Being in a state of career (and thus, income) flux, my interest in clever, handy, and frugal household hints has grown recently, which coincided nicely with Witchypoo's idea for a household hints meme. Even those of us who do not aspire to be the next Suzie or Sammy Homemaker probably have a few ingenious ideas to make running our lives a little simpler, cheaper, or easier.
I'm offering up three tips of my own, and ask you to chip in as well, either in the comments or on your own blog.
1. If you find your kitchen infested with fruit flies, first get rid of the source - that old banana or an innocent-looking houseplant or a neglected potato in the pantry. Then put a little apple cider vinegar in a jar, put on the lid, and poke holes in it. The flies will be attracted to the vinegar and make their way through the holes. Those that don't drown themselves, won't be able to make their way back out through the holes and will be trapped.
2. To save on water, whether you want to reduce your bills, your demand on natural resources, or both, keep buckets in the bathroom and the kitchen. While you're waiting for the tap water to heat up, run the water into the bucket and use it to water plants.
3. This one was The Husband's genius idea. A nine-inch round cake pan, with a little bit of a lip around the edge, will fit over the top of a six-quart saucepan to create a double boiler. We used this makeshift double boiler to make candy for Christmas presents.
Bonus tip: Make your own candy for easy, inexpensive, homemade gifts. For example, peppermint bark is just melted white chocolate with crushed peppermints and a few drops of peppermint oil mixed in. Spread the mixture into a cookie sheet, let it cool, and then break it into pieces.
Bonus bonus tip: When melting chocolate it is very important not to let even one drop of water get into the chocolate or it will turn into a grainy, sticky mess.
Bonus bonus bonus tip: Check out Home Ec 101 for lots of ideas from people way better at this housekeeping stuff than I am.
Now I'm supposed to tag some people.
Greeneagles, because I suspect he's a closet metrosexual and probably has a really good tip for getting Bearnaise sauce stains out of silk or something like that.
Holly because she's managed to keep a child in one piece for more than eleven years running.
Traivor because I bet he's a whiz in the kitchen.
Sealegs Sophie McPhearson (whose blog is evidently set on private) because her house always seems to be clean despite her four furry roommates.
Showing posts with label The House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The House. Show all posts
Monday, January 21, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
Homeownership: Yay!
Oh wait. Did I say, "Yay!" I meant, "Holy crap."
A few weeks ago the shower in the master bathroom started draining so slowly that I was afraid it would overflow during a normal length shower. Figuring there was a clump of hair stuck in the pipe, The Husband and I headed over to the local home improvement big box store and acquired some drain cleaner and a hand crank snake thingy.
A big dose of caustic chemicals did not clear the clog, so I stuck the snake thingy down the drain to no avail. The Husband also applied the snake thingy in such a manly fashion that it became firmly lodged in the still-clogged pipe.
So, out comes the plumber to remove the snake thingy and climb up on the roof to thoroughly clean the pipes. He pulled out a bunch of roots and proclaimed the job complete. And, he seemed to be correct for at least a few days. However, the shower started backing up again and was ever so awesomely joined by the toilet.
Once again the plumber calls on our humble abode. He proceeds to install a street level access pipe, so he can poke a little camera down into our plumbing to see what the issue is without stomping around on the roof. It turns out that the contractor who redid the bathroom sometime before we bought the house crammed a bunch of tiles into the pipes.
How? Why? The mystery boggles the mind. Surely it would have been about 1000 times easier to throw this rejected tile into a trash can than to wedge it into the pipes. I can only speculate what the previous homeowners did to this contractor to cause him to wreak such weird revenge on their innocent plumbing.
A few weeks ago the shower in the master bathroom started draining so slowly that I was afraid it would overflow during a normal length shower. Figuring there was a clump of hair stuck in the pipe, The Husband and I headed over to the local home improvement big box store and acquired some drain cleaner and a hand crank snake thingy.
A big dose of caustic chemicals did not clear the clog, so I stuck the snake thingy down the drain to no avail. The Husband also applied the snake thingy in such a manly fashion that it became firmly lodged in the still-clogged pipe.
So, out comes the plumber to remove the snake thingy and climb up on the roof to thoroughly clean the pipes. He pulled out a bunch of roots and proclaimed the job complete. And, he seemed to be correct for at least a few days. However, the shower started backing up again and was ever so awesomely joined by the toilet.
Once again the plumber calls on our humble abode. He proceeds to install a street level access pipe, so he can poke a little camera down into our plumbing to see what the issue is without stomping around on the roof. It turns out that the contractor who redid the bathroom sometime before we bought the house crammed a bunch of tiles into the pipes.
