One winter evening I decided to start documenting snippets of information about housekeeeping, decorating, cooking, grooming, entertaining, and other variants of life skills acquired from experience, from my mother, and from others. Undoubtedly there are websites with an exhaustive list of do's, don'ts, and best practices related to these life skill areas. This isn't. The intent was to share these nuggets of knowledge only with those persons who refer to me as their second mom. But as I added more and more content, I realized what I initially identified as private needed to be public for anyone who needs a second (or first) mom.
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Bedroom redos
Use pillow covers; they do prolong the life of the pillow. And do remember when you insert the pillow with its pillow cover into the pillow case that the zipper is at the bottom end of the pillow case. Don't forget to launder them frequently.
Invest in a mattress pad and, please, don't wait a year to launder it. Add it to your monthly wash list.
Old school here, which means that the top sheet is placed with the design facing the mattress, not the ceiling. Turn down the top sheet—about a foot from the top of the bed—to show the design. If you're using a blanket, the turning down the top sheet as I've described creates a decorative border.
Looking at the same bedroom ensemble month after month bores me. Each fall and spring I change out everything except the furniture. If you're a fan of duvet covers, and other small decorative accents to create a new theme, you can easily create a new bedroom. Simple goes a long way.
Bath towels
Love decorator towels—especially for houseguests, but a medical event convinced me plain towels are needed for personal use everyday. Go for good quality towels at a reduced price (in other words, wait for the white sale at your favorite department store). If you can afford it, buy at least seven towels. Purchase the same color and avoid the multiple washloads.
Do not discard old towels. Keep them handy to dry off, for example, pets, patio furniture, and cars, and to mop up spills, both small and large. Throw a few towels in the trunk of your vehicle. You never know when they'll come in handy.
TP in full view
Over or under? Personal choice. Just ensure when you expect guests, replace any roll that isn't full. Don't make guests search for a roll of toilet paper—it's tacky.
A special cleaning tool
Invest in a denture brush. It may sound bizarre, but it works great in a variety of cleaning scenarios. Bristles on a denture brush are stronger and probably more durable than a conventional toothbrush.
Use the narrow, cylinder-shaped end of the denture brush to clean around the base of knobs on bathroom and kitchen faucet fixtures.
Use the narrow end and large rectangular-shaped end of the denture brush to clean the vents on older stoves.
Use both ends of the denture brush to clean window tracks and door tracks, and to clean around hinges of the lid for a top-loading washing machine.
Capturing socks
How old is the disappearing sock act? I don't know, but I came up with my own solution. When the socks come off they get dropped into an ancient lingerie bag that's clipped to a wire shelf in my laundry area. Easy matching!
Shoe boxes
Keeping shoes in their original boxes proved useful in several intrastate and interstate household moves. But there were several shoe boxes inducted into service in my sock drawer. Socks are separated by style and color.
Protect the carpet
A gallon size decorative tin filled with bird seed is placed on the carpet near the patio door. With the moisture that seeps under that door and without a barrier between the tin and the carpet, it is a prime candidate for depositing a nasty ring-shaped stain—perhaps rusted—on the carpet. I use the same laminated cork plant protective under the tin as I do for some planters atop furniture. You can find these cork protectors at hardware and garden stores.
With the exception of the main title, each tile (block) in the banner leads to a website or a webpage.
Lemon juice, no ade
Fresh lemons are great, but infrequently on my buy list. Instead, the not from concentrate variety in a bright-yellow container shaped like a large lemon lands in the wired grocery cart. After I use the miniscule amount needed for whatever recipe listed it as an ingredient, the container languishes on the top door shelf of the refrigerator. Use the remaining lemon juice in flower vases to remove stains—a 2:1 ratio usually works. Repeat as necessary.
Mix lemon juice and salt to add a fresh scent when using the combination to lift a stain, particularly a yellow spot on white cotton. Sometimes the remedy works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's still worth a try. If the stain is old, don't expect positive results.
A paste of baking soda and a bit of lemon juice is an age-old tradition for removing tarnish and polishing silver jewelry.
Windowsills and water stains are a nasty combination. Many of my windowsills are a platform for the display of assorted plants. Although most of those plants are in pots with saucers, as a precautionary measure there is a clear plastic protector underneath each to catch overflow when the plants are watered. I was dismayed to discover one weeked that despite my best efforts there were water stains on one windowsill. Not wanting to use a really abrasive cleaning product on the wooden windowsill, I decided to use a hot soapy cloth, but it didn't remove the stain so I grabbed the lemon juice. I dribbled some juice directly on the brown water ring and wiped away the juice—and the unsightly brown ring—with a cloth.
Food containers
Go with glass. Glass is healthier to use and lasts longer. Save empty jam and other glass jars to send leftovers home with family and friends. Use plastic containers sparingly.
