Do we want a Making Life Easier thread?

[agate]

It's hard for some of us to figure out ways to do everyday tasks. Every simplification we can find helps. Over the years people have posted suggestions and ideas for techniques or gadgets/devices that have helped them. Then it's hard to find those suggestions without doing a search. Do we want a thread, like the books thread or the cooking thread, just for these suggestions?

Opinions are welcome!

For instance:

Years ago I discovered something called a splash mop. These aren't made any more, apparently, and they did get pretty grubby pretty fast, but they were little string-type mops with shorter handles, and you could spot-clean your kitchen (bathroom, etc.) floor with it when you didn't want to bother with a full-scale mopping job.

Back then I often washed floors on my hands and knees. Or I trundled out a bucket, filled it with water and some vinegar or whatever, and used a sponge mop, which then had to be rinsed out and let dry. Hauling the bucket of water was the hardest part but as time wore on, just squeezing that sponge mop wasn't so easy either.

In recent years my sponge mop has sat mostly idle in the closet while I resorted to a Mr. Clean gadget that is somewhat like a Swiffer. It worked pretty well but then the disposable cloths that went with it were no longer available.

I posted not so long ago about the O-Cedar mop I now have and am very pleased with. It hangs on a hook in a closet, already filled with vinegar and water, and I can just take it out and use its handle to spray water to mop with it but I do have to wrestle with it.

There are times when a floor, usually the kitchen floor, has visible dirt spots but I don't want to drag this mop out when the floor is still 80% clean. Since there are no more splash mops, and they did take a while to dry, I've improvised.

I have a reacher. I take a wet paper towel, not sopping wet but pretty damp, and grip it with the reacher and mop up the floor spots, then toss the wet paper towel away. It does a good enough job for the floor to look clean again.

This has been making life easier for me. We have to stay fairly clean in this building as we never know just when the management might need to come in, and I don't like the look of a floor with spots on it. No spotted floors for me now. I'm quite thrilled with this back-saving technique. In the past I was bending over to hit the spots with a wet paper towel, and it was slow and painful.

[Virginia]

I saw someone yesterday when I was at the beauty salon do something similar Agate. Some water got on the floor and she took a dirty towel and threw it on the floor, then went over it with her foot, getting the water up and then put the towel back in the dirty laundry. I set watching her and thought I would have to remember that. That would probably work with a paper towel too, then use the reacher to pick it up and throw it in the trash.

Edited to add: I think it would be nice to have a thread like you are talking about Agate. Then, if anyone post anything in it we can always go back and look at it if we forget exactly what they said.

[Virginia]

One thing I thought of that has made me feel better about all the cleaning stuff I use. I didn't like using so many chemicals and Meredith (my former cleaning lady) told me to put just a drop or two of Dawn dish washing detergent in an empty spray bottle, add some water, shake it up and clean my counter tops with that. She said there were lots of things I could clean with it.

Then my brother was telling me I should use Dawn to clean with as much as I could. He said they wash birds, that have oil on them, with Dawn dish detergent. He said if it wasn't safe we would have heard about it because of the birds.

It is cheap and better for a person to use it. I like the way my new kitchen countertops look with it.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Agate ~

Having a separate thread for this topic is an excellent idea. It's true that we mention helpful gadgets and home remedies in other threads, especially the chitchat thread. Having one place for these posts will centralize the topic.

I have found that mopping floors and sweeping the porch/patio are the motions, which cause me more pain than other chores. I never thought about using my reacher for spot mopping. Very clever!

I have a roomba to vacuum the floors, but I have found that it is more work for me to chase it around the house, when it gets stuck, or just stays in the same room too long, than it is for me to use my Dyson stick vacuum and my Swiffer floor duster.

I loathe ironing, so my dear friend suggested that I get a stand up Conair steamer. Unfortunately, mine doesn't work for some reason. The water never gets hot to create steam. I should call Conair to find out what the problem is, but I haven't felt like dealing with it.

We should use the new thread to share gadgets that didn't work or are too cumbersome, as well as recommendations for ones that work well. The above is my sample entry!

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[agate]

I was going to say I forgot to mention that before the reacher idea, I was sometimes wetting a wad of paper towel, tossing it onto the floor, and moving it around with my foot over the dirty area. That worked pretty well but I did have to pick up the wet paper towel--and make sure it wasn't so wet it created a puddle I could slip on.

This reminds me of Pippi Longstocking in the children's story--she fastened brushes to her feet and skated around over the floors to clean them.

Rose, I don't know about Conair steamers but I'll be looking them up. Ironing can be quite a chore, especially lifting the ironed clothes on hangers up to the closet rods. For some reason that is hard.

By all means we should talk about methods and gadgets that haven't worked well. Sounds as if Conair steamers might be something to avoid.

[agate]

Here's an idea that everyone else may have been using for ages but it only recently dawned on me.

One problem I've been having is that I don't get around to vacuuming often enough. I resort to the carpet sweeper all too often. Somehow the prospect of lifting it out of the closet and assembling it, then poking it around all over the place, then having to clean it out and disassemble it is more than I feel like doing.

