning so she was already helping out more and "wanted to be like mommy" but after day two it got old fast. We had to sing the "Mess Song" I made up years ago when she was little. It is sung to the tune of "if you are happy and you know it" it goes:
It's okay to make a mess just clean it up!
It's okay to make a mess just clean it up!
It's okay to make a mess, just try to do your best.
It's okay to make a mess just clean it up!
Where I make HER sing the "clean it up" part after she learned the song. I pause until SHE says/yells CLEAN IT UP(she fricking LOVES it but your kid may need a different motivator).
When that stopped worked the deal became: no new toys, no games/playing with parents, and no TV until she picked it up. No arguing no fussing but I held HARD to the rule. She didn't LOVE it at first but now I hardly EVER have to use this tactic. The first difficult day took a LOT of tears to get 100% right but I held firm and it was NEVER so hard ever again so if that happens just PUSH THROUGH I PROMISE they will get it if you hold firm. If she picked up a toy I would take it out of her hand, place it out of reach, and repeat the rule.
It has now gotten to the point that even though *I forgot to remind her to clean up/stay on her yesterday, when we walked in the door to the house today and she saw the mess in the living room (where her toys are), she said "man...we need to clean this mess up" with her little hands on her hips (note:it was VERY cute lol), and then cleaned up her mess.
And, Finally for the toys, the rule is: Mom/dad does NOT start helping/cleaning until YOU DO and we only do as much as SHE does so if she puts two puzzle pieces up WE put two up FOR her. As she gets older we will obviously phase this support out (gently at first such as she has to pick up 4 to our 2 and then 6 to 2 etc.) but these messes can be over whelming for a 3 year old!
6.) For the making the bed and washing her dishes I started by having her help ME do them as I went through my OWN cleaning journey and then asking her to place her dishes in the sink. Then help me wash the dishes with her washing her own till I felt comfortable letting her doing it alone and then started prompting her to do it and now she does it on her own (but TBF she has LOVED playing in water for years so this wasn't too difficult now it's just an issue keeping her from doing ALL the dishes and going to far too fast and parentifying her). And did the same with making her bed.
Now for how I fixed MYSELF
First, honestly the best thing I did for my daughter learning to clean up was start doing it MYSELF actively in front of her and POINTING OUT what I was doing. Kids that age and up till about the teen years LOVE to emulate their caregivers (it's why "baby/house" play is so popular with young kids).
As for what I did to CHANGE MYSELF.:
1.) I started just after I got my meds so that if I forgot to get my meds or screw that up (frequent occurrence) I would have had an entire month of "pattern making" to help when I didn't have it.
2.) I set an "If then..." cleaning schedule. As in, "if it is 7:00pm (or the closest arrivals time if we are Out of the House at 7:00 pm) THEN, I will clean the house for 15 minutes.".
3.) Then, I made sure I STUCK WITH IT for the first two weeks. I set an alarm with a ROTATING RINGER (Important to keep yourself from just learning to IGNORE the alarm) for 7:00 each night for the first two weeks. I set the alarm on the bedroom clock AND my phone. NO MATTER WHAT I was doing or how I was feeling at the moment (a frequent excuse I used to use due to SEVERAL chronic illnesses that flair up occasionally) I FORCED myself to do it (and for DD DH to help it's a family thing) to catch anything we missed "cleaning up after ourselves".
4.) We try our BEST to clean up after ourselves EVERYTIME just like we expect DD to do. This modeling has been INVALUABLE. If we made mistakes we made sure to point them out to DD and say "oopsie Mommy/Daddy forgot to clean up our...." "it's okay we all make mistakes I'll get it now that I've noticed!"
5.) This one is a bit much as well but I went a bit "label and everything has a place" crazy after I finished the living room and did our: Bedroom, Bathroom, and Kitchen as well which has, honestly, helped ME not just put things places. When everything has a place, I have no excuse to just LEAVE it where it lies. And to be transparent this part took me about a week/week and a half of 8-10 hr days with the baby with a carer! (I am a teacher on summer break so this may take longer for working parents!) I didn't put pictures, but, everything has a place, AND a Canva Template Label printed and placed on the bins/the outside of the drawers. I ordered a bulk drawer organizing set off of Amazon for like $20 and it did my whole house.
6.) I ALSO changed the LABEL per drawer/area for the bedroom. That way, if a bin ended up outside of its place we would know where it goes but I REFUSED to do this in the PUBLIC areas of the house and instead I: a.) Picked one style for each room. B.) Made a "Master List" Excel Spreadsheet for each room in case something gets misplaced/lost its home.
Eventually, when I finished, I just felt like with all this effort and time I have spent doing and implementing this (about a month TOTAL for organizing/labeling/purging/Training the toddler, I just COULD NOT go back. I was honestly a little obsessive at first but have relaxed a little.
So far, it has been almost 2 months and while we aren't PERFECT (see yesterday: not for nothing I forgot to refill my meds and was without the last two days lol), my house is clean 95% of the time for the FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
If you have any questions about the method I used to do something or what products I went with, just ASK. I TRULY HOPE that this post makes a difference in SOMEONE else life. Doesn't have to change everything for everyone but if ONE FAMILY is helped I will be EXTREMELY happy!
Edit to add a couple tips:
1.) cover the pictures with clear contact paper to ensure durability
2.) for personal motivation I find to do lists helpful cause I get a hit of dopamine when I check something off so what I do it make HYPER SPECIFIC to do lists for things I REALLY don't feel like doing so I get more frequent hits of that sweet sweet dopamine. So instead of "clean the dresser" my list would include things like: Clear the top of dresser, empty top left drawer, re-fold clothes top left drawer, vacuum out top left drawer, wipe out inside of TLD, Wipe the OUTSIDE of the TLD, etc. and so on and so forth.