How? Why? The mystery boggles the mind. Surely it would have been about 1000 times easier to throw this rejected tile into a trash can than to wedge it into the pipes. I can only speculate what the previous homeowners did to this contractor to cause him to wreak such weird revenge on their innocent plumbing.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
nap time for the feline
i am typing this with one hand because the cat is sleeping on the other one. she's dreaming, and her toes and ears are twitching like crazy. she is too adorable to disturb.
i am not at work but instead am trapped under my cat because i am waiting for the plumber to come back and do expensive things to our pipes. although the pipes are located underneath the house, this will involve climbing on the roof. i don't know. it made sense when he explained it to me.
i hope the cat wakes up soon because i need both hands to finish my christmas knitting.
oh no. she just stretched and sighed and is beginning to ooze onto the keyboard. must go. more later.
i am not at work but instead am trapped under my cat because i am waiting for the plumber to come back and do expensive things to our pipes. although the pipes are located underneath the house, this will involve climbing on the roof. i don't know. it made sense when he explained it to me.
i hope the cat wakes up soon because i need both hands to finish my christmas knitting.
oh no. she just stretched and sighed and is beginning to ooze onto the keyboard. must go. more later.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Hallow-weenie
Evidently becoming a homeowner has turned me into a big dork who may be one step away from wearing denim jumpers and sweatshirts with kittens appliquéd on them.
Marvel at my adorable fall decorations.
I am way too pleased with this tiny hay bale to be normal.
Finally no denim-jumper wearing kitten-sweatshirt loving dork can be without the ever so lovely fake flower arrangement.
Marvel at my adorable fall decorations.
I am way too pleased with this tiny hay bale to be normal.
Finally no denim-jumper wearing kitten-sweatshirt loving dork can be without the ever so lovely fake flower arrangement.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Just Call Me Farmer Duckling
The Husband and I spent most of the last two weekends putting in a new flower bed.
First we had to break ground.
Just digging up this perimeter resulted in two wheelbarrows full of grass and dirt.
It turns out that The Husband and I kind of suck at digging, so we brought in his mom for some expert help. With her assistance we cleared the bed in a few hours.
Yesterday, we got to do the easy part: plant stuff.
These plants have barely been surviving for the past couple of years in pots that were too small and enduring much neglect, just biding their time until they could put down real roots. The Husband bought several of these plants for me on my first birthday after we were married. He grew the Eve's Necklace from seed. The plan all along was to put these plants in the ground when we had a home of our own.
First we had to break ground.
Just digging up this perimeter resulted in two wheelbarrows full of grass and dirt.
It turns out that The Husband and I kind of suck at digging, so we brought in his mom for some expert help. With her assistance we cleared the bed in a few hours.
Yesterday, we got to do the easy part: plant stuff.
These plants have barely been surviving for the past couple of years in pots that were too small and enduring much neglect, just biding their time until they could put down real roots. The Husband bought several of these plants for me on my first birthday after we were married. He grew the Eve's Necklace from seed. The plan all along was to put these plants in the ground when we had a home of our own.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Oh, So This Is Why People Move to the Suburbs
From our neighborhood association's email list:
Many of you having been emailing me asking about the helicopters and police in the neighborhood and surrounding areas today. What I know is this:
Earlier today the bank inside the Tom Thumb was robbed. The man claimed to have a bomb, but it was later determined he did not. He escaped into the woods around our neighborhood. The police brought out the search dogs and helicopter to canvas the area. Channel 11 had a crew on site and reported at 6pm that the man had not yet been caught, but that the police believed he was still in the area. They were also searching the DART train station. Our neighborhood is the path he would have taken to reach the DART station from Tom Thumb, so that explains why some of you had police and dogs in your back yards. I am sure that by the 10:00 news all stations will be reporting on it, but channel 11 was the only station I saw on site, so you might want to watch tonight to get a more updated report.
PLEASE take this as an excellent example of why we need to keep our doors locked and garages closed, even in the middle of the day. We live in a quiet little neighborhood that happens to sit in the middle of a very urban area that will inevitably have crimes take place in it. We cannot prevent these types of crimes from happening, but we can make the job of the police a lot easier when we make our neighborhood very uninviting to the criminals.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Catching Up: Home Edition
I haven't been posting much because so much has been going on that it's been difficult to organize my thoughts. Fortunately most of this stuff would make pretty boring blog-fodder, so you haven't missed much.
There was that whole thing about buying a house. Moving went pretty smoothly even if it did take a thousand years to clean out the old place. I expect it will only take a few hundred more to finish unpacking.