But I had this "Aha!" moment, and I'm going to try it out. With nobody due to come in here for a while, it wouldn't matter if the vacuum was left out for days. So why not vacuum in stages? Get it out, put it together, run it for a while, then leave it until later in the day or until the next day? And do that repeatedly, until everything that should be vacuumed has been done?

Is this doable? Or would I just be too apt to trip over the vacuum? I don't think I will as I can keep it in a corner somewhere while this process is going on.

This probably seems so obvious that I hesitate to discuss it here because I feel pretty dumb at this point. All those years and I always assumed that once you start vacuuming, you finish the job and put the vacuum away. You don't just leave the vacuum out and come back to the job later.

But why don't you if you're your own boss?

[Virginia]

I have vacuumed part of my floors and left the vacuum out to finish later that day or the next day on many occasions. I am always careful to put the vacuum where I will not trip over it. So I think it is a good idea. In better days, long ago, I would not have thought of doing that. Now it doesn't bother me.

[agate]

Yay! I don't know why I've been so obsessive all these years about wanting the vacuum to be out of sight as soon as possible. Maybe I didn't want to be reminded of it but now I've changed my mind on that. I won't mind looking at it, for several days if necessary. It will be all plugged in and ready to go whenever I feel like it.

It's possible to become a slave to one's devices, even if it's just a vacuum. I don't want to be ordered around by my vacuum. Or its attachments.

I have two vacuums but both of them are a bit of project to take apart and put together.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Virginia ~

I would imagine that Dawn is safe to use on your counters. I use Seventh Generation dish soap, laundry soap, and dishwasher liquid. For my granite countertops, I use a Simple Green spray specifically for them.

Speaking of dishwashers, mine had a problem with the dishwashing liquid just running out onto the inside of the door and not disseminating. My friend advised me to put vinegar in the cup for the dishwashing liquid and run the dishwasher. It decalcifies the machine. It worked!

Agate ~

As long as you have a safe place to park your vacuum, I see no reason why you shouldn't leave it out. Anything we can do to make life easier for us is worth doing. You can always put it away, when you expect visitors.

My Dyson stick has two parts, unless I change accessories, which I don't. One part has to be plugged in to be charged, the other part is the wand. It won't stand up on its own, so I have to separate them. I use it for throw rugs, since our floors are Pergo, for which I use the Swiffer duster mop. My biggest problem is vacuuming the stairs with it, because it is awkward.

Somewhere in a box in my garage probably, there is a framed poster, which reads: "Martha Stewart doesn't live here!" When our home became an ICU, I gave up on trying to disguise it as something else. What was I trying to hide? People with disabilities lived here, and we have all of the equipment, which they needed. We lived in reality, not to impress anyone or expect to be featured in Better Homes and Gardens.

What is most comfortable and easiest for us is what we should do.

As for the steamer, it is highly rated, and my friend has had it for years, and it works perfectly. I just need to call Conair and ask for troubleshooting advice. I haven't had the motivation to do that.

Happy Cleaning Everyone!

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[agate]

People with disabilities lived here, and we have all of the equipment, which they needed. We lived in reality, not to impress anyone or expect to be featured in Better Homes and Gardens.

Yes, those perfect-looking homes featured in magazines are apt to make a person envious--but you can always keep in mind that all of those gorgeous living rooms, patios, dining rooms, and kitchens probably cost a pretty penny and are still costing a pretty penny just to maintain.

I'd never heard of Sunset Magazine until I moved out west and then became aware of the west's emphasis on picture-perfect outdoor living, a whole new concept for someone from back east. I haven't seen that magazine in a while but assume it's still chock-full of pictures of gleaming kitchens, etc.

[Lazarus]

This is a good thread. Thanks!

[agate]

Sunset Magazine is still with us. Not everyone on the west coast lives like this.

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[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Agate ~

Thanks for linking Sunset magazine, which I was going to do.

When I was in college, I attended a journalism retreat in Northern California, where I listened to seminars by representatives of several newspapers and magazines. The students submitted samples of our work to the representatives. I submitted investigative news stories, editorials, and feature articles. I was one of the students selected to attend the final cocktail party, where I met and conversed with the representatives.

The representative from Sunset magazine offered me an internship! I was thrilled! Unfortunately, I had to turn down the offer, because I wanted to complete my degree program. The representative said she admired my decision, handed me her card, and told me to call her when I graduated. "You have a job waiting for you with us," she said smiling.

Of course, my life took a different direction ...

And I wouldn't change it for anything.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[agate]

Congratulations on being chosen, Rose! It's surely not very often that a periodical reaches out to someone like that.

Update on the vacuuming idea: Yesterday I started with my vacuuming-in-gradual-phases. I had 3 short sessions with the crevice tool, with rests in between, and things were going along well but then suddenly I must have twisted around in the wrong way because I was hit with a bad pain. It lasted all through the night and is still with me though now it's bearable so long as I'm careful about how I move.

I think it must be that compression fracture the doctor mentioned. In any case, aspirin helps a bit and resting helps a lot. Getting into and out of bed is a project but I'm working on ways of accomplishing it without taking so long.

Aging brings back problems, I've often heard.

Anyway, the vacuum is still sitting out there, ready for me to resume when I feel up to it.

[Virginia]

Sorry you are having a bad time right now Agate. I promise you that vacuum will not move.