Hope these tips help!
I cleaned a stain on drywall and changed the wall color from scrubbing more, harder, and in a wider area than was needed. The discoloration is obvious looking from afar, and I'm trying to fix it to avoid security deposit dock.
I don't want to color match, buy paint, buy paint brushes, and do the whole painting process when it's just one spot. Also, the spot is subtle enough that I can't trust any paint coat will blend in more than the status quo, even if I'm careful selecting paint.
I'm hoping there's something more convenient than repainting, with less things to buy and/or less time on the process.
Mold spot on my shower grout, been there about six weeks. finally looked up mold remover options and now i’m more confused than before. every product has people swearing it dissolved mold instantly AND people saying it did absolutely nothing after an hour of scrubbing. how does the same spray get both reactions? makes me think half of them are just bleach water with a markup.
not trying to redo grout or call anyone, just want something that actually penetrates into grout specifically. anyone had a mold remover actually work on grout and not just a flat surface?
I used to paint art with acrylic paint in this room, which left a lot of stains of all kinds, and one day I've decided to clean it with acetone, following some advice.
It Ieft the linoleum with these shadowy marks instead, and I wonder if these can be cleaned.
Can't they?
I live with 2 men and they both have this habit of leaving empty bottles, egg cartons, cans or packaging ON TOP of our small recycling bin in our kitchen.
The issue is, why am I looking a rubbish when it can go IN THE BIN. 9/10 the recycling bin has space for the item they are throwing away so it annoys be that they don't just put it inside. Better yet, if the bin was getting full, they could squeeze the air out of bottles and replace the lid to make more room.
Second note, our big recycling bin is directly outside the front door. The idea is that when they leave empty bottles on top of the bin the INTENTION was to take the bottle with them on the way out... but the next day the bottle will still be there, and the next. Its like they don't see it!
I tell my partner everytime he does this. I take a picture, send it to him asking why is it not in the bin. Most common reason is "I forgot to take it out" and I repeatedly say, just put in the the bin so I don't have to look at rubbish! The stuff in the small bin will end up in the big bin eventually. As for his brother, this is just one of many issues of keeping the house tidy.
I refuse to clean up after 2 men so I sit here annoyed, eye to eye with empty bottles.
never cleaned my dishwasher once in 3 years until I noticed pink film on the door gasket and crusty buildup on the spray arms. wiped everything down, cleared the spray arm holes with a toothpick, ran a cleaning cycle and honestly the difference was shocking. dishes are shinier and the weird smell is gone
now I want to actually keep up with it. how often should I be doing a deep clean vs a quick wipe down, and does it matter what you use for the monthly cycles?
I still live in my mom's house, but it's honestly filthy here. I sweep my room every weekend, but don't mop often and also wanted insights for when I get my own place how often I should. My mom doesn't try much to keep up with cleanliness like mopping the floors or even sweeping, so I literally have no idea. She pushes it aside and most times considers it useless.
Unfortunately I don't know what the fabric is, they're probably just a cheap chair and a cheap sofa.
The stains on the chair are sweat and pants' dirt I assume; as for the sofa, I couldn't say.
I couldn’t reach the areas that are brown with a bottle brush or anything else I tried.
I put a cup of white vinegar and a cup of uncooked rice inside and shook in all directions.
Then I drained the contents into a screened colander.
You can see the results!
I bought a 100 year old house a couple years ago that definitely had a funk to it, but i foolishly thought I would definitely be able to solve it.
Let me start by saying I understand a home of my age is going to have a scent. I get it. Its old. But this smell is like.. dirty. And I am not dirty. It doesnt smell like cat pee, cigarettes, animals or anything like that. Just smells old, stuffy, dirty despite everything i have tried below. Air flow in this home is definitely an issue, so I wonder if thats contributing. I try my best to keep air moving with open windows and fans whenever possible.
I have wood floors throughout that is not an option to remove, and I'm wondering if this stink is just permeated in them?
Anyway,
Here's whats been tried:
* Mopping all floors, walls, and ceilings prior to moving in with Odoban - this brought the odor down a good bit, but not enough. Continued Regular mopping with odoban. Also tried using other enzymatic cleaners, recipes I have found online or just plain ol Fabuloso.
* air duct cleaning with added deodorizer service before moving in
*Ozone generator in the most offensive areas (like near the front door) ran for 3 hours (the max the machine will run. I have used ozone in so many places and have had wonderful luck with it.. Until this house!!)
* air purifiers
* painting some walls (this house is a work in progress, more will be painted)
* Constant open windows anytime the weather allows
* Regular use of fans to keep air moving
* Simmer pot by the front door, often with cinnamon, oranges and/or lemons
* Regular cleaning throughout the house
I am not a fan of, nor will I use, things like Glade plug ins or heavily scented candles to cover the smell. I want to eliminate it.
Am I just SOL? Any advice is appreciated.
I'm a rug lover with a shedding cat, and about 70% of my 110㎡ home is covered. Keeping the rugs clean every day is becoming a real chore, especially with all the cat hair and dust that builds up.
What's your best advice for handling daily cleaning on large rug areas? I've been thinking about a robot vacuum as one possible solution, but I really want something that does a strong job on deep rug cleaning without struggling with pet hair or bothering my cat. Any recommendations or experiences would be appreciated! Thanks!
Between two kids and two dogs, my mattress has been through IT. I feel like I’m using my little green machine on a weekly basis. We’re due for a new one but don’t plan on buying one until both kids are fully out of diapers.
We’re going away for a four day weekend, and I thought it would be a good time to let the mattress “air out.” Besides leaving the sheets off and the window open, what else would you do to refresh a mattress over a long weekend?