Yard maintenance has turned out to be more difficult than I expected. We planned to buy an old-timey reel mower, like this:
However, we didn't actually get around to purchasing one before we had the lawn that needed mowing. We innocently thought we could mosey over to Home Depot and pick one up after we moved in. According to the Home Depot guy they only sell reel mowers on the web site. According to the web site, they don't sell them at all.
By this time the lawn was getting a little shaggy, so we figured we'd hire a landscaping service to hack the lawn into a manageable state while we decided where to buy a mower. We picked some guy out of the back of the neighborhood magazine, and he set up a time to come out and give us an estimate. Once he got there (two days later) he took one look at it and decided there was no way he was touching our nasty, shameful lawn with his precious equipment.
On to Plan B. I called my Aunt and asked to borrow her lawn mower. She said, "Sure," but warned me that it's a little tricky to use. In order to start it, there's a lever you have to wiggle, but not too much. And a thing you have to press, but not too hard. Etc., etc.
The Husband, after much persistence, did manage to start the thing up, which was much easier once we figured out the spark plug wire had fallen off, and wrestle it into submission long enough to get a good start on the lawn.
In the meantime, the reel mower we ordered from The Great and Powerful Internets arrived. Turns out I'm too short to operate it properly. Oh, darn. Poor The Husband will have to be in charge of mowing the lawn all by himself. I really do feel bad about that, but I also feel bad about being a border-line midget, so I'm glad some advantage is to be had from my shortcomings. (Get it? Shortcomings?)
The Husband finished up the front yard pretty well with the reel mower, relieving my fears of an angry mob of neighbors and code enforcement officials descending on our house with violence in their hearts. However, the back yard was still an extravagant wonderland of weeds and crabgrass, so The Husband went back to working on it with my Aunt's gas mower. Well, that project wasn't even half-way done when the pull-cord started coming unraveled.
Oh well, no one can see the back yard anyway. But, with all the rain we've been having, the front yard needed to mowed again by this point. So, The Blessed Saintly Husband got the reel mower back out. Only now the blades wouldn't turn, so the mower was about as effective as this only less fun.
Now we were back to Plan A.2 or whatever the hell it was, and we called a landscaper. Who didn't show up. How do these guys make money mowing lawns when they won't actually mow any lawns? Is the whole landscaping business just an elaborate front for money laundering or something?
Anyway, in a dramatically anticlimactic twist, we finally found someone who did show up and mowed the lawn. The End.
There was that whole thing about buying a house. Moving went pretty smoothly even if it did take a thousand years to clean out the old place. I expect it will only take a few hundred more to finish unpacking.
Yard maintenance has turned out to be more difficult than I expected. We planned to buy an old-timey reel mower, like this:
However, we didn't actually get around to purchasing one before we had the lawn that needed mowing. We innocently thought we could mosey over to Home Depot and pick one up after we moved in. According to the Home Depot guy they only sell reel mowers on the web site. According to the web site, they don't sell them at all.
By this time the lawn was getting a little shaggy, so we figured we'd hire a landscaping service to hack the lawn into a manageable state while we decided where to buy a mower. We picked some guy out of the back of the neighborhood magazine, and he set up a time to come out and give us an estimate. Once he got there (two days later) he took one look at it and decided there was no way he was touching our nasty, shameful lawn with his precious equipment.
On to Plan B. I called my Aunt and asked to borrow her lawn mower. She said, "Sure," but warned me that it's a little tricky to use. In order to start it, there's a lever you have to wiggle, but not too much. And a thing you have to press, but not too hard. Etc., etc.
The Husband, after much persistence, did manage to start the thing up, which was much easier once we figured out the spark plug wire had fallen off, and wrestle it into submission long enough to get a good start on the lawn.
In the meantime, the reel mower we ordered from The Great and Powerful Internets arrived. Turns out I'm too short to operate it properly. Oh, darn. Poor The Husband will have to be in charge of mowing the lawn all by himself. I really do feel bad about that, but I also feel bad about being a border-line midget, so I'm glad some advantage is to be had from my shortcomings. (Get it? Shortcomings?)
The Husband finished up the front yard pretty well with the reel mower, relieving my fears of an angry mob of neighbors and code enforcement officials descending on our house with violence in their hearts. However, the back yard was still an extravagant wonderland of weeds and crabgrass, so The Husband went back to working on it with my Aunt's gas mower. Well, that project wasn't even half-way done when the pull-cord started coming unraveled.
Oh well, no one can see the back yard anyway. But, with all the rain we've been having, the front yard needed to mowed again by this point. So, The Blessed Saintly Husband got the reel mower back out. Only now the blades wouldn't turn, so the mower was about as effective as this only less fun.
Now we were back to Plan A.2 or whatever the hell it was, and we called a landscaper. Who didn't show up. How do these guys make money mowing lawns when they won't actually mow any lawns? Is the whole landscaping business just an elaborate front for money laundering or something?
Anyway, in a dramatically anticlimactic twist, we finally found someone who did show up and mowed the lawn. The End.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Boring Story Short
The Husband and I bought a house today. We signed our names 50 bizillion times, handed over a big ol' check, and that was it. The previous* homeowners are renting the house back for a few weeks until their new place is ready, so it looks like May 19th will be moving day. You should stop by and help unpack a few boxes, and then we can all sit around in our hot tub and discuss how much better the house looked before we put our crap in it. It'll be great!
*I first typed "current." Then I realized: we're the current homeowners. This is going to take some getting used to.
*I first typed "current." Then I realized: we're the current homeowners. This is going to take some getting used to.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Not Holding My Breath
As I expect will happen infinity more times, moving into the new house (assuming the purchase goes through) has been delayed by a couple of weeks. The sellers found a house to buy, but they can't move in until the middle of May. Although our closing date is supposed to be April 26, they have requested to rent the house back from us until May 13.
Letting them stay a little longer makes perfect sense for us since we have a lease on our current place until the end of May. There's no reason why we should be paying to have two houses for an entire month. But the impatient, petulant part of me wants to tell them, "No! It's MINE, and you can't have it any more." Of course the kind and reasonable part of me wouldn't dream of putting them out when we have a perfectly good - not to mention paid for - place to stay.
Despite the fact that it's considerate and practical, I'm still disappointed to have to wait a little longer to have the house to ourselves. I've mostly been looking forward to putting in a vegetable garden and doing some landscaping. Maybe they'll let us come play in the yard before they move out if we ask real nice.
Letting them stay a little longer makes perfect sense for us since we have a lease on our current place until the end of May. There's no reason why we should be paying to have two houses for an entire month. But the impatient, petulant part of me wants to tell them, "No! It's MINE, and you can't have it any more." Of course the kind and reasonable part of me wouldn't dream of putting them out when we have a perfectly good - not to mention paid for - place to stay.
Despite the fact that it's considerate and practical, I'm still disappointed to have to wait a little longer to have the house to ourselves. I've mostly been looking forward to putting in a vegetable garden and doing some landscaping. Maybe they'll let us come play in the yard before they move out if we ask real nice.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Almost Home
The sellers of the house agreed to make almost all the repairs we were requesting, including the whole potentially-bursting-into-flame thing. So, the contract is finalized, and closing is set for April 26. This in no way means that we have run out of things that could go wrong.
There could be some claim on the title of the house we are not aware of.
The survey of the lot could reveal that we're on the neighbor's property or they are encroaching on ours.
Our financing could fall through.
Any one of the parties involved could just screw up.
I really want to get excited about this, but I'm walking that fine line between realistic and pessimistic. Until we actually start moving boxes in, I'm going to have a hard time believing that this is actually going to happen.
When we first started looking at houses, the real estate agent gave us a binder with lots of information about the whole process. One of the documents described 110 things that could go wrong. Unfortunately, I figure we can only rule out about half of them at this point.
There could be some claim on the title of the house we are not aware of.
The survey of the lot could reveal that we're on the neighbor's property or they are encroaching on ours.
Our financing could fall through.
Any one of the parties involved could just screw up.
I really want to get excited about this, but I'm walking that fine line between realistic and pessimistic. Until we actually start moving boxes in, I'm going to have a hard time believing that this is actually going to happen.
When we first started looking at houses, the real estate agent gave us a binder with lots of information about the whole process. One of the documents described 110 things that could go wrong. Unfortunately, I figure we can only rule out about half of them at this point.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Pins and Needles
The whole house-buying thing has seemed so far away and hypothetical until yesterday, and now the anxiety is setting in. The option period expires tonight at midnight, so we have to resolve all outstanding issues or cancel the contract and start over from scratch, possibly losing the house if the sellers have a back-up offer.
On Thursday evening we had the home inspection, and considering that this house is almost 50 years old it's in remarkable condition. However, there are a couple of things that need to addressed. The second bathroom, which hadn't been updated like the master bath, is full of leaky pipes and loose fixtures. This isn't a huge deal, and we're fortunate that the whole house isn't full of plumbing like this. Also, the air conditioner isn't cooling as well as it should. It probably just needs some more freon or whatever environmentally correct coolant is being used these days.
The other thing, however, is potentially a big deal. They installed the water heater too close to the floor, which could be a serious fire hazard. Evidently, flammable fumes tend to accumulate not more than 12 inches off the floor, so a gas water heater has to be installed with the flame at least 18 inches high. The home inspector claimed that he knew of a child who was killed in a flash fire because of this exact problem. I feel very strongly that any house I live in should not have a high likelihood of burning me alive.
There is a sticker on the water heater that specifically states that it must be installed 18 inches off the floor. Another one of the minor issues that the inspector found is that the garage door opener switch is also too close to the ground. It also features a sticker explaining that it has to be at least 5 feet high. I'm wondering if the homeowner had a midget contractor make the updates.
We submitted a request to the sellers that they get the AC checked and fix the bad pipes and the lethal water heater, so now we are just waiting for their response. If they tell us they won't make the repairs, we'll have to decide if we're willing to take the house at the current price anyway. At this point I'm almost ready to put up with anything so we can just get this wrapped up. Anything but a fiery death, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
On Thursday evening we had the home inspection, and considering that this house is almost 50 years old it's in remarkable condition. However, there are a couple of things that need to addressed. The second bathroom, which hadn't been updated like the master bath, is full of leaky pipes and loose fixtures. This isn't a huge deal, and we're fortunate that the whole house isn't full of plumbing like this. Also, the air conditioner isn't cooling as well as it should. It probably just needs some more freon or whatever environmentally correct coolant is being used these days.
The other thing, however, is potentially a big deal. They installed the water heater too close to the floor, which could be a serious fire hazard. Evidently, flammable fumes tend to accumulate not more than 12 inches off the floor, so a gas water heater has to be installed with the flame at least 18 inches high. The home inspector claimed that he knew of a child who was killed in a flash fire because of this exact problem. I feel very strongly that any house I live in should not have a high likelihood of burning me alive.
There is a sticker on the water heater that specifically states that it must be installed 18 inches off the floor. Another one of the minor issues that the inspector found is that the garage door opener switch is also too close to the ground. It also features a sticker explaining that it has to be at least 5 feet high. I'm wondering if the homeowner had a midget contractor make the updates.
We submitted a request to the sellers that they get the AC checked and fix the bad pipes and the lethal water heater, so now we are just waiting for their response. If they tell us they won't make the repairs, we'll have to decide if we're willing to take the house at the current price anyway. At this point I'm almost ready to put up with anything so we can just get this wrapped up. Anything but a fiery death, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Jinxing It
A couple of weeks ago The Husband and I started house-hunting. I thought this would be great blog-fodder. However, the story has worked out something like this:
We looked at houses.
We picked a house.
We made an offer on a house.
The owners of the house accepted our offer to buy their house.
This house to be exact.
Everything has gone bewilderingly smoothly. Of course now we have a month of suspense to live through, waiting on inspections and financing and whatnot. Let me throw caution to the wind and take you on a tour of our chickens before they hatch.
Here's our soon-to-be front porch.
The front room and formal dining
The den
Also the den
The kitchen
The master bedroom
The best part: the party porch
That brown thing in the lower right? That's the corner of the 8-person hot tub.
In the interest of full disclosure, none of this is our furniture or decor, of course. We don't have nearly enough belongings to furnish this place. The first thing I intend to purchase is a bar for the party porch, unless you count the fancy ice bucket I acquired this weekend in anticipation. It came with a tong caddy!
May you all have many happy hours enjoying the party porch and the tong caddy. (Keep your fingers crossed.)
We looked at houses.
We picked a house.
We made an offer on a house.
The owners of the house accepted our offer to buy their house.
This house to be exact.
Everything has gone bewilderingly smoothly. Of course now we have a month of suspense to live through, waiting on inspections and financing and whatnot. Let me throw caution to the wind and take you on a tour of our chickens before they hatch.
Here's our soon-to-be front porch.
The front room and formal dining
The den
Also the den
The kitchen
The master bedroom
The best part: the party porch
That brown thing in the lower right? That's the corner of the 8-person hot tub.
In the interest of full disclosure, none of this is our furniture or decor, of course. We don't have nearly enough belongings to furnish this place. The first thing I intend to purchase is a bar for the party porch, unless you count the fancy ice bucket I acquired this weekend in anticipation. It came with a tong caddy!
May you all have many happy hours enjoying the party porch and the tong caddy. (Keep your fingers crossed.)
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